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Anniina Toiviainen

I am the Professor of Art Pedagogy at the Department of Art and Media in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture at Aalto University. I have also taught and worked as a researcher at four different universities in the United States.

I joined the Observatory as a representative of Aalto University during the observatory’s first year of operation and I feel that our collaboration is becoming increasingly meaningful. It is great to be involved in the development of a nationwide network of operators and information that connects research and operations in the field of arts and cultural education and in influencing the future of our field. The Observatory’s strength lies in understanding uniqueness and in appreciating diversity, and in a strong belief in the importance of our joint work in building culture and society.

In the Observatory I represent Aalto University. In my opinion, the greatest thing about the Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, Finland is cooperation and a strong commitment to the furthering of our shared goals. In our meetings and activities we often quite frankly and openly disagree on issues or approach them from different perspectives. However, what unites us in all our work is the aim to produce, facilitate, support and promote activities, knowledge and research that respect what already exists while at the same time building an even stronger, more ethical, more meaningful and more accessible field of arts and cultural education.

Eeva Anttila

I work as a Professor of Dance Pedagogy at Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland and lead the MA program for dance pedagogy. I am also a founding member of CERADA and involved in CERADA’s activities both as a member of the management team and as a researcher and head of a research group (Arts@School) in the ArtsEqual project. I have worked in a variety of positions in the field of dance and art pedagogy during my entire professional career, both at the grass roots level and in many academic and also administrative duties.

I have been involved in the activities of the Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, Finland from the very beginning. The idea of establishing the Finnish Observatory arose when I received a request and encouragement from the European Network of Observatories in Arts and Cultural Education (ENO) to establish the Observatory and apply for ENO membership. Finland has a good reputation in the development of art education and research in the field, and we have distinguished ourselves by developing a nationally unique and extensive expert network, the Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, Finland. This broad-based forum shows that Finland has the competence and will to act as a ‘model country’ for art education. I am very happy and proud of this forum!

Tuulikki Laes

I am a researcher at University of the Arts Helsinki’s Center for Educational Research and Academic Development in the Arts (CERADA). I currently lead my own postdoctoral research project funded by the Academy of Finland, which focuses on on modifying the music education policy in an ageing society. My professional interest lies in the realisation of inclusion in music and arts education. As a pedagogue and teacher educator I have sought to draw attention to the participation of special groups, including people with disabilities or older people, in different contexts of music and art education. I believe in the extensive potential of music and the arts to respond to the pressing challenges of our society, which is why I combine more traditional methodologies of art education with such disciplines as sociology, political research and creative systems thinking in my research.

I joined the activities of the Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, Finland in early 2022. I am involved in several national and international research networks of music and art education, and I am the chairperson of the Finnish Association for Basic Education in Arts.

Mirja Hiltunen

I am Mirja Hiltunen (Doctor of Arts, Master of Education), Professor of Art Education in the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Lapland as well as Docent in the University of Oulu. I have also worked as a Visiting Professor at the Department of Art at Aalto University (2016–2017). I have nearly 30 years of experience as a teacher educator, and before that I also worked in visual arts teaching positions in basic and upper secondary school education.

A key task of the Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, Finland is to bring together socially relevant research in arts and cultural education and to take part in the discussion on the position of art, culture and educational values as part of our society. The Faculty of Arts is an active partner of the Observatory, and I have been involved in the Observatory’s operations since its establishment. In this work, I see as central question the right of every child and young person to teaching in art subjects under the guidance of competent arts and crafts subject teachers and the right to engage in artistic hobbies with professional guidance irrespective of age, place of residence or socio-economic background.

In my research in the field of art education I am particularly interested in inclusion, the place-specificity, performativity and social engagement. I have been involved in national and international research and development projects in a variety of roles and, as part of the art teacher education, directed a number of environment-related projects and art events in which interaction between northern villages and contemporary art, as well as ways of providing community-based art education, have been sought and studied. I am currently working as a researcher in a large European project named “Acting on the Margins – Art as Social Sculpture” (H2020) coordinated by the Faculty of Arts. I have published several national and international publications related to art education and I have actively participated in scientific conferences and art exhibitions in the field.

Lea Pulkkinen

I worked as a Professor of Psychology and, before that, as a lecturer and assistant in applied psychology at the University of Jyväskylä, where I had started my studies in Finnish, literature and psychology in 1958. In that year the Jyväskylä College of Education expanded its field from education science to humanities. My career has been marked by my interest in the humanities and education science, even if I soon selected psychology as my major subject due to the research prospects it opened up. Martti Takala, Professor of Psychology and President of the University, was an inspiring teacher who encouraged my independent research.

I defended my doctoral dissertation on differences in social behaviour between second class pupils in 1969. Rather than only the problems that children have, I was interested in the manifestations of positive behaviour and factors that support positive development. This study lay the foundation for monitoring the development of a group of children in a study that still continues today. I compiled the last data set myself in 2009 as the subjects turned 50. Katja Kokko, who currently leads the research project, is collecting data as they have reached the age of 60. After my retirement, I have served as the chairperson of the Haukkala Foundation, which was established in 2013 to support children's positive development.

As early as the mid-1970s, I noted in my study titled Lapsesta aikuiseksi that thoughtful and positive behaviour in pupils aged 14 was linked to their possibilities of participating in recreational activities, as described in my book Kotikasvatuksen psykologia (1977, pp. 251–269). When Finland was hit by a recession in the 1990s, services targeted at children were cut rapidly. As a result, the appropriations for schools’ recreational activities were slashed to one quarter of what they had been before, and young children who had started school could no longer attend afternoon groups in day care services. As a consequence, the children were left without adult support while their parents were in full-time work, as is customary in Finland. Among other venues, I spoke about this theme at a small seminar organised in the presidential residence of Mäntyniemi (1996). Mrs Eeva Ahtisaari, the spouse of President Ahtisaari, shared my interested in this topic. Our joint efforts succeeded in ensuring that the expansion of afternoon activities for schoolchildren and the development of their content were set down in the programme of Prime Minister Lipponen's second government (15 April 1999).

I describe these events in my book Mukavaa yhdessä (2002). The book also contains an introduction to the MUKAVA project, which started with a visit of the parliamentary Committee for the Future to the new Agora building in Jyväskylä. On the initiative of Kyösti Karjula, a Member of Parliament, I was invited to plan and lead a research project aiming to support schoolchildren's positive social development. I prepared a proposal for experimenting with a new type of structure for the school day, which would include recreational activities selected by the children. This three-year project (2002–2005) was funded by Sitra. The Academy of Finland supported the research project in association with the Centre of Excellence in Human Development and its Risk Factors (1997–2005), which I led. In participating schools, the pupils could choose their preferred activities among a wide variety of pastimes, and an effort was made to find teachers and competent persons from outside the school to lead the groups. The experiment is described in the book Eheytetty koulupäivä (2005), which I wrote with President Leevi Launonen, the main coordinator of the project.

Research findings published later which, among other things, have been discussed in my publication An inspiring school day: A proposal for making a flexible school day an established structure (2015, ), indicate that especially artistic recreational activities are linked to pupils’ positive social behaviour and good working habits. Putting the findings into practice for the benefit of children has taken time, even if an amendment to the Act on Morning and Afternoon Activities entered into force in 2004. I am delighted that the Finnish Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education has set the aim at organising equal opportunities for participating in recreational activities for children at school.

I worked with Iina Berden and Eeva Anttila to found the Observatory, and I have enjoyed being able to join in the vibrant activities as a type of godmother. This work is in every way compatible with my values. I have an affinity with art in its different forms, although due to my choir activities, music has been closest to my heart. In the 1980s, I contributed to starting music therapy education in Jyväskylä. I believe in the revitalising power of arts and enjoyable hobbies, and it is my hope that we will succeed in creating a Finnish model that brings opportunities for recreational activities to everyone and is also fit to be used as an example for other nations.

Viivi Seirala

I am Viivi Seirala, Executive Director of the Association for Basic Education in the Arts (TPO). The Association for Basic Education in the Arts is a partner of the Finnish Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, and I joined in when I started in my current job in autumn 2018. As a representative of basic education in the arts, my viewpoints are based on promoting long-term and goal-oriented, curricula-based art activities and teaching of arts targeted specifically at children and young people. Dialogue with other arts and cultural education actors is also central, as well as a broader reflection on current and future issues in the field.

The best thing about the Observatory is its unique community that approaches art education from different angles. Together we represent a very broad range of different areas of this field. Knowledge and competence acquired through research and practice combine into a whole in which our strength lies in efforts to achieve the common goals by approaching them from several different directions.

Jaana Nuottanen

My name is Jaana Nuottanen, and I am the Executive Director of the Finnish Association of Adult Education Centres with a long professional history in the development of adult education, lifelong learning and competence development. I was invited to join the Observatory at the end of 2018.

I feel that I represent, in particular, the non-formal art education provided all around Finland that promotes non-degree based, self-motivated empowerment and holistic improvement of wellbeing. Many adult education institutions also provide basic education in the arts. The best thing about the Observatory’s operations is the cross-pollination of research, science, practical activities and practices, and education and operating policy lobbying: the development of art education for people of all ages is a common goal in pursuit of which each party engaged in the operations brings its own special expertise. In fruitful interaction, something completely new emerges from a variety of starting points and perspectives.

Maria Huhmarniemi

I work as an associate professor and vice dean at the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland. In my art and research, I focus on issues related to community-based art education, the North, and environmental concerns, such as human connectedness to other elements of nature, responsibility, policy, and ethics. As a researcher, I am interested in eco-activism and contemporary socio-politically engaged environmental education, exploring how art can transform our relationships with nature. As both an artist and researcher, I concentrate on contemplating our future and the nature and culture of the North and the Arctic.

The core of my research revolves around means to enhance human learning as members of communities and society. I use an art-based action research approach to examine pedagogical and arts-related community and participatory activities promoting social growth. The specific contexts of my research encompass communities entangled in environmental conflicts, creative tourism, and art-based environmental education within the framework of informal learning. The recent emphasis in my research has been on redefining the concept of community in a way that encompasses not only people but also other nature. Rethinking the idea of community also challenges pedagogical and artistic methods for art education.

My art-based action research involves pedagogical orientation, art-based methods and artistic processes and productions. I conduct research in international collaboration, working alongside researchers and artists. My research is forward-looking and involves pedagogical and artistic interventions aimed at effecting change and, conversely, scrutinising it. Dialogue and discussion are typical features of both my art and the research methods I employ, with the majority of my publications being group exhibitions and co-authored articles.

Sanna Salminen

My name is Sanna Salminen (PhD), University Teacher of Music Education at the University of Jyväskylä. At the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, I am responsible for, among others, the training of dual-qualified music and class teachers. In my research, I’ve focused on the well-being and inclusion impacts of music hobbies, development of choir pedagogy, motivation and intercultural and multicultural music education. I am a co-author of music learning materials Soi 3-4 and Soi 5-6 (Sanoma Pro), which are still used in schools. In addition to research and teaching, I lead the Vox Aurea youth choir, which has nearly sixty singers aged 10-19. There are approximately 150 children and young people in our entire choir family. For me, international cooperation is important for both the university and choir. My work combines art, science and education – experimentation, application and development.

Alma Muukka-Marjovuo

I hold a Doctor of Arts degree (Aalto University, 2014), a Master of Music (Sibelius Academy, 1993), and a Master’s degree in Art Education (University of Art and Design Helsinki, 1997). Since 2020, I have worked at the Finnish National Agency for Education as a Counsellor of Education, with special responsibility areas in music and dance. My duties also broadly cover issues related to arts education across all forms of general education.

Before my current position, I worked as a lecturer in music and visual arts at Sibelius Upper Secondary School and as a part-time teacher at Aalto University, where I taught, among other things, the traditions and paradigms of art education to undergraduate students. I have also taught music and visual arts in basic education in the arts, comprehensive school education, and upper secondary education. I have accumulated approximately 25 years of professional experience in the field of art and arts education in official positions, preceded by nine years as a full-time hourly-paid teacher.

My research and publications focus on arts education. In addition to my doctoral dissertation, I have published both national and international academic works in the field and have participated in conferences. During my teaching career, I have also been actively involved in the arts by directing music and stage productions, as well as planning and performing as a pianist.

I consider it important to work toward ensuring that all children and young people have access to arts education and the opportunity to grow with the arts.

Tomi Slotte Dufva

Tomi Slotte Dufva is a Doctor of Arts, artist, teacher, and researcher. He works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Art and Media at Aalto University and serves as the Head of the Master’s Programme in Art Education. Slotte Dufva’s multidisciplinary artistic practice is situated at the intersection of art, technology, and material practices. Recently, his artistic work has focused on new materialist questions and the expanded forms of contemporary drawing. His research examines post-digital culture, education, and art, with his recent work emphasizing artificial intelligence, particularly from the perspectives of education, visual culture, and art education after AI.