Artistic Director for Helsinki Festival for the 2025-2029 term
Helsinki Festival is the largest arts festival in the Nordic countries and the highlight of the Helsinki summer. The festival is held each year at the end of August, beginning of September. The festival aims to provide unrivalled, diverse art experiences to Helsinki residents and to a broader Finnish and international audience. Helsinki Festival is now seeking an Artistic Director for the next five-year term. Come and lead the festival content towards new goals in line with our strategy. Work on the 2025 Helsinki Festival begins in 2024.
Artistic Director for Helsinki Festival for the 2025-2029 term
Helsinki Festival is produced by Helsinki Events Foundation and is partly free of charge to the public. The Foundation’s other events include Lux Helsinki and Helsinki Christmas Market. Helsinki Festival is funded from ticket sales and sales proceeds, grants from the City of Helsinki, the Ministry of Education and Culture and private foundations as well as proceeds from partnerships.
Helsinki Festival wants to inspire new audiences to enjoy diverse art experiences, make its offering approachable and bring more culture all over the city. The Artistic Director implements Helsinki Events Foundation’s strategic goals, including social responsibility. The ambition is to provide residents and other visitors with shared joy and memorable experiences that exceed expectations.
We expect
As our Artistic Director, we expect you above all to have proof of artistic activity planning, content breadth and wide networks both in Finland and internationally. In addition, we expect you to have leadership experience as well as experience of financial responsibility relating to content choices and an interest in fundraising.
On an everyday note, we appreciate an ability for cooperation and teamwork, as well as media skills management.
As our Artistic Director, you will work at Helsinki Event Foundation alongside the CEO. You will also work closely with the Helsinki Festival production team and with festival communications, marketing and management.
We understand that one person alone does not necessarily have in-depth knowledge of different fields of art so we could choose a work pair or team for the position. The key thing is to find a successful overall vision for the Festival.
We offer
As our Artistic Director, Helsinki Festival can offer you a meaningful position at the heart of where art meets the public. Your work will leave a mark on the mind of the public and on the image of Helsinki. We dare to say at best that your work will leave a mark also on Finnish event history in the form of memorable moments.
Interested?
Share your views with us on Helsinki Festival, its importance to Helsinki and Helsinki
residents, the festival target groups and your views on the artistic offering of the Festival. Tell us, too, how you would develop the overall concept and programme of Helsinki Festival and how you would make our strong aspiration for social responsibility a reality. Feel free to question the status quo as long as you have a vision for the future!
Also tell us how much work time you think the job would require, in other words how much time you would like to spend, for example, on your own artistic work in addition to the Helsinki Festival content. How would you schedule your working hours? Please also state the compensation you would require for the work in the form of a salary or as an outsourced service.
Odgers Berndtson is assisting Helsinki Events Foundation in the recruiting process. Please send your application and CV to HF-rekry@helsinkifestival.fi by 15 September 2023.
Further information about the position is available from Stuba Nikula, CEO, Helsinki Events Foundation (stuba.nikula@eventshelsinki.fi, 040 555 55 40), and Outi Raatikainen, recruiting process coordinator (outi@pinkeminence.fi, 050 552 3135).
Image: Petri Anttila