Cut the Cuts! The Great Culture Petition

Cut the Cuts! is a shared distress call by artists and audiences for the preservation of art and culture. It is composed of the Great Culture Petition and a demonstration on 5 Dec, during which the signed petition will be handed in to Finland’s decision-makers.

Signatures will be collected in the online portal adressit.com during 1 October — 4 December, 2024. People will be encouraged to sign the petition at live cultural events and gatherings throughout Finland during the collection period. The Great Culture Petition will be handed in to lawmakers on 5 December, the eve of Finland’s Independence Day, at the Citizens’ Square in Helsinki. The delivery of the petition is a public demonstration by a vast group of activist attendees.

By releasing the Great Culture Petition artists, cultural activists, organizations, and audiences across the country are now demanding that the cuts to culture be repealed.

The petition is also available in Swedish, English, and Northern Sámi. The petition will be circulated on social media using the hashtag #SaksetSeis and #SuuriKulttuuriadressi The Cut the Cuts campaign is organized by Forum Artis and the We’ve Had Enough working group. Forum Artis is a national cooperative union of artist organizations. Grafia is part of Forum Artis.

The petition has a historical precedent. In 1899, Russia attempted to meddle in Finnish basic rights with the February Manifesto. Disgruntled citizens gathered more than 500,000 signatures for a petition in a few weeks, and invoked their rights to preserve both their language and culture.

Cut the Cuts Petition:

The short-sighted and disproportionate cuts proposed by the Finnish Government are a threat to our fundamental rights to culture and wellbeing.

The arts and culture surround us wherever we are in some way or another. They may take the form of a performance, library, museum, exhibition, concert, TV series, film, book, dancing or singing. Our houses, furniture and clothes have been created by artists, who have also designed our household goods and our means of transport. The arts and culture are part of our lives in so many different ways that we cannot even imagine a world without them. Culture affects us all, irrespective of our origins. It maintains our languages and our cultural heritage in all its diversity. Culture puts us in touch with the world and international ideas. Culture gives us pleasure, a sense of community and empathy, helps to solve the multiple problems of democracy and to build a future for our children and young people. Without culture, society becomes increasingly sick.

Culture is the source of our identity; it feeds technological innovations and economic growth. The arts and culture are also major exports. The arts and culture are major employers; the euros invested in them repay themselves many times over. It is wrong to clip the wings of a growing sector of the economy when we should be investing in it!

Culture accounts for only a very small percentage of Finland’s government spending. The proposed cuts in the funding for culture will endanger the development of our whole society. The Government’s proposed cuts are, as a percentage, vast and seriously at odds with the objectives of the Government programme.

It is precisely thanks to the arts that Finland has achieved a bigger place for itself on the world map than its size would imply. We have long trusted in the ability of the arts to connect and to give ourselves a voice and identity.

If our culture atrophies, so will Finland as an independent state. We oppose the catastrophic cuts that threaten our right to culture. This is not the first time we Finns have collectively demonstrated our strength. In 1899, a Great Petition was signed by more than half a million people determined to prove the burning desire of a small nation for independence and a culture of its own.

Our culture is now being threatened by the mindless powers-that-be in our very own land. We demand that the Finnish Government revoke its proposed cuts to the arts and culture and instead ensure their basic funding even in times of crisis!

Sign the petition

Sakset seis!