Long-term actors tell Iltalehti that the cultural sector is worried about the future.
Actress and film producer Minna Haapkylä considers the so-called spiritual nourishment that culture offers to people and audiences to be most important. Pete Anikari
In recent weeks and throughout the fall, the cultural cuts planned for next year have been the talk of the town.
Culture people protested against the cuts Scissors stop! -in the opinion last Thursday, also in the parliament, the opposition grilled the government, when the central theme of the question hour was next year’s 17 million euro cultural cuts.
Among other things, the actress Pihla Viitala uploaded in an interview with Iltalehte in November.
– Now we’re going to force down the entire industry. There are really anxious and burnt out people in the industry at the moment, he said.
On the same lines as Viitala were the Finnish actors of a long line Queen of Fucking Everything – at the press conference of the new series.
Minna Haapkylä, the actress and responsible producer of the series, sighed deeply when asked about the current state of the culture industry.
He estimates that a large part of people don’t even understand how culture really surrounds them. According to Haapkylä, people can think that they don’t need culture if they never go to the opera or theaters.
– I personally like culture on a large scale: it’s TV series, books, street art, everything we see. It pierces our whole inner being, he describes.
Katja Küttner states that there is a generally worried atmosphere in the industry. Pete Anikari
– That’s why it feels terribly oppressive that some people think that culture is not needed or that it takes too much money, says Haapkylä.
He points to research evidence that the euros invested in culture have been found to return many times over.
– I hope that the decision-makers would think about the fact that culture is the only thing that keeps us nourished in some way – in addition to food. It’s something that makes us who we are, so it’s especially important.
Haapkylä adds that the fear of the future is not only prevalent in the cultural sector, but the predicament is widespread at the moment.
– Sometimes it seems that people think that the money invested in culture disappears into a black hole somewhere, which is of course not true, but instead remains circulating in the Finnish economy, reflects actress Katja Küttner.
Both Küttner and his colleague Kristo Salminen are of the opinion that the industry is worried about the future. According to Salminen, you can feel it everywhere you meet people in the industry.
– Certainly people are worried and wondering what the future looks like. Perhaps it seems that these cuts can be managed just fine, but if we really cut even more, we will start to be in a situation where famous theaters and others will not be able to function. It is a really difficult situation, and I hope that those surgeries would at least not be carried out, says Küttner.
Kristo Salminen says that Finnish culture is everything that we are, and not just experiences that are considered high culture, for example. Pete Anikari
– However, as an independent state, we are quite young and we have really fought for Finnish culture, so in times of peace it now feels like it is being pushed down and we are trying to emphasize that it has no value, Salminen points out.
– I feel that in times like this, on the contrary, it should be necessary to raise and preserve that Finnish identity, he adds.
– I believe that culture is needed in difficult times and especially then, Küttner says.
Queen of Fucking Everything 1.1. starting at Yle Areena and 5.1. starting on YleTV1. See all TV programs and broadcast times in Telku’s TV guide.