Teosto’s Extraordinary General Meeting decided to establish a new cultural foundation
Teosto’s Extraordinary General Meeting has decided to establish a new foundation to support Finnish creative musical art. The foundation aims to improve the conditions and diversity of Finnish creative musical art and to make it more international over the long term. Teosto will donate about EUR 10 million in investment assets to the foundation from the Teosto Fund as the initial capital.
Teosto will establish a new foundation to support Finnish creative musical art and improve the working conditions of those who create it. Teosto’s General Meeting decided on the matter unanimously on 13 December 2023.
The new foundation is called the Teosto Cultural Foundation, and it aims to significantly increase the value of and appreciation for Finnish creative musical art. The foundation is meant to offer large grants, supporting both individuals and bigger entities. The activities will focus on areas such as supporting the diversity and internationalisation of music.
“This is a historic decision, with which we want to develop the field of Finnish creative musical art over the long term. The Teosto Cultural Foundation can support Finnish creative musical art in ways that the current support structures have not been designed for. First and foremost, the foundation’s aim is to continuously increase the value – in a broader sense of the word – of Finnish music,” says Antti Auvinen, composer and the Chair of Teosto’s Board of Directors.
The cultural foundation creates future opportunities for the music industry
The foundation’s rules allow many forms of activity. The foundation can, for example, award grants and support composition and lyrics commissions, performances and the reproduction of music. In addition, the foundation can also support significant projects, research and competence development that are relevant to its aims. The foundation can also support activities that are part of music publishers’ operations and promote the diversity of music or other aims of the foundation.
The foundation is funded through assets transferred from the Teosto Fund. The Teosto Fund was first set up in 2009 for the purpose of securing the ongoing delivery of activities in line with Teosto’s mission and ensuring the continuing promotion of creative musical art. To start with, about EUR 10 million, mainly in investment assets, will be transferred from the Teosto Fund to the foundation as the initial capital.
The foundation will invest the initial capital in a planned way, and additional capital will be transferred to the foundation later in multiple instalments according to the decisions of Teosto’s General Meeting. As the founder, Teosto would like the foundation’s capital to be actively increased over the long term in order to create future opportunities for supporting creative musical art.
The activities will start in late 2024
The establishment of the Teosto Cultural Foundation was prepared in 2019–2023 by a task force with representatives of Teosto and its member organisations, the Finnish Music Creators’ Association, the Society of Finnish Composers and the Finnish Music Publishers Association.
When the decision was made to the establish the foundation, the foundation’s first Board of Directors was also appointed. The Board’s duties include recruiting the first CEO for the foundation and carrying out the other tasks related to starting the foundation’s activities in 2024. During the establishment phase, the Chair of the Board of Directors will be Anna Baijars, Publisher and Managing Director of Gummerus. The other members of the Board are Aku Toivonen, Pauliina Lerche, Kyösti Salokorpi, Tommi Tuomainen, Jari Muikku, Veli Kujala, Vappu Verronen and Risto Salminen.
The Teosto Cultural Foundation is also called the Teosto Foundation.