Make Arts Policy!

Make Arts Policy! was a collaboration between Baltic Circle, Checkpoint Helsinki and Public Movement. It consisted of Make Arts Policy! Summit, three artworks by Minna Henriksson, Nada Productions, and Alexandra Pirici and Handbook.

Make Arts Policy! Summit presented an evening of choreographed debates between politicians, artists, cultural producers, and policy makers. The Summit was a new artistic format that used a strategy of discursive performance where politicians and artists performed on the same stage. Representatives of ten Finnish political parties disclosed their proposed art policy for the 2015 elections. Make Arts Policy Summit was set as a service that utilized a theatrical performance setting as means for impacting the political. It is a new step in understanding the role of artists in the arena of politics.

Make Arts Policy! included the production of 3 artworks that researched the artist as an entity that participates in designing the political discourse: nadaproductions: Federal Ministry of Movement Affairs (BMfB) Alexandra Pirici: Turning monument and Minna Henriksson: Politiikan taide. The Make Arts Policy! Handbook was published in the spring 2015, edited by Jussi Koitela.

Make Arts Policy! was supported by Kone Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Jenny ja Antti Wihurin rahasto and City of Helsinki.