Culture club activities based on the wishes of the children and young people : A model of bringing arts and culture into schools nationwide

Since 2016, the Ministry of Education and Culture has promoted children’s and young people’s participation in cultural activities by offering opportunities for taking part in various arts and culture activities during the school day. The provision of such opportunities during the school day is based on the wishes that children and young people themselves have expressed. The activities are organised by professionals in arts and culture. Leisure activities have been organised in early education centres, too. So far (2019),100,000 children and young people from grades 1 to 10 in comprehensive school education have attended leisure activities organised during school days. These activities have been organised in one third of the municipalities in Finland. This publication presents 24 different school leisure activities. The nationwide school leisure activities scheme was originally developed as part of the key project ‘Improved access to art and culture’ (2016–2018) set up by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's Government. The implementation of the project has continued in 2019