Grant work
The criteria and conditions for the award of the grant are decided by the awarding body. The awarding body also decides on any changes to the original purpose or timetable of the grant, if the beneficiary so wishes. The terms and conditions of the grant are announced in the grant applications and vary both between the awarding bodies and between the types of grants.
The following link will take you to the grant providers. The Grants Guide, hosted by the Theatre Information Centre (Tinfo), helps you keep up to date with the deadlines for applying for grants and subsidies.
Tinfo Finland Grant WinnerPersonal grant
Working on a personal grant means that you receive funding for a specific project or period of time.
In the arts and sciences, this is a common form of funding for writers, visual artists, composers, performers and researchers.
When the grant is paid continuously for more than four months, the artist is obliged to take out an occupational pension insurance (MYEL) from Mela for the duration of the grant.
Most grant providers require a report or statement from the grantee at the end of the grant period. This should show whether the work plan outlined in the application was carried out.
Working group grant
In a working group, authors apply together for a grant for a specific project or production.
A working group grant is different from a grant awarded to a community. Community means an organisation registered in the context of a grant.
At the latest, once the grant has been awarded, the working group should discuss how the grant will be used and distributed. It is also important to define the conditions for working together. The Finnish Dance and Circus Artists Association (STST) has drawn up an action agreement to promote common agreement between all members of the freelance working group.
This will avoid confusion about the different aspects of the project/production and create a working atmosphere. It is recommended to fill in the action agreement at the start of the project/production.
If you want to use the grant to hire a person outside the team, you should check with the grant provider. It is also important to understand that in such a situation an employment relationship is created, which means that the association hiring the person has employer responsibilities.
Allowance and unemployment benefit
Grant work is not contract work.
Grant work is not contract work. This affects the eligibility for unemployment benefit. If you receive a grant, you should inform the employment services immediately and inform them of the duration of the grant. It is important to be clear about when the period of work for the grant starts and ends.
In the case of grant work, entitlement to the earnings-related daily allowance depends on the decision of the employment authority. The authority will give an opinion to the unemployment fund on whether you are entitled to unemployment benefit alongside your grant work and whether the grant work is considered to be full-time or part-time. If the grant work is full-time, there is no entitlement to unemployment benefit.
NOTE!
From the perspective of the labour market authority, it is important that the work assigned to the grant period is terminated at the end of the grant period if the grant recipient applies for unemployment benefit. This is the work that the grant was intended to do in the work plan. It is not a question of whether the work that has been completed will necessarily be finished. It is important to be clear here so that the employment service can make an unambiguous interpretation when determining your eligibility for unemployment benefit.
Pension insurance for the grant recipient
The grant recipient must insure his/her own grant work.
The pension insurance for grant recipients is provided by Mela, the Farmers’ Pension Fund.
The obligation to take out insurance applies to grant holders who.
- have received a working grant of more than four months (not applicable to travel and living allowances).
- have received a working allowance of €4605 or more converted into annual earned income (in 2025).
- have received a grant from Finland and are aged between 18 and 68.
About grant budgeting
When applying for a grant, it is important to specify all the stages of the project, including the costs, and to draw up a budget: where the money will come from and what it will be used for. Expenditure in the grant application budget may include salaries, material costs, rent for premises, marketing costs, employer’s fees, holiday allowances, insurance, travel expenses, etc. rehearsal and performance space, marketing costs, holiday allowances, insurance, travel expenses, etc.
When drawing up a budget, it is a good idea to refer to collective agreements and wage recommendations. This gives a clear view of what it actually costs to produce.
Click on the Grant Application Support link below to read one artistic designer’s important comments on applying for grants and budgeting.
To help you apply for grants Read more about salary recommendations for the theatre sector Read more about salaries in the theatre sector