Helsinki Festival is the largest arts festival in the Nordic countries that aims to make art accessible for all. This year's festival takes place from 19 August to 5 September in Finland's capital city.
Helsinki Festival will open on 19 August with Philip Glass’s Heroes Symphony and Brian Eno’s 77 million paintings exhibition in Helsinki Music Centre. The exhibition will remain open until 5 September. The opening concert can also be watched online by a livestream.
The three Festival weekends will see a total of almost a thousand Art Gifts delivered around Helsinki. Anyone can book a short art performance for a friend or loved one. The content of each Art Gift will be a surprise both to the person booking it and to the recipient. The Art Gifts will be provided by a number of prominent Finnish artists ranging from musicians to dancers, circus performers and poets. Performances last 5-10 minutes and will be delivered in the recipient’s yard or under their balcony, for example. In addition, around 50 intimate Block Concerts will be heard in Helsinki courtyards on the closing weekend of the Helsinki Festival.
Some festival performance had to be cancelled due to Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland’s decision that from 20 August public events may only be organised by separating audiences into blocks. Find the latest information and the entire program on festival's website.
