Lauri Väkevä: Basic Arts Education for All

The focus of the research team is on Basic Education in the Arts, a characteristically Finnish system of extracurricular arts education. The team incorporates different research perspectives and foci to interrogate who this education is aimed at, serves, and belongs to. The criteria and conditions upon which extracurricular arts education is organized and developed in Finland is critically examined with the aim to empower education providers to face future challenges.

More specifically, the group is interested in what kinds of solutions can be envisioned, and implemented in order to empower social groups that are, for whatever reason, excluded by the current system. The group is also seeking to learn from existing policies or practices that enhance inclusiveness and participation in arts education, as a way to support and collaborate with others to develop such practices in the arts and cultural sectors.

The research team examines, for example, the political justifications for, and public regulation of, Basic Education in the Arts; gender equity in arts education institutions; opportunities for minoritized (both indigenous and immigrant) communities to engage in arts teaching and learning; and arts education for marginalized individuals and groups (such as older adults or persons with a disability) as a means to engage with diversity and advance inclusion in the field.

• Team leader: Professor Marja-Leena Juntunen, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Professor Lauri Väkevä (former team leader), Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Professor Heidi Westerlund, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Researcher Marja Heimonen, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Postdoctoral researcher Alexis Kallio, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Postdoctoral researcher Isto Turpeinen, Theatre Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Postdoctoral researcher Anna Kuoppamäki, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Adjunct professor Guadalupe López Íñiguez, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Doctoral student Tuulikki Laes, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Doctoral student Sanna Kivijärvi, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Doctoral student Lisa Fornhammar, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Doctoral student Hanna Kamensky, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
• Doctoral student Heidi Elmgren, University of Jyväskylä
• Doctoral student Kati Nieminen, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki