Inclusion

The opportunities for inclusion are not the same for everyone. There are discriminatory structures and practices in the activities of cultural bodies that prevent, among other things, the inclusion of different minority groups in the culture.

Inclusion is not the same as participation. According to the Arts & Health Coordination Centre in Finland, Taikusydän, participating in culture means participating in various art and cultural events and services, as well as making and creating art on your own. Cultural inclusion, on the other hand, has a strong advocacy perspective, which means that people have the opportunity to participate in developing and deciding on cultural activities and services.

The National Institute for Health and Welfare has divided inclusion into three areas:

• Inclusion in one's own life
• Inclusion in the community and the process of influencing
• Inclusion in the Common Good

Source: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Areas of Inclusion (in Finnish) 

From the point of view of cultural inclusion, participation in one's own life means, among other things, that one has the opportunity to decide which cultural activities or services one participates in. The success of this principle presupposes that information on cultural services reaches a wide variety of audiences and that activities are accessible.

A person can live a life of their own, which is also reflected in cultural life. This means that cultural offerings are diverse and activities create opportunities for diverse cultural identities and expressions. The activities support various opportunities for participation and ways of being involved, experiencing and creating a culture.

Everyone can find content that is meaningful to them and participate in different roles in cultural life without fear of discrimination. Culture strengthens everyone's sense of community and togetherness.

Inclusion in the community and in the process of influencing is an important part of promoting cultural inclusion. This means that cultural life and its structures and services promote and maintain the creative activities of different communities and the strengthening of their diverse cultural identities.

The structures of culture and inclusion that support diversity make it possible for everyone to find important communities in cultural life and influence their activities. In addition, structures that support diversity have a wider impact on, for example, the diversity of cultural content in public services and the accessibility of cultural services.

Participation in the common good is at the core of cultural inclusion and its experience. According to Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, "[E]veryone should have the opportunity to enjoy the common good, to participate in the production of the common good, and to share it with others. Participating in such activities results in appreciation, praise, and connections with other people.” Source: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Participation in the common good (in Finnish)

The promotion of inclusion is strengthened by the creation of policies and solutions that enable representatives of different population groups to access the production and sharing of culture. This requires the promotion of equality from the cultural services of municipalities and cities. In this way, especially disadvantaged groups will be involved and visible as equals, as well as producing diverse cultural content while at the same time investing in the common good.

To whom does the experience of inclusion belong? Read more about the experience of inclusion on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (in Finnish).

A weak experience of inclusion means, among other things, that a person does not get involved in activities that are meaningful to him or herself and does not have opportunities to influence the development of cultural actors and services. As a result, he is excluded from cultural experiences, which can further deepen his exclusion.

Timeout - Deepening Understanding with Dialogue

In the Equal Oulu2026 project, we organised dialogue events to discuss and hear people's different experiences of what culture and cultural inclusion means to them. At the same time, the goal was to gain an understanding of the diverse meanings of culture, the paths of human participation and obstacles. At the events, we used the Timeout method (read more from Sitra.fi).

The purpose of the Equal Oulu2026 project's timeout discussion was to reflect on what kind of discrimination people experience in cultural life. The purpose of the events was to gain knowledge and a better understanding of the diverse experiences of diverse people. The key was to examine the possibilities and obstacles of inclusion from both one's own and others' perspectives.  

In the project, we organised two timeout discussions in Kajaani and Pyhäjärvi. The theme of the events was cultural participation. The discussions were attended by residents of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds as well as residents belonging to minority groups, representatives of cultural actors in the area, and decision-makers.

Questions for discussion:

• What personal experiences does cultural inclusion bring to you?
• Do cultural rights apply to everyone in our community? 
• What are the challenges of cultural inclusion in our society/locality? 
• How can we better promote everyone's cultural participation in our community? 

The main conclusions of the discussion can help organizations to reflect on the development of their own cultural services or programmes.

Benefits of Cultural Participation

• Participation in culture has had a really positive effect on the lives of the debaters and has increased people's cultural well-being
• A wide range of hobbies help in difficult life situations and support mental health
• In the diverse cultural experiences, there are comparable life destinies and feelings, as well as objects of identification.
• Working together strengthens social inclusion and prevents exclusion
• Influencing cultural offerings supports the visibility of diverse cultural identities and expressions in the cultural life of the locality

Obstacles to cultural participation

• Lack of information, communication is not attainable
• Cultural service providers' assumptions and prejudices about people's language skills and cultural differences
  lack of cooperation
• Events/atmosphere do not support diversity: negative attitudes, prejudices and lack of competence 
• Accessibility is not achieved
• Municipal inclusion methods are not accessible to minorities
• A lack of resources is seen as an obstacle to the development of diversity and non-discrimination work

Tips for Promoting the Inclusion of Immigrant Residents

Based on the timeout discussions, we created a list of tips to strengthen diversity and especially to promote the inclusion of immigrant residents in municipal cultural activities:

• Promoting cultural diversity is an important part of equality work, by which we ensure that cultural rights and inclusion in cultural life are realized for everyone. People of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds may be exposed to multiple discrimination because of their own background. The Non-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on grounds such as origin, colour, nationality or nationality, language, religion, health, disability, sexual orientation or other personal reasons.
• In Finland, everyone has the right to their own language and culture and the right to participate in culture and art.
• It is important that municipal cultural services develop policies and inclusion models that make cultural diversity visible and strengthen intercultural dialogue and good demographic relations. A good example is the international café in Pyhäjärvi, which is a meeting place for diversity peer learning and low-threshold encounters.
• The cooperation of municipal cultural services and institutions with local immigrant communities and organisations is a good way to make cultural services more familiar, meet new audiences and lower the threshold to participate in cultural life. Cooperation can mean, for example, planning common events, presenting funding opportunities and supporting communities' self-motivated cultural activities or co-development workshops to develop the accessibility of cultural services.
• Regularly increasing the competence of municipal decision-makers and employees in cultural diversity and equality significantly strengthens local equality work and the dismantling of structural discrimination and racism.
• Creating safer spaces in municipal services and cultural events promotes an atmosphere that accepts diversity and openness, as well as participation without fear of discrimination.
• Municipalities play a major role and have the opportunity to create employment opportunities for professionals of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in the arts and culture sector, e.g. by designing cultural events, exhibitions, theatre performances or art projects from the perspective of promoting diversity.
• Positive special treatment is one concrete way to promote the realization of de facto equality and to ensure goal-oriented employment opportunities for art and cultural factors belonging to minority groups.
• Multilingual communication makes cultural diversity visible and reaches diverse audiences.
• The use of simple/easy language in cultural services, for example in communication and the guidance of cultural objects and events, such as art exhibitions, promotes the inclusion of immigrants and the accessibility of cultural services and communication in municipalities with foreign languages.

Tools for organizing dialogue sessions

TIMEOUT DISCUSSION (Sitra.fi) 

DIALOGUE CARDS (Taike.fi)