Publicsin toimintaan vuosille 2020-2022

In 2020 Publics focused on long-term projects, thinking and collaborations. The organisation entered the third phase of organisational development, having firstly focused on creating platforms for collaboration with mainly international artists, visiting curators, and partners. Publics has been building upon artistic, educational and curatorial work by evolving towards having a stronger emphasis on engagement with longer term partnerships, new audiences and engaging diverse communities groups in its program, including minority culture workers, young people and constituent groups in Helsinki. In 2021 the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic yet again significantly redefined most of the planned program and many of the activities, which in 2020 had already been postponed until 2021. Much of this year was navigated through extreme uncertainties, and imagining ways and approaches as to how to adapt to the constantly changing and challenging circumstances, whilst supporting the artists, curators and other collaborators with whom we were committed to. PUBLICS had been planning a new learning program, inc. setting up a new initiative, PUBLICS Youth. Towards the end of 2021, PUBLICS was finally able to hire a new Curator of Learning who will now continue to have a key role working with public outreach and connecting with schools, educators and young people across the society. In 2022 Publics’ main focus was Open Up Helsinki with 8 European partners, co-financed from Creative Europe, connecting Helsinki-based professionals with international institutions and communities. The main events of the year included Open Up and Shape Helsinki Symposium looking at how equity, labour, money and structures of power are configured globally, while reflecting these questions back onto Helsinki’s cultural scene. The annual collaborative festival Today Is Our Tomorrow, presented alter-futures being enacted and with a special attention to the voices of young people, and the politics of listening. The one day gathering was planned and executed together with PUBLICS YOUTH, an Advisory Board and as a part of network with PRAKSIS (Oslo) and Index (Stockholm): three small-scale organisations dedicated to collaborating with young people to curate new models, formats
and modalities for future publics.

After 2022 PUBLICS enters a new phase of development with an emphasis on curatorial education and local engagement. This will be achieved through six program strands, with which PUBLICS will consolidate its reputation and set the future direction of the organization.