Evaluation and decisions

HOW ARE APPLICATIONS PROCESSED?

The processing of applications is based on peer review. The reviewers are specialists in the relevant field or sub-discipline under which the application has been assigned, and they have the necessary experience to assess applications.

There is usually just one reviewer per application. This way we can choose more interesting projects than when there are many reviewers who might have to compromise. Peer reviewers of Saari Residence applications generally vary from year to year so that we can maintain a plurality of views in the decision-making process.

We do not publish the names of the evaluators, as we wish to allow and encourage the evaluators and peer reviewers to make bold suggestions about which projects receive funding.

DECISIONS

Decisions regarding residency grants are made by the Board of Kone Foundation in a meeting held in mid-June.

A list of residency recipients is published on our website soon after the meeting. Residency recipients also receive a letter of notification in the mail and by email. The names of residency recipients are published in the Foundation’s annual report.

CRITERIA

The Board of Kone Foundation does not state the reasons for individual funding decisions. Among the criteria used in the reviewing process are the following:

  • The applicant’s artistic merit is evaluated by peer review on the basis of the applicant’s work plan, curriculum vitae and portfolio, along with the reference letters accompanying the application.
  • The artist’s work is innovative and current, and at least some of the residents represent new or marginal art forms. For each two-month residency period, diversity is emphasised: both Finnish and foreign and young and more experienced artists are chosen, as well as artists representing different art forms.
  • In addition to the artistic merits of the applicants, we also evaluate their possible eventual contributions to interactions that happen between residents (i.e., the Saari Well).
  • Practical issues influence decisions: for each two-month residency period, only one recipient whose work requires the use of the artist’s facilities or dance studio can be selected. Of the remaining residents, some can work in their apartments. In general, seven artists are selected for each of the four residence periods. The decisions also depend on which residency period is suitable for each particular applicant.
  • The decisions are influenced by the strategy of Kone Foundation.
  • The final decisions also consider the overall quality of each application in relation to all the others. Societal aspects and aspects of arts and research policy are considered too.

PRIVACY PROTECTION

All applications are handled confidentially. Persons involved in processing and evaluating the applications do not publicly discuss any applicant’s characteristics or personal circumstances or any information relating to an applicant’s economic situation.

The data that applicants convey about themselves by applying for Kone Foundation research funding are entered into a personal data register held by the Foundation. The registrar’s rights to collect, store, use and otherwise handle personal data are regulated by law. These general legal provisions are contained in the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/20014).

Every “data subject” (i.e., the person to whom the personal data pertains) has the right to access and inspect the personal data relating to themselves. According to Finnish privacy protection laws, secrecy regulations must not infringe upon the right of persons to obtain knowledge as to whether personal data pertaining to him or her is stored in a personal data register, and if so in what manner. The registrar must also respond to any requests for access to one’s own personal data by informing the person concerned of the sources of information in question. The registrar must also inform the person concerned as to how their personal data is used and of any third parties to which it is regularly released.

The right of access can be withheld in certain situations regulated by the privacy protection laws, and the right of access does not apply, i.e., to information collected for purely scientific and statistical purposes.

Requests for access to the personal registry data are to be sent to Kone Foundation in writing or made in person at the Kone Foundation office. For more information, see Sections 26-28 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999). The required information must be given without undue delay, in an intelligible form and in writing if requested. If carried out only once per year, the right of access is free of charge.

Information on Kone Foundation’s research grant applicant and recipient register and on implementing one’s right of access can be found in Kone Foundation’s Privacy Policy Statement.

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