An accessible funding call supports the diversity of voices in the arts

At Kone Foundation, we want to ensure that artists from a wide variety of backgrounds and circumstances can apply for funding for professional artistic work. It is the funder’s responsibility to consider accessibility, both in the application and the evaluation processes, write grant specialist Silja Pasila and research and arts funding specialist Maija Karasvaara.

Applying for funding is demanding work — and it is particularly challenging if the language of the application form is unfamiliar, if the applicant has no prior experience applying for grants, or if they require special support for their work.

At Kone Foundation, we have spent a great deal of time considering how to make the funding application process more accessible to artists who are easily pushed to the margins of the fields of art. Taking different people and individual needs into account stems from the Foundation’s strategy: our mission is to create conditions for free and multi-voiced research and art.

Diverse backgrounds should not be a barrier to applying

We provide funding for professional artistic work. However, as the Foundation can only award grants to a small proportion of applicants, being a professional artist does not guarantee access to funding. In addition, current grant systems do not always adequately support the equal participation of artists who need special assistance or of self-taught “outsider” artists (ITE artists) in the arts field. Other groups outside the arts mainstream — such as immigrants — may also face obstacles.

At Kone Foundation, we aim to make our funding call accessible to people from different backgrounds and starting points. In recent years, we have paid attention to accessibility from different sensory perspectives: for example, our Finnish-language funding call info session in May is interpreted into Finnish Sign Language, and an instructional video is available to help applicants fill out the online form.

Accessibility also raises the question of whether working under a grant is truly possible for everyone. The need for assistance in one’s work — or even the perception that grant funding is inflexible — may discourage potential applicants. In our funding call, an artist needing special support can also apply for funding for a personal assistant, if necessary. Additionally, the amount of the monthly grant can be adjusted so it does not reduce the grantees’ rehabilitation benefits or disability pension, for instance.

Of course, much work remains to be done. That’s why we welcome feedback on the accessibility of our application process and funding. You can share your thoughts on the final page of our application form.

Evaluation is a key part of comprehensive accessibility

It is the funder’s responsibility to consider accessibility throughout the entire application process — including what happens after the applications have been submitted. That’s why it’s important to examine how the evaluation of applications can support equal opportunities for different kinds of applicants.

At Kone Foundation, applications are assessed by peer reviewers. In the autumn call, nearly 30 evaluators from different fields of art evaluate the applications independently. To ensure that funding is as equally accessible as possible to professional artists, our evaluator guidelines emphasize the importance of recognising personal biases and appreciating different artistic paths and ways of working.

In discussions with evaluators, differences between artistic fields are often mentioned. For example, written text tends to play a larger role in applications in literature than in visual arts. Even within a single field, an applicant’s written expression can be influenced by factors such as educational background and native language. A text-based application, therefore, doesn’t serve all applicants equally. However, in an open call it remains, at least for now, a practical necessity in our evaluation work.

Although evaluators’ decisions are guided by the focus areas of Kone Foundation, evaluation is ultimately subjective. It is crucial that evaluators are not only knowledgeable but also a diverse group, bringing with them a variety of lived experiences and backgrounds.  We also recruit new evaluators each year to introduce fresh perspectives and distribute the decision-making power more evenly.