Frame’s Annual Report 2025

Frame’s Annual Report for 2025 has been published. The annual report includes key numbers, highlights, and events from last year. Read a summary of last year’s key moments below.

In 2025, Frame focused on our core activities: we enabled numerous international exhibitions and other presentations of Finnish contemporary art around the world. We initiated new collaborations by facilitating connections between Finnish and international art professionals. We also participated in networks and development projects that strengthen the visual arts sector in Finland.

Through our work, we see firsthand how Finnish artists want to reach out to the international art scene, where there is also great interest in their work. Working abroad is an essential part of the artistic practice and career development of numerous contemporary artists. International exhibitions and events offer contemporary art professionals networks and work opportunities. Participating in this dialogue is also essential for the development of artistic practice.

In 2025, Finnish contemporary art was prominently featured on the international stage. Frame’s grants supported nearly 130 exhibitions, performances, networking trips, and international art publications.

The art export is currently having much-needed momentum in Finnish cultural policy. Strengthening cultural exports and international connections has been named as a goal in both the Cultural Policy Report and the Growth Strategy for the Creative Sectors, which Frame participated in drafting.

At the same time, the unstable funding situation in the cultural sector affected visual arts practitioners last year. The total amount of Frame’s operating funding and grants allocated by the state decreased by nearly 200,000 euros. This has inevitably affected the volume and impact of our activities. At the same time, we have begun to build new partnerships and collaboration models. We are seeking solutions to the changed situation so that the long-term sustainability of international activities in contemporary art is not jeopardised.

During the year, we launched a strategy process that will be completed in the fall of 2026. Frame’s new strategy aims to find ways to strengthen the pathways for Finnish contemporary art to reach the world in a situation where the operating environment is significantly affected by unstable global politics and the economic situation.

One of our key international initiatives last year took place in Finland. Together with HAM Helsinki Art Museum, we organized the opening week of the Helsinki Biennial, which was attended by over 800 contemporary art professionals, a significant number of whom were from abroad. Through our Visitor Programme for international art professionals, 24 curators and institutional representatives visited Finland. We also organised two study trips to the Istanbul and São Paulo Biennials, where Finnish art professionals had the opportunity to build international connections and explore the art scenes in different cities.

In Finland, visitor numbers at visual arts venues are at an all-time high: According to statistics compiled by Frame, a new record of 5.3 million visitors was set at Finnish visual arts venues over the course of the year. Museums and galleries are drawing large audiences, while art sales have not grown at the same pace. In the Autumn, we published a report on the state of the Finnish art market and ways to strengthen it. Efforts to develop the art market will continue in 2026.

In the art ecosystem, both big institutions and small grassroots actors play a role in building the vitality and operating conditions of the entire field. The impact of international activities also stems from collaboration. In total, Frame collaborated with over 60 Finnish and international organisations last year.

A heartfelt thank you to all the artists, art professionals, partners and collaborators who participated in our activities, both near and far.

For the Annual Report, we also interviewed Frame’s grantees about their international projects and how Frame’s grants have impacted their international careers. Interviews with artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö, and Biret Haarla Pieski and Hayden Dean are available in English on Frame’s blog.

Read the Annual Report (in Finnish)– Link opens in new window

Frame’s activities in 2025

• 24 international expert visitors, who had a total of 91 meetings in Finland with local artists and organizations.
• 129 funded grant projects, involving 179 artists and 22 art experts.
• 55 graduating artists and 16 curators participated in portfolio review sessions.
• 2 study trips abroad, attended by 15 contemporary art professionals.
• 12 public events, attended by over 900 people.
• 5,3 million people visited Finnish visual arts venues.
• 38,000 visitors to Frame’s website and 12,700 Instagram followers.
• Collaboration with over 60 organisations in Finland and abroad.