Authors

• Ministry of Education and Culture

Keywords

COVID-19, arts, bacterial and virus diseases, cultural events, culture, dismissal, economic conditions, lay-offs

Abstract

The survey charted the impacts of COVID-19 on the activities the of arts, culture and creative sector in Finland. The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture to examine the current situation of the Finnish cultural section as affected by the exceptional circumstances. Survey respondents included both organisations and individuals working in the arts and culture sector. A related follow-up survey, conducted in January 2021, is also archived at FSD (FSD3531 Impact of COVID-19 on the Finnish Cultural Sector 2021). The respondents in the two datasets cannot be connected.

First, the respondents were asked whether their or their organisation's activities had been carried out as planned, either with small or significant modifications, during the pandemic, or whether the pandemic had prevented their activities completely. The respondents were also asked whether they thought they could carry out their activities normally in the next three, six and 12 months. Open-ended responses were collected on the financial and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and culture sector. The respondents were first asked to consider the period between 15 March and 31 May 2020 in their responses, and then the period between 1 June and 31 August 2020 with the presumption that the COVID-19 restrictions would continue until the end of August. The respondents were also asked how likely they thought temporary lay-offs and dismissals during the same time periods.

Background variables included the type of the respondent's organisation, main field of the respondent's activities, and whether the respondent's organisation received central government transfers.