We are committed to promoting equality and non-discrimination

Our first own equality plan is valid from 2019 to 2022. The implementation and execution of the plan will be overseen by a working group and a person in charge of equality. 

Our entire staff is committed to promoting equality. We monitor the implementation of equality in various ways.

The promotion of equality is based on Finnish law (the Constitution of Finland and the Non-discrimination Act).

We are a non-discriminatory workplace.

We have safer space policy, which will be developed more  2021-2022.

We have also answered to the Call for action for Finnish art institutions regarding inclusivity, equality and antiracism. Read more: Call for action for Finnish art institutions – Our answers.

Our office has declared itself a discrimination-free zone. Declaring a discrimination-free zone means actively tackling discrimination, intervening if discrimination occurs and recognizing the equality of all people.

Our equality plan [in Finnish only].

We are actively tackling discrimination and racism.

Our goal is to provide guidance on tackling discrimination and inappropriate treatment in 2021.

In accordance with our equality plan 2019-2022, we are finalizing our safer space guidelines in 2021. The draft of our safer space rules is in use at all our events.

We strive for norm-critical approach

We identify norms that support power structures, such as the heteronorm, the whiteness norm, and the ableist norm. We seek to identify and avoid normative practices and assumptions that limit and exclude many members of minorities.

We strive to ensure that every employee and participant in the Culture for All Service has the opportunity to contribute to the Service's practices so that they become more equal.

We strive for diversity in recruitment

In accordance with our equality plan, we have developed our recruitment to a more diverse direction in 2019-2020. In our job advertisements, we encourage individuals of all genders, gender identities and different minorities to apply, regardless of the applicant's ethnic origin, disability, religion or age. Depending on the position, we aim to encourage, for example, people of the disabled minority to apply. The accessibility of our office is always stated in our job advertisements. The needs of new employees are discussed with the employee and the necessary adjustments are made before starting work.

We strive to ensure that our language requirements are not exclusive. We develop multilingual working methods that can be used to support the inclusion of non-Finnish-speaking employees or employees who use sign language.

At the moment, our staff is white. Although we have developed our recruitment in a more diverse direction, we still have work to do to make our staff more diverse.

Orientation of new staff

We orientate our new staff with the promotion of equality. For example, getting to know our equality plan is part of the orientation process for every new employee, trustee and board member. 

In our equality plan 2019-2022, one of our goals is to develop an orientation package for new employees and guidelines for tackling discrimination and inappropriate treatment. The orientation package is being developed in 2020.

We study

We seek to recognize our privileges, structural discrimination and racism in our society.

Our goal is that our staff can identify issues related to discrimination and racism. We encourage our staff to study the topic and participate in education. For example, we study anti-racist tools and share them with each other.

We also study and share information and tools related to accessibility and equality with each other.

Every employee is allowed to spend a regular reading day, which allows us to update our knowledge of equality, accessibility and anti-racism.

In our equality plan 2019-2022, the goal is to provide staff with training in recognizing and eliminating discrimination, for example, we will have an education about master suppression techniques in the autumn of 2020 or spring of 2021.

We network

We work with a number of equality advocates. We try to listen carefully to the various minorities.

Communication

We are use our voice for equality, anti-racism and accessibility in the name of our core mission. We are committed to reporting on our own work on equality, accessibility and anti-racism in our communication channels.

In all our communication, education and publishing activities, as well as in our public performances, we favor material such as images and videos that highlight the diversity of our society.

The diversity and accessibility of our purchases and events 

We consider diversity and accessibility in all of our purchases and events, such as purchases of services (e.g., online communications, illustrations, and interpreting and translation services) and in the selection of speakers for events organized by the Service.

We are committed to tackling discrimination and racism at our events. We are finalizing our safer space guidelines in 2021.

We ask for feedback about equality, accessibility and diversity  after all the events we organize. We develop our work based on feedback.

We give time for advocacy work

Our staff is allowed to participate in demonstrations on human rights (not party political) and on climate strikes for four hours a year during working hours.

Please note: We are still working on the translation of this page and this text is incomplete in English. Read more about the topic in Finnish here.