Kaikukortti Reaches One Hundred Municipalities
19.2.2024
Culture will soon be available in a hundred municipalities with Kaikukortti! The hundredth municipality committed to participating in the nationwide Kaikukortti initiative in January 2024.
Municipalities, in collaboration with welfare areas, maintain a system where low income clients of social and healthcare services, as well as services promoting well-being and health, can use cultural and sports services free of charge.
Kaikukortti also supports family participation and intergenerational consumption of culture. According to Statistics Finland, in 2022, there were 730,800 people with low incomes, and 118,900 children lived in households with low incomes in Finland. Kaikukortti doesn’t reach nearly everyone, but there are currently over 17,500 cardholders, and over 500 services distribute the card. At the turn of the year, the limit of 100,000 uses of Kaikukortti was broken. Children have participated in cultural or sports activities 20,000 times with their parents or grandparents.
Over 450 cultural and sports facilities are currently part of the Kaikukortti system, demonstrating the strong solidarity of the cultural sector and participating sports operators towards the card’s target group. This valuable gesture from the cultural sector, in turn, supports the realization of the cultural rights of citizens living in a difficult economic situation.
Kaikukeskus develops, disseminates, and coordinates Kaikukortti nationally. The collaborative development work for the Kaikukortti system began in 2014. Espoo was the first pilot municipality in 2015. Kaikukeskus is part of the Culture for All Service, whose goal is an equal and diverse cultural field. The basic funding for the Culture for All Service comes from the Ministry of Education and Culture.
For more information:
Aura Linnapuomi, Specialist, accessibility and Kaikukortti
Kaikukeskus – Development and support services for Kaikukortti
Culture for All Service
050 931 0576
Seppo Mallenius, ICT Planner, Kaikukortti Database Kaikukanta and Statistics
Kaikukeskus – Development and support services for Kaikukortti
Culture for All Service
040 554 4321