The importance of culture to the GDPs of European countries is very significant. This fact is unfortunately not considered enough to be brought up, nor does it seem important to politicians. The significance of culture, or how we are perceived in other countries, is very important. I have been in charge of important Finnish cultural investments in France and Germany and through hands-on work I have seen how much success culture has brought in these cases – in the media as well as in practical cooperation in various cultural fields.

Every year France invites the official departments of a country or two to Paris and other parts of the country to present their culture and current experts in the field. In the spring of 2008 it was Finland’s turn. For the whole spring Paris and many other cities in France were full of modern Finnish culture for a project called 100% Finlande.

The idea was to bring our culture to the forefront through new and emerging genres, circuses, comics, media, dance and many other art forms. Over 500 events were organised in the most prestigious cultural institutions, squares, clubs and everywhere else. The media was closely involved, which resulted in thousands of articles, interviews and reviews.

The most memorable events were the Huutajat (‘Bidders’) concert at the Exit Festival in a Paris suburb, the Tero Saarinen Company’s Mekassa modern dance night in the Théâtre du Châtelet, the week of marketplace events in Paris’s St Sulpice Square presented by the City of Helsinki, the French translation of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää’s trilogy, which was translated straight from the Sami language, and of course the Paris buses that had huge culture banners on their sides!

The result was wide visibility and a public interest in our culture and of Finland in general, as well as an increased cultural cooperation network which continues to bring projects and guests to both countries. The most important thing, however, was to be able to demonstrate our culture’s inherent value, so that the contents of the events above were good for the whole of Finland.