An Artistic Community and a Workplace

How Finnish Independent Theatres Interact with Money

Abstract

The article analyzes how money interacts with the practices and organizational activities of independent theatres in Finland in the 2010s. It discusses what kind of development the interaction entails or favors in the wider context of Finnish cultural policy. We share the results of Visio (2015-16), an empirical study and development project funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture and carried out with four professional independent theatres, which originated as group theatres, but are now institutionalized and operate with discretionary state subsidies. During the development project supported by Theatre Centre Finland, the study observed aspects of organizational development and learning as well as sustainable work in the said theatres. This was done via ethnographic and multiple case study methodologies. The study defined a theatre organization as a community for artistic work and a workplace for a diverse group of theatre professionals. The cases and the ethnographies were then reflected against current Finnish cultural policy.
As descendants of the group theatre movement – arising from artistic ambition and opposition to commercialism – Finnish independent theatres have developed in different directions in their ideas of theatre, artistic visions, objectives, production models, and positioning in the field. Yet, there is a tendency to define independent theatres in opposition to theatres subsidized by law (the so-called VOS theatres), instead of laying stress on their specific artistic or operational visions or characteristics. This emphasis is present in public discussions, but also in the self-definitions of independent theatres. Money, and the economic affairs it underlines, strongly interact with the development, organizational learning, and working culture of Finnish independent theatres. Theoretically, we promote a Simmelian framework that stresses the socio-cultural dimension of money. Thus, we examine how the practices of the monetary economy are present in the practices and the development of independent theatres, and how this reflects their position within the current cultural policy and funding systems. Based on the above, the article suggests a more versatile approach to artistic independent theatres – one that emphasizes recognizing the heterogeneity of their operating models and artistic orientations, and their roles as diverse artistic communities aside from workplaces.