The TelepART Mobility Support programme supports performers in the early and mid stages of their careers and enables them to expand their work internationally. FinnAgora coordinates and grants TelepART funding for travel costs of performing arts projects between Finland and the region of Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, Croatia and Romania. 

In 2024, FinnAgora granted funding for a total of 16 performing arts projects. As usual we opened the TelepART applications in January, but due to high demand we had to close the applications in September. With the help of the grant, FinnAgora enabled the international travel of performances across a wide spectrum, including dance acts, stand-up comedy, puppet theatre, folk music and classical concerts.

  • Performance artist and researcher of the University of Lapland Marija Griniuk held a public performance-lecture for students and others interested in how archival material can be used in performance art at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Czechia in April.
  • Facilitated by the International Centre of Slavic Music Brno, pianist, conductor and composer Olli Mustonen was the artist in residence for the 29th Concentus Moraviae International Music Festival. He performed at three concerts in the Czech towns of Kyjov, Boskovice and Slavkov. 
  • Stand up comedian Kaisa Pylkkänen brought her comedy special “No Penis, No Knowledge” to Eastern Europe, performing at the Metro Comedy Club in Prague and at the Edison Comedy Club in Budapest.
  • Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen played a solo concert on the opening night of the Respect festival at Prague’s Palac Akropolis in May, showcasing the unique “Omniwerk” keyboard instrument to the tunes of neo-classical and contemporary jazz music.
  • Six-member folk band Gobé together with violinist Oscar Berteen performed Hungarian traditional music and held a workshop at the Finnish Haapavesi Folk Music Festival. Following this, Gobé toured the Baltic countries and Poland.
  • Also at Haapavesi Folk Music Festival in May you could find the Hungarian folk music band Pengetős Trió, who played both with Gobé and performed a solo concert. The band also held a week-long Hungarian folk music masterclass in Haapavesi.
  • In September, dancer and choreographer Rita Góbi together with her group Góbi Dance Company visited the Manifesti festival in Turku to stage the dance performances “2sqm” and “Freestyle”. Rita Góbi also held a masterclass for professional dancers in Turku, and Gobi Dance Company performed “2sqm” also in Helsinki’s Cable Factory in collaboration with PerformanceSirkus. 
  • Hungarian-educated and Helsinki-based contemporary dance performer and teacher Kornélia Mangi together with her group were able to revisit Budapest to perform “Follia”, a choreography by Laura Tóth, at the Mu Theatre.
  • Czechia-based choreographer and performer Carolina Arandia and sound designer and performer Valtteri Alanen together brought the performance “Underwater” to Tehdas Teatteri in Turku, as part of an artistic research residency.
  • Slovenian Matija Solce visited the SAMPO Festival in Helsinki arranged by Puppet Theatre Sampo, bringing along the performance “Harms Fault!”, an object-based theatre of the absurd combined with a live concert.
  • Also at the SAMPO Festival organised by Puppet Theatre Sampo was the ensemble Terén Brno – composed of Czech artist-performers Veronika Vlková and Robert Smolik – with the interactive performance “Little Visitors” combining exhibition with theatre. 
  • The Finnish puppet and object theatre KO-KOO-MO’s “Block Theatre” show was brought to two Slovenian festivals in August: PUF in Koper and Summer Puppet Pier in Maribor.
  • Finnish flutist Päivi Väisänen and concert pianist Jari Tyni performed together at the international summer festival Za poklady Broumovska, at the St. George and St. Martin church near Broumov in Czechia.
  • Helsinki-based multidisciplinary artist Teo Ala-Ruona brought the solo-performance “Anabolic Spectacle” to the Organ Vida festival in Zagreb, Croatia. The show was enabled by dramaturgical assistance from Even Minn.
  • Finnish musician Jimi Tenor joined the Croatian Hommage Collective, a group of 15 prominent instrumentalists and vocalists, as guest soloist at a concert at cultural club Peti Kupe in Zagreb, to the tunes of club, pop, jazz and beyond.
  • Hungarian actor and director Ágnes Kaszás visited the international art collective Recover Laboratory in Helsinki to put on her one-woman show “Does the World Need Actors, Anyway?”, as well as a series of workshops.

Information on next year’s TelepART Mobility Support funding will be published in January 2025.

 

Photo: Kornélia Mangi / Laura Tóth: Follia