Puhdistamo, (building 6)
Interview with Oivi Laine and Satu Tujunen:
"We moved to Suvilahti in July 2021. We used to have an office on Kalevankatu street, which was the old Helsinki Festival office. It became far too small when the Helsinki Events Foundation, which was founded in early 2019, took over the other events too and staff numbers grew. We managed to fit in by measuring it all out and drawing the desks on the floor plan, but it was a squeeze.
We went to look at premises in various locations in the city, including Kaisaniemi and Hakaniemi. Then we heard about the premises in Suvilahti. As soon as we saw this place we realised it was right for us. It was over a year before we were able to move. We were unable to let go of the old premises as quickly as we would have wanted.
Artists and fishers
We do all of Helsinki’s major events. Ten events in total, including the biennial Musica nova contemporary music festival. It is held at the start of the year, as is the Chinese New Year Festival. Veteran’s Day is in April, Helsinki Day is on 12 June, the Helsinki Festival at the turn of August-September, then it is the turn of the Baltic Herring Market. In December there is the Christmas Market and the Mayor’s Independence Day Reception for fourth-graders. And at the turn of the year there is Helsinki New Year and of course Lux Helsinki.
We have a maximum of around twenty people working in the office in times of normal physical presence, and we also buy in a lot of services. For example, marketing and production have their own partners. The number of partners has increased in recent years. Especially now that we have more events. In the past it was just the Helsinki Festival and Musica nova. Indirectly we employ hundreds of people annually, from website designers to artists and fishers.
Suvilahti feels like home
Our staff think the location is excellent. When we started planning our move, we took a vote on interesting areas where people might want to go. This area was in the top 3 at least. At that point the city centre topped the list since that’s where we were then.
This feels like home. Our staff have different, exciting backgrounds, coming from the performance and theatre world for example. This is a distinctive environment for the foundation. A stone building in the centre feels a slightly dull environment.
The richness of Suvilahti is that there are many different operators here, with both art and businesses. They make up a community where we can inspire each other. This is especially important post-Covid. The operators appear to interact well. As soon as we moved here in the summer, we were able to watch the Suvilahti summer theatre. It’s great we can explore new avenues together. Audiences seem to have discovered this place too.
And it’s good the way people are not afraid of trying new ways of using the existing space. A good example is the Kino GAS movie theatre in the steel gasometer.
This is a wonderful little town. If you go out with the trash, say, you always notice new shapes in the rooflines and the doors. In in the evening thrilling shafts of light appear between the buildings.
One thing we missed in the office in the summer was ice cream. An ice cream van could stop in Suvilahti, then we wouldn’t need to go to Jädelino in the Teurastamo area."
In autumn 2021. Photo: Anni Sundell