Funding reform could protect Finland’s music schools as populations shrink

A proposed funding reform could help keep arts education available across Finland as shrinking populations threaten music schools and other arts institutions, particularly in remote areas, Yle reports. Parliament is considering a law change intended to secure teaching nationwide from autumn 2027.

Many regions are losing residents through migration, while birth rates are also falling. Without sufficient funding, schools may have to reduce teaching groups and the range of instruments they offer. Students could also face longer journeys to lessons.

At the Lounais-Häme Music Institute, a music school with operations in Forssa and nearby locations, guitar student Vili Uusitalo travels about 10 to 15 kilometres for lessons. He says he would continue attending even if the journey became longer or the school reduced its number of locations.

Uusitalo began playing guitar at the end of eighth grade and hopes to study at the Sibelius Academy and become a professional musician. Over the past year, he has performed at gigs and used the money he earned to buy equipment for his band.

The institute’s principal, Simo Veistola, says smaller age groups will require schools to consider carefully how lessons are organised. Combining students of different ages in the same groups could prove difficult, he says. The institute’s enrolment has not yet fallen, but he expects challenges ahead.

Under the proposed funding model, teaching hours would remain a basis for state subsidies, alongside student numbers and the number of students who complete their syllabus. The reform also aims to guarantee a minimum number of teaching hours in areas where the population is declining.

Basic education in the arts is voluntary for municipalities to provide. The current system would be replaced by a shared 50-credit syllabus across all art forms. About 130,000 students take part in basic arts education each year, and institutions operate in around 85 per cent of Finnish municipalities.

Veistola is cautiously positive about the reform if municipalities continue to share costs. He says instrument options and teaching groups could be reduced if funding falls short. Piano teacher and assistant principal Terhi Karhumäki says concern about schools’ futures and jobs is real, though professionals do not believe there is reason for panic.

Karhumäki says remote teaching is not a lasting solution for learning music, emphasising the importance of meeting children in person and interaction between teachers and students.