Art and climate in Oulu, Finland's European Capital of Culture 2026
- maxwell museums
- 14 hours ago
- 6 min read
Oulu is the European Capital of Culture 2026, and its year of celebrations have already kicked off with a bang. Finland's fifth biggest city has a culture and events programme centered around climate and creativity. To find out more about what Oulu has planned and why they wanted the prestigious title, here I interview Piia Rantala-Korhonen, the CEO of Oulu2026.
This interview first appeared in the maxwell museums newsletter. Subscribe here
What do the cities of Marseille, Copenhagen and Liverpool have in common?
It’s actually something that these well-known destinations also share with lesser-known gems such as Patras (Greece), Sibiu (Romania) and Guimarães (Portugal).
The answer: they have all held the title of European Capital of Culture.
Set up in 1985, the annual designation aims to highlight the richness and diversity of culture across the continent. In its 41-year history, the spotlight has shone on Europe’s most-visited cities, as well as those that fly somewhat under the radar (which increasingly, is the point.)
Two cities jointly host the title each year (except the years when bafflingly there are three). For 2026, it’s the turn of Trenčín in Slovakia, and Oulu in Finland.
And it’s this Finnish city — the country’s fifth-largest in terms of population and located just 100 miles from the Arctic Circle — that’s the focus of today’s interview.
I’ve wanted to interview someone leading a European Capital of Culture programme for a while. After all, it’s essentially culture’s version of the Olympics (sorry Venice).
So I’m delighted to bring you this chat with Piia Rantala-Korhonen, the CEO of Oulu2026. She’s led the organisation delivering the year-long celebrations since 2022, but has been involved right from the beginning when the city first bid for the title nearly a decade ago.
Here we chat about Oulu’s landmark new art trail, what the legacy of the title will be in years to come, and the importance of making sure 220,000 residents have your back, all year long.
Hello Piia! So, for those who aren’t familiar with Oulu, sum the city up in a couple of sentences.
Oulu is next to the Arctic, the biggest city in Northern Europe with about 220,000 residents. The population is well educated and young. There are four seasons. Nature is near us every day.
You kicked off your year with two huge events. How did they go?
The first kick-off was broadcast on national TV! [Finnish public broadcaster] YLE 1 broadcast the traditional New Year’s Eve show from Oulu Hall. It was a great success with over a million people watching it during the evening.
The Opening Festival weekend in the city center in mid-January saw 200 cultural events across 20 venues. Most of them were free. All together, there were 250,000 visits to those events during the weekend. Dr Beatriz Garcia (a member of the European Capital of Culture Selection Committee) published an article on her Substack. She wrote that Oulu successfully created a new concept for the opening, turning the city centre into a cultural arena.
Why did Oulu want to bid for European Capital of Culture?
Oulu is known as a high-tech city. Oulu2026 wants to bring culture and creativity further into the heart of the city. It will help Oulu have a stronger creative industry, so that we can combine the high-tech that is already there, with more creativity.
In June, you’ll open the Climate Clock art trail. Tell us about this project.
Climate Clock is one of the flagship projects produced by Oulu Culture Foundation [the organisers of the year-long programme].
Curator Alice Sharp has chosen six artists to make artworks which will be installed in six places around Oulu (only one of them will be in the city center). The artworks will highlight the resilience and adaptability of nature, and will be located — with the exception of Oulu city — in natural settings such as forests, rivers and seashores. The permanent works are part of the legacy of Oulu2026. The artists are Antti Laitinen, Ranti Bam, Gabriel Kuri, SUPERFLEX, Rana Begum and Takahiro Iwasaki.
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Also as part of the project, artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen have made an artwork — called The Most Valuable Clock in the World — together with residents of Oulu. People have donated their most important moments of their lives as material for this work.
How do you ensure the city’s residents are with you, and support you throughout the year?
The whole journey of Oulu2026 has been made together with the residents.
In autumn 2017 we asked the local children and young people their dreams of Oulu in 2026 — those answers created the values for our work. During the bidding phase we met over 200 local communities and discussed their wishes concerning the programme.
The Cultural Programme has been built using open calls. The final call was open from September 2024 to August 2025 and we got over 1,600 proposals, about 500 were taken to the programme and part of them got financing from Oulu Culture Foundation. The programme is not made for the people, it is made with the people!
How is the year funded?
We got most of our financing from the City of Oulu and the Finnish state — €20 million from both. From private foundations we have got over €500,000. From sponsors we expect to get about €1.5m.
In total the budget will be about €50 million, but the added value for the local economy will be about €250 million, as all visitors will spend money for eating and drinking, hotels etc.
The Oulu Culture Foundation has financed the cultural projects with €12m, but the criteria for projects to get financing has been that they must get financing from other sources, too. This means that the value of the cultural programme will be more than what will show in our accounts.
When 2026 comes to end, what will success look like for you?
We will publish a self-evaluation report about the results of the year in November 2027. The report will tell the social, economic and cultural impacts of the year.
But some results have already happened: I have never seen so many smiling people in the city as there were during the opening festivals. The owners of cafes, shops and restaurants have told me about multiplying their sales, and the hotels were fully booked! Even the most sceptical people had to admit that the opening was a big success.
And what will the future legacy of this year be?
The legacy of the year will hopefully be long-lasting.
The year will end but there will be new capacity which the cultural professional can use in their future work. Oulu has become a member of the network of European Capitals of Culture, we have colleagues all over Europe now, and Oulu based artists can find working opportunities in the future capitals.
We have hundreds of volunteers who probably want to continue active volunteering in cultural events. We have shown that you can make world-class art and culture in many varied kinds of buildings, including an exhibition with Fotografiska Tallinn which is in the Pekuri shopping mall.
Of course the legacy also needs resources, and the City Council has embraced the legacy as one of their main goals of their 2026–2029 strategy.
Finally, what are some of the other highlights of the programme you are most looking forward to this year, that people should not miss?
There are four beautiful seasons in Oulu and the Oulu2026-region, all seasons are full of culture and art.
In the summer season I would recommend you join the Summer Night’s Dinner: a kilometre-long dinner table in the city center, surrounded with cultural and artistic performances and opportunities to experience local flavours!
At the end of the year there will be a fascinating Snowball musical composed by Douglas Pashley and directed by Paul Garrington. The story of the musical combines Christmas and the Kalevala legends, it is suitable for families who want to believe in fairytales and Santa Claus.
Explore the Oulu2026 programme here. Climate Clock opens in June. Finnair flies from London Heathrow to Oulu via Helsinki
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