Page 6 - Roi_Kultti-kotouttamisohjelma_inEnglish

Some people, who have originally come to ff The city’s organisation must raise the whole
Rovaniemi temporarily, start to put down roots in
the area; on the other hand, many people who have
settled in Rovaniemi permanently are forced to change
their mind. For an immigrant, staying in Rovaniemi
might become more difficult because of, for example, a
lack of social or professional networks, unemployment,
Finnish language skills that are felt to be insufficient,
or difficulties in maintaining a way of life that differs
from the majority population. Cultural services can
influence all of these reasons.
New inhabitants of Rovaniemi want
to learn to know their neighbours
The Kultti project arranged seven meetings with
a customer panel consisting of immigrants. Each
meeting involved a subject related to cultural life. In
its first meeting, the panel defined culture. The panel
determined that the most important form of culture
was doing things together: celebrations, events and
cultural hobbies. Defining culture was difficult. What
human activity is not culture? In its last meeting, the
panel collected its needs related to the different stages They believed that they could support the work with
of integration.
The message of the panel was that the most
important thing for a person moving to Rovaniemi
from abroad was to learn to know the other
inhabitants of the city. Social connections motivate
people to learn the language and help them to find
their own place in the community. Networking makes
finding a job easier and improves the mood. The
cultural sector has excellent possibilities for offering
opportunities for people to spend time together and
get to know each other.
The same wishes and development proposals
appeared continuously in the panel’s discussions. The
statements are likely to reach every inhabitant of the
municipality:
ff Culture is a fundamental human right.
ff Immigrants want to participate in the
planning, implementation and assessment
of the activities that apply to them.
ff All children must have the right to inclusion
in culture, regardless of the income
level or background of their family.
ff Communality is created by being
together and doing things together.
ff Issues that slow down self-directed activity
are often very small and easy to solve.
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population to grow towards diversity.
ff The only way to reach most people is to
use multichannel communication.
ff A shared space at a central location
would invigorate the cultural life, serve
communality and increase equality.
The cultural sector in Rovaniemi
has already worked with
immigrants for a long time
In the summer and autumn of 2013, the Kultti project
interviewed several actors in the cultural sector in
Rovaniemi. Bringing immigrants within the scope
of normal services was considered important in all
organisations. Many also wanted to work with them
in a targeted way promoting integration. Both libraries
and different fields of art as well as museums had
experience in this.
The actors in the cultural sector felt that they had
a lot to give to the new inhabitants of Rovaniemi.
identity related to migration on the level of individuals
and communities, make it easier to learn about the
area and put down roots there, and provide support
in learning the language. The actors had experience
from communal art projects and creating multicultural
hobby groups, as well as museum pedagogy.
The actors saw reaching immigrants as a challenge
when they were not part of a certain group, such as
an educational group or a class at school. The actors
in the cultural sector felt that other sectors do not
know enough about the methods and expertise in the
cultural sector. The sector could be used much more
in supporting integration. There was co-operation
between the different sectors, but from the point of
view of the cultural sector, it seemed short-sighted, or
it was not planned together. The cultural sector lacked
information about immigration in Rovaniemi and
integration activities.
The actors wished for a co-operative network,
where they could exchange experiences and ideas and
find partners. They would need human resources in
order to organise activities targeted to special groups.