The "Bravo!" Festival—an international hub for the performing arts aimed at children and young people—has received funding from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation!

From 2026 to 2030, the project will develop Suomen Assite and the Bravo! Festival as an international hub for the performing arts aimed at children and young people, while also strengthening the structures of the entire sector in Finland. Bravo! is Finland’s only large-scale performing arts festival for children and young people that focuses on international productions. At the heart of the project is the idea that high-quality art for children and young people is significant both artistically and socially and deserves the same level of ambition, visibility, and international connections as other forms of performing arts.

The project combines international performance tours, training, and networking and professional development opportunities for professionals. The project aims to strengthen the expertise and international capabilities of Finnish artists, create new employment and collaboration opportunities, and bring artistically bold and diverse performances from around the world to Finnish audiences. Collaboration with the University of the Arts Helsinki strengthens the position of performing arts for children and young people in higher education and supports the professional growth of emerging artists. During the project, the goal is to create the first higher-education-level curriculum in the field of children’s theater.

From a societal perspective, the project promotes the cultural rights, participation, and equality of children and young people. It broadens the understanding of for whom and where performing arts are created by bringing performances to non-traditional venues and highlighting the work of artists from minority groups. Through international networks, the project brings new perspectives to Finland while also sharing Finnish expertise with the world.

The project is important because it takes a long-term approach to building a vibrant, internationally connected, and forward-looking performing arts field for children and young people. Its innovative value stems from combining various activities—the festival, education, international collaboration, and the professional program—into a cohesive whole.

This project is a continuation of the Bravo! Festival development project supported by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, which concluded in April 2026. The Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation provided a total of 490,000€ in funding for this follow-up project.

A big thank you to Jane and the Aatos Erkko Foundation for their support and for making this follow-up project possible!