Culture Kids Program Reaches Thousands of Children Every Year

JAES

2.4.2025

Photo: Juha Merimaa

Jingle, jingle, jingle! The sound of a bell led by guide Anna-Maija Karjalainen guides visitors up the steps of the Architecture and Design Museum. Some of the visitors walk on their own, but most are carried —and understandably so, since many of the guests have barely learned to walk.

These exceptionally young exhibition-goers are Culture Kids of the City of Helsinki born in 2023. Each year since 2020, the city has selected a cultural institution to collaborate in the Culture Kids program, which reaches approximately 6,000 newborns annually. For children born in 2023, the Culture Kids program collaborated with a cluster consisting of the Architecture and Design Museum, Helsinki City Museum, the National Museum of Finland, The Association of Cultural Heritage Education of Finland, and the Science Museum Liekki.

Twice a year, children are invited to events organized by the cluster, from which they can choose their favorite. Currently ongoing are Light and Color Plays for Toddlers, which guide them through the exhibition of textile artist Maija Lavonen via three toddler-friendly surprises. In the first, sails and stars found in Lavonen’s artwork are explored through songs and glowing balls. In the second, children marvel at a color-changing tent and special glasses that make the artworks look different. Finally, a group of ten toddlers, along with their parents, get to try threading yarn through a loom.

Taru Nieminen, who participating with her son Reino Nieminen, praised the event:
“This is really lovely. Sensory play and exploring new things, like lights and textures, always interest little kids.”

The roots of the Culture Kids program lie in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s initiative, which started during Helsinki’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2000. The orchestra welcomed new Culture Kids again in 2012. The enthusiastic feedback inspired the idea: could the city invite every newborn to Culture Kids program? While many cultural institutions loved the idea, funding posed a challenge—these organizations needed compensation to be able to organize activities.

That’s where the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation stepped in, providing committed and long-term support. The foundation first supported the program from 2020 to 2023 and has extended its funding through 2026, allowing the Culture Kids program to continue reaching all children in Helsinki under school age. The foundation’s goal is to build long-term partnerships that make the arts more accessible and impactful. As children and families come from increasingly diverse backgrounds, it’s wonderful that art can reach everyone. This work takes time and collaboration. The results are gradual but can have long-term effects.

About 40% of the 6,000 children born each year participate in the program. Each child is invited to two events annually from birth until school age. With seven age groups active at a time, there are approximately 34,000 engagements every year.

Information about the program has been shared in maternity clinics and playgrounds, and online in 17 languages, including Arabic, Northern Sámi, and Ukrainian.

“We try to reach families who might not otherwise access cultural services,” says Pirjetta Mulari, Head of Children’s Culture for the City of Helsinki.

The foundation’s support was essential in initiating the project

Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation’s support was crucial for launching the project.
“We couldn’t have started this project without the foundation’s help—certainly not on this scale,” Mulari says.

Beginning in 2027, the city will take full responsibility for the Culture Kids program. This long-term commitment was a key factor in the foundation’s decision to award the grant.
Culture Kids program has attracted interest from other cities, even in the United States. Vantaa has also launched its own version of the program.

The toddlers’ half-hour guided tour ends and the little visitors disperse. Some head straight to their strollers to nap, while others wander the exhibition with their parents. A few go to the museum’s café for lunch.

Hanna Kapanen, who coordinates the Culture Kids program for the Architecture and Design Museum, was also present at the event.

“For us, the decision to participate was obvious,” she says.

“Of course we wanted to join. This is a great opportunity for us as a museum to improve our child-friendliness and expand our audience to even younger visitors.”

And that’s truly the case. In 2023, the youngest participants in the museum’s toddler events were just six weeks old. Culture Kids program is also an opportunity for museum staff to learn new things. The young visitors have pushed the museum to consider stroller logistics and to acquire props suitable for the smallest children.

The Architecture and Design Museum doesn’t outsource any toddler events—they’re all run by the museum’s own staff.

“Everyone can use their own strengths. A guide might lead the toddlers in song or read rhymes. Culture Kids come from different cultural backgrounds. During the toddlers’ playtime, some parents were heard speaking English and Russian to their children, in addition to Finnish. Some of the guided tours use simplified language, and guides sometimes speak in multiple languages depending on their skills,” Kapanen notes.

“Many parents have also come to the museum for the first time through these events.”

Children born in 2023 will remain Culture Kids until they start school in 2030—the same year the museum’s new building is scheduled to open at Helsinki’s South Harbor.

“We’ve already been thinking that maybe the Culture Kids could be the new museum’s first guests of honor,” Kapanen says.