Performing arts heavily hit by corona crisis

Theatre, dance and opera activities still continued unchanged in 2019. A total of over 2.3 million tickets were sold to performances last year. The beginning of the current year has, however, been difficult for performing arts, as performances were cancelled in the early part of the year due to the corona pandemic.

Over 11,400 performances in theatres and the opera last year

According to the Finnish Theatre Information Centre, theatres covered by the Theatres and Orchestras Act as well as the Finnish National Theatre and the Finnish National Opera had over 11,400 performances and sold over 2.3 million tickets in 2019. Of these, 11 dance theatres were covered by the Theatres and Orchestras Act. They had over 1,400 performances, to which nearly 140,000 tickets were sold.

In 2019, the number of circus groups covered by state subsidies totalled 11. The circuses receiving state subsidies held a total of 775 performances of their own production in Finland, which attracted over 140,000 spectators.

Actors outside the scope of the Theatres and Orchestras Act played an important part as well. Theatre operators not covered by the Act on financing attracted 461,650 spectators in 2019. Altogether, the employment in theatres covered by the statistics of the Finnish Theatre Information Centre amounted to 3,528 staff-years.

Number of unemployed in the field of arts has grown due to the corona pandemic

The beginning of the current year has been particularly difficult for performing arts. Theatre, dance and music performances were cancelled in the early part of the year due to the corona pandemic. The Government allocated an additional appropriation of EUR 18 million to museums, orchestras and theatres receiving state subsidies in order to compensate for losses due to corona in the early part of the year. In addition, corona support was granted in summer 2020 to these cultural institutions to the tune of nearly EUR 14.8 million. Of this money, state grant theatres received nearly EUR 9.8 million and the Finnish National Theatre EUR 670,000. Cultural communities received around EUR 10.7 million in corona support.

According to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, there were, on average, over seven per cent more unemployed job seekers in arts in the first quarter of 2020 than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2020, the number of job seekers in arts was already 57 per cent higher than in the previous year. However, the number of unemployed job seekers in arts grew less than the average number of all registered job seekers, which went up by 10.2 per cent in the first quarter and by as much as 80.6 per cent in the second quarter.

Cultural Statistics table service updated

New updates have been added to Statistics Finland's cultural statistics table service. The tables of the table service are updated four times per year and analysing reviews are published in connection with the tables. The tables are in Finnish and English, and the reviews in Finnish.

Cultural statistics table service
Tables: 11.7 Unemployed jobseekers in artistic occupations recorded in the employment service register, quarterly averages 2019-2020
Cultural statistics home page
Further information: Planner Jukka Ekholm +358 29 551 3370, Senior Researcher Kaisa Weckström +358 29 551 2348, firstname.lastname@stat.fi