Thank you for 2024!

The year 2024 included many wonderful encounters and collaborations internationally, nationally and locally.

In January, we signed a lease agreement on the Culture Workshop Konepaja. We have organised performances and events in the space for several years already but we started to use the space for year-round cultural activities in the spring 2024. ANTI Festival operates Konepaja in the framework of the Future DiverCities 2 project supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

In February, we prepared the Culture Workshop Konepaja space for the upcoming use.

In March, we held a press conference and an open workshop at the Culture Workshop Konepaja to plan the operations and practices of the space. Eeva Mertanen, a local influencer in the restaurant and travel business, was appointed as the new Chair of Board of the association that manages the ANTI Festival, after the long-time chair Jenni Rissanen stepped down.

In April, a group called the Konepaja Community, open to all city residents, started to develop and implement their own activities at Konepaja. Local art and culture professionals also started to organise events in the space.

In May, we celebrated the official opening of Culture Workshop Konepaja. Artists Maija Hirvanen and Tatu Nenonen facilitated an open workshop for everyone at Culture Workshop Konepaja. The workshop was linked to a choreographic performance work Hum that premiered at ANTI Festival 2024.

In June, July and August, we worked towards the ANTI Festival. July is also the holiday season in Finland. The Culture Workshop Konepaja was busy all year round, with 194 events organised during the year. Writer-researcher Season Butler joined ANTI team as Co-Curator and Katja Papinniemi, Master of Arts, started as the new Communications Coordinator.

In September, we organised the 23rd edition of ANTI Festival. An audience of approximately 9,000 participants got a chance to connect, discuss, dance, rest and dream in various locations in the city of Kuopio. Almost all of the festival events that required reservations in advance were fully booked. Participants of the festival came from all over Finland and from 10 different countries. On the opening night of the festival we organised Evening for Ukraine (in co-operation with Jam Factory Art Center).  During the week before the festival, ANTI Festival carried out an artists’ laboratory in Kuopio whose participants are Ukrainian professionals in performance art.

In October, Blivande from Stockholm paid us a visit as part of the FutureDiverCities project. We received the KSL Study Centre’s award for Cultural Sustainability.

In November, the collaboration with artist Lindon Shimizu culminated in The Colors of Home: An Immigrant Arts Celebration. Shimizu worked throughout the summer and autumn as an Audience Development Coordinator for the ANTI Festival and Culture Workshop Konepaja, building dialogue with members of the local immigrant communities.

In December, our Director and Lead Curator Elisa Itkonen represented ANTI at the Independence Day Reception at the Presidential Palace of Finland. We announced the continuation of the Live Art Prize for 2025-2029 and the nominees for 2025.

Many thanks to all ANTI festival partners, financiers, artists, audiences and employees from 2024!