Työskentelytuki (Work Grant for Music Creators)

This buys you a block of clear time. It covers your ordinary living costs for one, two or three consecutive months of artistic work — composing, writing lyrics, arranging, rehearsing repertoire for a recording or a run of shows, or a combination of the two. The committee can also award a two-week period. The same person can hold no more than three months of it in a calendar year.

It is aimed at people already working professionally in music with a track record behind them, not at beginners, and it is a personal grant: members of a band or working group each apply individually, at the same time, for the same purpose, using a shared identifier in the application title. Your application needs a concrete plan — what, where, when, and either the release schedule and label for a recording or the dates and venues for performances — plus a CV and music samples given only as links to Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube or similar.

From January 2026 the rate is €2,000 a month, or €1,000 for a two-week period. The condition attached is real: you must be free of paid employment during the period, including paid leave, though incidental work under roughly 20% of full time is allowed, and you cannot draw another equivalent grant or salary at the same time. You must declare all other funding, and grants are never awarded retroactively. Payment is claimed in instalments during the working period, and a short report is due within two months of it ending.

Decisions rest on the work plan, your previous artistic activity and peer comparison with the other applications in the round. The foundation does not explain its decisions, and the application is in Finnish.