Opening of the 2025–2026 academic year highlighted art and science in uncertain times
Uniarts Helsinki kicked of its academic year with an opening ceremony on 11 September 2025. The speeches in the ceremony highlighted the vulnerability of the freedom of art and science and the need to defend the values of culture and education. The audience also got to hear the winners of this year’s Alumni of the Year award.
Standing up for art and science
The opening ceremony of the academic year started with a speech by Kaarlo Hildén. In his speech, Hildén highlighted art’s ability to create connections, evoke empathy and offer hope in a time when societal crises and crumbling core values challenge the role of culture and education.
Hildén made comparisons between the present day and his start of studies at the end of the 1980s when the world was going through a major upheaval. Current students, too, are starting their studies amidst major changes going in the world – but unlike in Hildén’s times, people are not as hopeful anymore when asked if we are heading towards better times.
“Many people look at us older generations and the international community with disappointment, and not without reason. We’re not acting based on the best available information or defend the values based on which we’ve built our society,” Hildén said in his speech.
He also underlined the role of art in building connections between people and defending humanity. According to Hildén, art makes the invisible visible and forces us to take a second look – it acts as a counterforce to artificial reality and result-driven mentality.
“Without art, civilisation and the cultivation of the soul, we are just farm animals in the economic system. In art, we bring out the core of humanity, the aspects of our species that make it a wonderful and valuable part of the biosphere.”
Hildén pointed out that the freedom of art and science is not self-evident, and we must commit to defending it. The freedom of art does not mean a privilege but a responsibility: the courage to question, bring forward different perspectives and defend the value of humanity.
“Without this freedom, there is no meaningful art – and no functioning democracy.”
No art without idleness
Eero Leichner, a member of the Board of the Uniarts Helsinki Student Union, talked about the pressures of arts students’ daily lives and noted that art requires time, space and idleness.
“An artist is useful even when they’re not of use to anyone,” Leichner declared and encouraged students to break the rules, embrace boredom and remember that empathy is a revolutionary act.
Concern over the future of the creative fields was also one of the main topics of the speech. Leichner mentioned the Government’s budget cuts and students’ financial struggles and wanted to remind the audience of where art draws its primal force and how meaningful community is.
“When it comes to studies, remember that it’s enough that you show up. Remember that only what is meaningful and necessary is worth doing.”
Alumni of the Year 2025 are bold role models
Uniarts Helsinki’s Alumni of the Year were announced at the opening ceremony, and the selected alumni are Iiu Susiraja, Noora Dadu and Jimmy Lopez.
Each year, Uniarts Helsinki selects three artists as Alumni of the Year, one from each academy. According to Rector Kaarlo Hildén, the goal is to make arts education more prominent and have a discussion on the impact that Uniarts Helsinki and its alumni have on society.
“I’m proud of the fact that Iiu Susiraja, Jimmy López and Noora Dadu are graduates of Uniarts Helsinki and now our most recent Alumni of the Year. Without a doubt, they deserve to be described as bold role models. They offer their fearless and insightful takes on the time that we’re living in, and their works resonate with people regardless of location or worldview,” Hildén said.