Uniarts Helsinki’s opening of the 2026–2027 academic year emphasised freedom and community
Uniarts Helsinki kicked off its academic year with an opening ceremony on Thursday 10 September 2026. In his opening ceremony speech, Rector Kaarlo Hildén highlighted the importance of university autonomy, the freedom of art and research and the sense of community at a time when freedom of thought is increasingly being challenged. The audience also got to hear the winners of this year’s Alumni of the Year award.
Freedom requires courage to think independently
In his speech, Hildén emphasised freedom as one of the central values of the university. The independence of art, teaching and research requires the space to seek, experiment and express even alternative perspectives.
“The promotion of freedom is exactly the reason why universities were founded in the first place,” Hildén noted.
Freedom does not mean only resisting external threats, but also critically examining one’s own community. Hildén pointed out that critical thinking should not turn into an unwillingness to listen to others and a sense of community should not turn into a cliquey attitude.
“When we successfully first challenge our own prejudices and open up outward, we’re ready to challenge each other and the world around us, as well,” Hildén said.
Hildén also highlighted the importance of multilingualism and the role of the Swedish-speaking community at Uniarts Helsinki as an important link to the Finland-Swedish and Nordic arts scene.
Art creates meaning in uncertain times
In his speech, Hildén criticised the growing pressure to be efficient and succeed all the time in higher education. Becoming an artist is a long-term process that requires time, repetition, space to experiment and the courage to embrace incompleteness.
According to Hildén, the role of universities is above all to cultivate human wisdom in this age of artificial intelligence.
“We must ensure that the next generation does not learn only to meet the needs of the labour market, but also to question critically which needs are truly worth serving in the first place.”
The mission of Uniarts Helsinki is to foster imagination, ethical judgement, a sense of community and self-awareness alongside expertise, as well as the ability to imagine the world differently.
Alumni of 2026 represent the impact of art
The recipients of the Alumni of the Year Award are artists and role models who have highlighted the unique value and role of art and artist education through their work after their graduation from Uniarts Helsinki. Alumni of the Year each represent one of the three academies of Uniarts Helsinki. Uniarts Helsinki’s Alumni of the Year 2026 were announced at the opening ceremony: Bita Razavi, Verneri Pohjola and Isto Turpeinen.
The works of visual artist Bita Razavi offer explorations of the relationship between individuals and social systems, political structures and interpretations of history. Razavi graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2013, and in 2025, she received the Fine Arts Academy of Finland Prize.
Verneri Pohjola is a trumpeter and composer who has forged a distinctive and internationally recognised career as a leading figure in Finnish jazz. Pohjola graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 2012, and his contribution to Finnish jazz has been recognised with the Finnish Jazz Federation’s Yrjö Award. In 2023, he premiered the trumpet concerto HUSH, composed for him by Kaija Saariaho.
Isto Turpeinen is a dancer, educator and Doctor of Arts (Dance) whose long career brings together artistic practice, research, arts education and societal engagement. Particular focus areas in his work include developing dance education for boys and men and promoting accessibility and equality in arts education.
The careers of this year’s alumni demonstrate how artistic expertise can open up new perspectives on society and bring about change beyond the arts, as well.