Transcription: Academy of Fine Arts Open House
Transcription notes
- S1: Speaker 1 (Xenia)
- S2: Speaker 2 (Jaakko)
- S3: Speaker 3 (Suzanne)
- S4: Speaker 4 (Ellie)
- wo-: an unfinished word
- (word): an uncertain passage in speech or an unrecognised speaker
- (-): an unrecognisable word
- (–): unrecognisable words
- [pause 10 s]: a pause in speech of at least 10 seconds
- , . ? : a grammatically correct punctuation mark or a pause in speech of less than 10 seconds
Transcription starts here
S2: We have now officially started the webinar, so welcome, and of course if throughout some more people join, they can jump in later on. So welcome to the Academy of Fine Arts open house event. My name is Jaakko Uoti, I’m working as the student admissions officer here at the academy. And with me today are Xenia, Ellie and Suzanne.
Perhaps you can introduce yourselves, maybe you can start, Suzanne?
S3: Sure, thanks Jaakko. My name is Suzanne Mooney, and I am a lecturer at Kuvataideakatemia, the Academy of Fine Arts here in Helsinki. I’m in a department called joint studies, where we house courses that lots of students take. All the students take contemporary art practice, art history, professional skills, and then we have exciting things, like art and technology and pedagogical studies. That’s enough for me for now.
S2: Maybe Xenia, you can continue?
S1: My name is Xenia, I’m from Copenhagen, Denmark, but I have studied in KuvA in Helsinki for three and a half years now. I study in the time and space department, which is the media art department, but it also covers spatial art, performance, and photography. It doesn’t really matter that much, which department you are in. You can study a little bit of everything. I like to work with video, events, and people interaction. Yeah.
S4: Thank you Suzanne, and Xenia and Jaakko. My name is Ellie. Originally I’m from Australia and in the printmaking department here at KuvA. But just as Xenia said, you can really do anything in any department. So, I work a lot with the colour white and various foods like flour, sugar, and salt. I’m very interested in science, particularly geology and biology at the moment. I’m in my second year and I’m super happy to answer any questions, that you have about anything, really. KuvA, or coming here to Helsinki, or art, or life.
S2: Thanks everyone. During the event questions can be written down in the Q&A box, which can be found in the bottom panel in Zoom. So, just write your questions there and we will then answer them all throughout this event. Otherwise the structure of the event is that we will shortly tell about studies in the fine arts degree programme and I will give some insight into how to apply and the admission process. Our next application period is already in January, beginning on January 5th, for the Bachelor level education. There is perhaps something that is also on respective applicants’ minds, how to prepare for the spring admissions. Perhaps Suzanne, you can talk a bit about the degree studies in fine arts?
S3: Sure. The Academy of Fine Arts is under another umbrella called the University of the Arts Helsinki. There are three academies under this university umbrella. Sibelius academy, which is the music academy, TEAK, which is the theatre academy, and KuvA, as we call it, which is the art academy. So, it’s really important to know, that that’s the structure. Three academies under one umbrella. So not only, if you’re studying in one of these academies, you can also take courses in other academies as well. And we have what’s called open campus, which is another kind of department, which offers courses for any of those students in the University of the Arts Helsinki.
So, at KuvA, or the Academy of Fine Arts, there’s approximately 280 students, and about 15 professors, 15 lecturers. Of course, there’s a lot more people that come in part-time or one-off conversations or studio visits as well. We are divided, as you kind of heard, people are from different departments. The students either elect to be part of the department of painting, printmaking, time and space, and sculpture. So, they’re the four, kind of elected paths. And as both Ellie and Xenia have said, it’s not a hard border around these departments, that you can take courses in any of the different departments. And as I mentioned, I’m part of joint studies, and that is where a lot of mandatory courses take place.
So, we deal with this credit system, where students decide how and what they study, and as long, as they’re gathering the correct amount of credits per semester and per year, their studies should go on for vie and a half years. And that’s from BFA level directly into MFA level. We also have an MA in praxis, which is a curatorial study, that’s only at MA level, and we also have a doctoral programme.
I think I’ll leave it at that. Jaakko, if you want to do the admissions info, that might be useful now.
S2: Sure. The student admissions to the fine arts degree programme are organized annually in the springtime to Bachelor’s level studies and in the autumn there’s a separate admission to Master’s programmes. Next January we will have a call for applications for the fine arts degree programme, to the studies leading to Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. The application period is opening January 5th and closing January 19th. During the application period, applicants will prepare an electronic application, alongside study certificates, language tests, and an advance assignment. All of these instructions on how to prepare the application can be found online, we have just, at the beginning of November, published the application instructions, and they can be seen on the uniarts.fi website.
The admission procedure to the fine arts degree programme is twofold. So, in the very first phase, in January, you will submit your electronic application, and based on those applications, the admission jury selects about 50 applicants to be invited to an admission course, which will be held in Helsinkin in the beginning of May. The so-called entrance examinations, we call it an admission course, since it’s a course that lasts for a week, and during that course the applicants work on a variety of assignments, and they will be interviewed by the members of the admission jury. The final results will be published in the beginning of June, so the newly selected students will start their studies the following autumn semester.
The admission criteria is of course something, that all applicants should familiriaze themselves with already well in advance. The bottom line is that the applicant is required to submit proof of their earlier educational background, and of their language proficiency. Applicants can apply in either English, Finnish, or Swedish, to the degree programme. It is important that during the application period all applicants submit proof of their language proficiency. There isn’t, for instance, a language test, during the admission course or the entrance examinations, but it is something that we check already in January.
The advance assignment, there are very detailed instructions on the website, too, but basically it consists of a motivation letter, where the applicant tells about themselves, their own background, and their motivation to apply to fine arts studies. And then, an accompanying work portfolio. The portfolio is intended to serve as an introduction to the applicant’s own artistic practice. So, there isn’t really an assignment there on how to prepare the portfolio, it’s pretty freeform, since we are also an academy that focuses on free arts and individual artistic practices. But basically the format of the portfolio is a picture portfolio, where the applicant documents their own artworks and this can of course be anything, since there is not certain media or technique, that limits the contents of the portfolio. That’s the main guidelines there.
S1: Do you want us to give student perspective also on this whole process, maybe?
S2: Yes. Well, you have applied to the school on two different springs, different years, so you both have kind of a different experience of the processes.
S1: Yeah, and I have also applied to other schools in the same round, so I have a little bit to compare with. I think KuvA’s entrance process was the nicest of all of the ones I did. The portfolio requirement from the beginning, when I was applying, you were asked to send one to five works, which was a good amount. I chose to send five, but other schools asked me to present like 20 to 30 things. And it was okay that it was sketches or whatever, but it had to be so much. For me it was nicer to just make a selection of few things that I really thought were good. And then, the entrance exam, well, back in my day it was six days, so it was actually a really long time you got to spend on it. Other places I’ve had more stressful experiences, how it was, shorter meetings. Here the teachers walk around and they look at what you’re doing for six days and they come and casually talk to you about it. They get a better sense of what you’re doing.
It was also super confusing and it took me two or three days where I thought, what am I doing here. But then I really started working and I barely left the space, they had to kick me out a few times. Because then I ended up making so many works on the side, that was funny. They just gave us maybe five photos, and then one quite from a book, and then it was like, pick a corner in this space with 60 other people and with your own materials or whatever, improvised, make art for six days. You have to interpret these photos and this text you have been given, in whatever way you want to. Since I came from Denmark only with carry-on luggage, I had super random things, so I ended up making a post-it sculpture and all this stuff. But it was really funny, I mean I didn’t really see Helsinki much these days, but I got a sense of what other students were doing also, because you could walk around in the space and see all these other people. So, that was quite cool.
S2: Thanks, Xenia. So, how about you, Ellie? To my memory at least, you have applied to the school during the pandemic, so that was also a bit of a different process, for you.
Your microphone is muted.
S4: Yeah, you’re right. I was just saying that you’re quite right, I did apply during the pandemic. But it’s such nice memories reflecting back to, during that time I was living in Amsterdam, and studying a little bit at (-) academy. So, making the portfolio was eight to ten works, just in photographs. So, I think I put together a very good portfolio, and I made this nice glass box for it, that I sent in the mail.
And then everything else was just done remotely. And I think we only had like three days to do the advance assignment, or the admission course, so it was actually pretty intensive working days. Very long hours, but also really interesting. It was one of my best works that I’ve done during that time. I found the stimulus or the response material was so open, one of them was like look around, the second one was do something and then do something else. You could just literally do anything, and it would relate somehow. So, I did some really cool things and recorded them on video on my (-).
But it’s definitely interesting, how it was all remotely, and sometimes I wonder if it was in person, like there would’ve been a different selection of people. But I think I really liked being in my studio space. I think that I was with 60 people, that would be a bit much.
S1: In a way it was nerve-wrecking, because you sit there, and your’e thinking, you can’t come up with anything good, or you thought you came up with good ideas yesterday, but then the day after they seem like bad ideas. And then you look around, and other people are just like, drawing endlessly or painting these massive paintings, and your’e thinking, how are you gonna paint such a massive painting in six days? That is insane.
But everyone seemed so, like. The guy next to me, I think ten pictures or something, just very quickly. But in the end, when I had really started working and I ended up making six works or something, one of them was a big installation. And he spent the last two days just looking at one painting. Just looking. And I asked him outside how it’s going and he was like, I don’t know how to finish. So, everyone had these different.
S3: Yes, everybody approaches it very differently. And it depends on what you’ve practiced already. And maybe it’s important to also add here, that from the perspective of somebody who’s selecting, that we also will spend a bit of time talking to each person who is on that course. There’s about 50 people, who are selected into that course, and we make sure we have a conversation with everybody. And in that very quick encounter, even though we’ve been able to be present with people in the room, when I did it, it was not corona times.
We ask questions like how it’s going, what are you planning to do, how have you approached the particular task, that we’ve set. And people are not necessarily selected on the volume that they make, or not always on the quality either. It’s actually just to see a spark of creativity, of how you approach something in an individual way, that maybe suits your skillsets, or has taken you outside of your skillset. So, we look at the portfolio, and this work, and we have a conversation. And that’s how we make the selection of our selected 25 students to come (into) the building.
If you are selected, the next thing is that you would go through a process from August to December, in what’s called “mylly”, and that’s the mill. And you have an opportunity to test out and try out two weeks in each department. So, it’s quite intensive, and as a group, you kind of get thrown into this and that and the other. And a lot of introduction workshops, you meet everybody that’s in the building, all the facilities, and you work intensely together in kind of a shared studio space. And then, you select your department. So, it’s in November, December, the final decision is made, and you select which department you’d like to join. And like everyone has said already, you may join painting department, but you can still use the facilities in time and space or printmaking, with a few restrictions. But not anything like, nobody must cross this boundary line.
S2: Yes, I think that… well, you know from firsthand experience, but to my knowledge at least, your own subject area is kind of your own home base. You have your own teacher, who is supervising your theses when you’re at that point and so forth, but you’re also very, or fairly, free to also take courses, since it’s in the end one fine arts degree programme. So, people are also encouraged to experiment and also many artists and many students have very cross-disciplinary practices, so that is also taken to account in the curriculum.
Speaking of old admission course assignments, actually, there is available in the application instructions, we have listed these past admission course assignments. So, that is also something that you can kind of get an idea of what is the format, and the ethos of those assignments. The kind of organization of the admission course changes, of course, a bit every year, but it’s fair to say that, as you also mentioned, it’s pretty free form. At least the idea is that it’s not supposed to be a very intimidating test environment, rather a collective discursive place, where the teachers can meet the applicants and learn more about their work. But of course, it’s a very exciting and also stressful situation, as all admission tests are.
S3: Jaakko, maybe this is a good time to talk about the facilities? Because we are actually in a brand spanking new building, a purpose-built art school in Söörnäinen. And I think maybe it would be useful to know about the facilities that we have.
S2: Yes. So, we have just this autumn moved into new facilities, to a new building, that is also titled Mylly, since it’s housed in an old mill building in the middle of Helsinki. We have actually a short video, that we can show, just to give you a visual and an idea of the spaces. So Mylly is part of the Söörnäinen campus, and most of the Academy of Fine Arts teaching activities are housed there, and also the students’ studio spaces and the galleries and the workshops of the school. So, I can share my screen, and we can have a look. Just a sec.
S3: So, if anybody has any specific questions about a particular department’s facilities, you can put it into the Q&A. But I can just say that our transition from our old building to the new has given us an opportunity to revamp, and certainly things like the photo studio we just saw are state of the art. Incredible amounts of equipment for shooting both still photographic work, and then there’s a video studio, and then another studio, which is called a (rostrum) room, which is for documenting 2D artworks. As you saw as well in the video, there’s the printmaking space with litho, edging, silk screen, and anything else. Ellie, you’re in this department.
S4: Yeah, papermaking, a big paper storage space, lots of woodcut.
S3: And down in the basement area, or the ground level floor, we have a fantastic sculpture workshop, with possibilities or ceramics, plaster work, waxcasting, metalwork, and woodwork. So, they’re the kind of facilities. Oh, in painting as well, there is an amazing material studies (base), with dedicated experts in pigment and dyes, et cetera. And KuvA students get the opportunity to understand, where materials come from, what are their ecological impact, perhaps, or conservation issues in relation to art making.
S2: Thanks, Suzanne. Maybe, well, Xenia and Ellie, you can talk a bit more perhaps about the students’ work spaces, that is something that’s asked about quite often. What is the system how they’re dealt, and what kinds there are?
S4: Yeah. So, at the beginning of the semester, we actually had a random lottery, and we picked numbers out of a hat to assign our studio spaces. And as you can see here, and as you could see in the video, each person has their own studio space. But I think some of the spaces are maybe changing a bit, to be more communal, like have four or so people per space. It’s in these big rooms, with these panels for the walls. It’s kind of small, mine’s like six square metres in total. Every single one has electricity, yeah. I think they’re pretty good, I’m actually really in love with my studio. I really appreciate it.
S3: One thing to point out is that there’s 24-hour access to the building and to your studios. And I think that’s not to the facilities where there’s heavy machinery, but to your personal studio space you have 24-hour access. That’s not necessarily the case with every art school around, so we’re very proud, that we have been able to continue that. Our workspace is available to students, if, perhaps they have children or dependables or jobs, that there’s weekend or evening access. Or, if you happen to be an early bird, that you can come in at five in the morning and work in silence. But they’re not silent spaces, Ellie, are they?
S4: No, you can hear around you. But I think sculpture is maybe the noisiest space. Printmaking is pretty quiet. I think the loudest thing is conversation.
S1: We have a question.
S2: Yes. There was a question about the level of English, that the applicant should have when applying to study at the Bachelor’s studies. The level of English, kind of in general, the minimum level required English is B1. But the more specific list of what kinds of tests are accepted as proof of language proficiency are detailed in the admissions guide. There’s quite a few options, and it’s a long list, since we also, there’s an option of applying in Finnish, Swedish, or English, so there’s a lot to take in. But for English language tests, we accept the most common international language tests, such as Toefl, IELTS, Pearsons, and so forth. But you should of course check, what is kind of the minimum test results and what specific tests are accepted, from the application instructions.
S3: We also offer English language courses. Xenia, did you take one?
S1: No. I took the portfolio test to exempt. I decided that my proficiency level was probably more than adequate. Maybe now it also cheats a bit, because Ellie is a native English speaker, and my English is fairly high level, and Suzanne is also native English speaker, we are a good English group right now. A lot of people in KuvA do not speak perfect English, it’s really possible. Even a lot of teachers don’t speak perfect English, because they speak Finnish and so, yeah. Don’t worry too much, it is like Jaakko said, passing one of these official tests, which is a little bit scary in a way, because it’s these very formal, whole day test situations, but it’s. I mean, you don’t have to get a perfect score, you just have to have B1 level.
S2: B1 is what most, let’s say science universities, like University of Helsinki or if you apply to humanities or so, it’s usually B2 level or higher. So, Uni Arts Helsinki has a bit lower, since we are of course more focused on practical art studies and so. But B1 level is required, since we also have some mandatory writing and theoretical studies.
S1: One thing that might be important to mention is that it is mandatory to take one semester of Finnish classes. I didn’t know that when I started, so that was a little bit of a shock to me. You don’t have to do it in the first semester, you can wait ‘til later, but during your Bachelor, you have to take this course that is maybe two evenings a week for a few hours and a lot of homework, where you get some basic introduction to Finnish language. It will not be enough to talk, but it’s the required amount we have to take. You don’t have to actually learn how to speak how to speak Finnish to pass it, but you have to take the course at some point. So, if you are really struggling with languages, then Finnish is definitely an interesting one to tackle.
S2: It’s this very basic level Finnish as a second language course, that I think is a few credits or so. But it’s mandatory for Bachelor students.
S4: It was really fun.
S1: Yeah. It’s like, hi, I am from here, I live here in my apartment, I have these things. So, it’s this kind of low-key level. And you don’t need to speak Finnish to study.
S3: One thing I’d like to also highlight, is that KuvA has a fund for work placement. So, within your five and a half years of study, you can apply (at a) certain deadline for one or two months’ funding for an internship or work placement. This is specific to KuvA students, and we encourage our students to find an interesting work placement either with an artist, so you could become an artist’s assistant, you could work in an organization, a galley space, an NGO, a non-profit, an advocacy organization, and this can happen both in Finland or internationally. So, this is a separate thing to Erasmus, which is available to any student. And we will have more information about those things.
But I think for those students who take on work placement, it’s a really great opportunity to just test out what it’s like to work in a certain context or to shadow an artist, that is a little bit further down the line, and see how they manage and sustain their practice. Perhaps they’re working very practically, or they’re helping with archiving of their work, or they’re helping with a specific exhibition, which they kind of realize and install with that artist. So, that’s one of the things that is available within the studies. There are loads of different study trips as well, maybe one of the students would like to talk about study trips? I know they’re about to go to Denmark next week, the MFA level.
S1: Yeah. I maybe have been to more study trips than Ellie, since I haven’t studied in corona times only. I have been five days in Paris, in my first semester. That was fun, also exhausting trying to see all the big museums in Paris in a few days. That was insane. But we also had a lot of student time, we basically went out and drank wine in roadside cafes every night. Then I was three days in St Petersburg, there was a lot of partying, that was really fun as well. I made some of my best friends in school during that trip. That was a year later. Then now, because of this pandemic, we haven’t able to really go anywhere, so recently I was on a day trip to Tallinn, that was the most study trip I have been able to go to since the first lockdown, I guess. So, yeah. Because this whole abroad thing is a little bit, eh.
It’s possible to do your own student things as well, like I organized my own study trip to Copenhagen in my first year, where I brought eight students there and I showed them around. That was really fun. But that was just a private thing. And Tallinn is like a few hours away on the ferry, it costs like nothing to go there. So, it’s really easy to go to Estonia for like day trips or weekends. Or to travel around Finland. I’ve been to many cabin trips with friends, it’s really nice.
S2: Of course, during these few years with the pandemic situation, there hasn’t been a lot of study trips. And also, unfortunately and understandably, there have been a bit less visiting teachers and also exchange students than, let’s say in a normal situation or in the past. Also these visiting international teachers and researchers play a big role in the community, and also give some new perspectives. Also we have, I don’t know about the amount, but quite a few exchange students every year. Now, of course, it has been a lot less, because of corona.
S1: But KuvA has so many compared to other schools, so even when we have less, it’s still like, within a normal range.
S2: Yeah.
S1: KuvA is very international, I would say.
S2: But hopefully this will also better, let’s say, if the pandemic situation betters. But even still, it is, as Xenia said, a very international community.
S3: So, from the students’ perspective, what is the best thing about studying at KuvA?
S1: For me, the best thing is that you get to kind of decide what your education is yourself. Just like you are not really restricted by what department you’re in, or even what academy, like one sculpture student one year spent a whole year only studying in the music academy, for instance. That was fine. So, how you are not restricted like that.
Also the mandatory courses you have to take are not that many, and you kind of decide when you want to take them yourself. Not two students have the same education in the school, and that’s quite amazing for me. That fits well with my temper, that I can put together my own schedule. Like Suzanne said, maybe you’re an early bird, or maybe you’re like, who likes to work at night and go home in the morning. So, I can decide myself if I have any classes in the morning at all, or if I just. If you want for a whole semester to only work on your own stuff, you can do that. You get credit points for everything you do, as long as you can argue that it’s related to your studies.
So, one semester I was producing this sci-fi collaboration short film project, so I got credit points for watching a whole pile of old, post-apocalyptic sci-fi films, because I was researching for my work. So, in that way, that you can kind of tailor your own degree programme, or one year maybe you’re really into working at the computer, maybe you get insane and the next your you just want to weld and make paper, or I don’t know.
You can change your mind a lot, because everything is somehow related to what you do. You decide that yourself. That’s really nice for me. You can choose, who is your teacher, somehow. Like, you have a responsible teacher, but it doesn’t have to be the people who teach you skills or philosophies, you decide yourself, who you want to have studio visits with, and who you want to share you thoughts with, or whatever. I like that structure.
S4: I feel like my answer is so vague, I just like the whole, that I’m studying art. What’s the best thing about KuvA, that I’m studying art. And I wanted to add, if you have any other questions about anything at all, please ask. Now is your time. I think art’s really cool.
S1: I mean I think maybe there are some things that can be relevant to point out, seeing as Finland is a very different country, than many other countries, all countries are different. But the culture here is very sensitive, and very humble, and very considerate towards your surroundings and other people. It means that our school is one of the few art schools, maybe, where people are not competing to be stars inside the academy. There can be a lot of competition in some creative educations, but I do not feel that here. That is one difference. There is a lot like, posh, fashion vibe in many other art academies around Europe, where people really are feeling very important to be where they are. Or maybe the industry is so hardcore in that country, that everyone feels like they need to push each other to make it ahead in the world.
So, at least that’s not how it feels in our school, or in our student body. And I think that’s a really important point, it was a lovely surprise, when I moved to Finland. There were no pretentious people. Everyone was just really friendly and humble in what they were doing. When people are considering what school to choose or where to apply, I think there are some things, that make ours stand out.
S3: Maybe we should talk about exhibition spaces, because our new building has offered us the opportunity of having, well, a very large exhibition space, that we did see in the video that we presented. But there’s also smaller spaces for video work, or where there’s no light, and then studio 7, so another kind of multifunctional space. And these spaces get programmed, where very important moments for students’ life are the kandi exhibition, the BFA exhibition, that happens in September. And then the KuvAn kevät, which is the MFA level exhibition, that happens in the springtime, May. They’re important moments for students, but then there’s also a more casual space called the Tasku gallery. And that is a lot more testing, trying out, experimenting space, that students can also. At the end of a course there’s something. And currently we still have a space in the city centre, called the Project Room, and that is where a lot of our MFA students get an opportunity to show their works, either solo exhibitions or groupings, which is wonderful kind of test bed with public audience.
S1: Tasku gallery means pocket gallery, by the way. Is it running like it used to in the old school, where students themselves can write to the producer and kind of book or apply for the facilities? The good thing is that you don’t have to actually be selected somehow, it’s not this thing where you project has to be good enough to make it to this space. It’s more like, you ask the producer, is there space in the calendar, I want to try out something.
S3: It’s a very good place to, even if you want to just try out an installation, that might take a day or two, or it’s an exhibition that you’d like to put on with a group of people. Currently the exchange students are organizing their group exhibition and it will be up very soon. So, it’s kind of a low-key space for students to exhibit work.
S2: Apart from this, there’s another gallery and event space in Söörnäinen, that is run by the student union, (the Free Art space), which is a space that is shared by students of all of the three academies. So, Sibelius academy, theatre academy, and our academy. And that is a space, that houses (wall) exhibitions, but also performances, concerts and so forth. And that is run by the student union, so it’s also a space for perhaps a bit more, as you said, quicker and smaller projects. And also a space for more freer experimentation. The BFA and MFA shows, the graduation shows, are of course important, but as exhibitions are part of the curriculum and part of the artistic studies, it’s important that throughout the studies students can also have these kinds of chances of doing their own, more experimental exhibition projects.
And the exhibitions are also a good way to, sorry, if you’re in Helsinki, to kind of visit and get an idea of what kind of art is made, and what kind of (-) the school is. As we don’t have a lot of open studio events, or open houses, the exhibitions are kind of our way of showing, what is going on at the school also to the public. Sorry, Xenia, I interrupted you.
S1: No, it was not so important, it was just about the free art space, when you were still talking about it. I just tried to add, that it’s basically just this old, big bunker space underground, so you can do what you want there.
S2: It’s a very special environment.
S1: Very special place, yes, true.
S2: So, not a traditional gallery in Norway.
S1: No, definitely not. I don’t know, is there any, you are our one listener, thank you for sticking with us. But do you have any specific, do you want to know more about how to get into the school, the admission process, or more about how it is to study there in different ways, or what is possible, or what is easy or challenging, whatever? Moving to Finland, is there anything specific you want to know about?
S2: We still have a little time, so it can also be something, as Xenia said, stuff that is related to more general things about Helsinki, or whatever you feel like asking. Suzanne?
S3: Jaakko, are you the person to ask any questions, if something comes up between now and admission time?
S2: Yeah, definitely. Applicants, who have any questions about the admission process can contact us by e-mail, and also by phone. The contact details are available also in the application instructions. I can also post the e-mail address here in the chat. We’re happy to help also along the way. The good rule of thumb is that it’s better to ask now, than later, since after the application period closes, it’s usually a bit too late to accommodate anything. There’s still good time to prepare your application, and also check, if you need any additional certificates or paperwork related to your application.
S3: There’s a very good question about personal specific context. And I’m wondering, maybe Jaakko, you could answer, whether somebody who has also done half of their studies, could they jump or leap when they apply with us, and then maybe not start at year one, but maybe year two or three?
S2: That is a good question, and that is of course something, that, well. If the students had similar degree studies completed abroad, or in another school, we usually encourage them to take this up at latest by the beginning of their studies, so we can check if there’s something to compensate. Of course, if there’s courses or study units, that are very similar to our curriculum, there’s no use of repeating it. Because it’s not motivating, and let’s say, beneficial to anyone to kind of repeat what you already know. Of course, if you are, in your earlier studies, if you have been very close to already completing a BFA, it’s of course worthwhile to think, if it would be beneficial or interesting to apply for an MFA already. The MFA admission criteria is fairly liberal, you can apply there even if you haven’t graduated with a BFA per se. But this is of course something, that we would like to know more about to make this assessment. But it’s also kind of up to you to evaluate, if you think the studies offered by the academy are beneficial to you, and if they are different enough to what you have already been doing in an institution earlier.
There’s not really a clear-cut answer there, but let’s say officially, we don’t have a system of student transfer, of applying as a transfer student from another university. All applicants apply in the same process, even if they are currently studying at another institution. But of course, if they are admitted here, then we will make note of your earlier studies and they will be compensated.
S3: Perhaps a student like this would start in the first year, do the process with those students, but would have (-) some credits, so they would speed through the process quicker.
S2: In practice, I would think it would be something like this, rather than skipping a year.
S3: Yeah, okay.
S2: Because especially with the BFA, the first autumn and the first year is crucial, since the curriculum is planned so, that during the first year you select your own subject area. So, skipping that and continuing to the second year immediately is not really possible because of that structure.
S1: It’s also nice to actually have a class, a group of people that you started with, that is like your gang somehow. At least for me that has been very important. And being a student in Finland is quite good. If you want to live in Finland and work with your art, being an art student is a lot better than just doing it privately. Because there are a lot of financial benefits to being a student. The student housing is super cheap reant, for instance. As a student in school, you have access to the facilities, to the gear, everything. So, even if you decide to just work on your own stuff, and if you don’t have to take some of the theoretical courses again, it might still be nice to have longer time in that situation. I don’t know.
S2: Also in the admission, if you already have a Bachelor’s level studies, or similar studies done before you’re applying here, it’s not considered automatically a minus. Since the criteria doesn’t really make a specification about that. Also a lot of our students already have some kind of art studies, before starting.
S1: Or full studies. In Finland everyone takes so many educations. Oh yeah, one wonderful thing about KuvA is that they don’t age discriminate. Some schools want everyone to be like, early twenties and proteges, a blank slate that can be shaped somehow. Whereas here, people come from all different backgrounds, and all different ages. In my class, when we started, the youngest was 18 and the oldest was maybe 32. Some people had worked with film before, one was an architect, one had a fashion career going on, people came from so different places. That really made it a more rich environment.
S2: Many, I believe also international art schools, and many universities in Finland have this thing, that they have a first time applicant quota or an age quota, or a certain quota for applicants from different countries. But we don’t really have that at all, that is not a factor in the admission. Alright, now it’s one minute past five, so we are kind of overtime. But any closing remarks?
S3: I would (encourage) anybody to apply, and try it out, and come join our community.
S2: That’s a good conclusion. I will again post the e-mail for the admissions office, if there’s any questions. But that is also available there on the website, if there’s anything in mind.
S1: Yeah, welcome.
S2: Okay, thank you everyone. We now have to stop. Thank you for coming and thank you Xenia, Ellie, and Suzanne.
S3: No problem.