Kai Lehikoinen

Job description

University Researcher

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Surrey, Dance Studies, Guildford, 2004.

Master of Arts in Dance Studies (with Distinction), University of Surrey, Dance Studies, Guildford, 1996.

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education, University College of Dance, Dance Pedagogy, Tukholma, 1989.

Research

Dr Kai Lehikoinen is a University Researcher at the Uniarts Helsinki’s Research Institute’s Center for Educational Research and Academic Development in the Arts (CERADA). His research focuses on the arts and social participation and provides valuable insights into the professional development and identities of arts professionals and cultural well-being more generally.

As formerly CERADA’s director, Kai has published more than 90 articles covering a wide range of arts areas, including the expanding role of artists, artistic interventions in society, pedagogy of higher arts education, dance in cultural elderly work, and masculinities in dance education.

As Deputy Director, he actively participated in the ArtsEqual research project (2015-2021) funded by the Academy of Finland’s Strategic Research Council. As a team leader for the Arts in Health and Care research group, his work focused on inequalities in arts and arts education services and on the conditions and challenges of cultural well-being in Finland. Kai has also contributed to policy-making on arts, health and well-being through research-based recommendations, ministerial working groups and as a temporary advisor to the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Kai is working on a monograph for Routledge on socially engaged art as a subject of study and the lessons that higher education institutions in the arts can learn from socially engaged art practitioners. He has also contributed to recent research on the competences and training of artists in socially engaged arts practices, the training of elderly care professionals in cultural well-being, and future scenarios for higher education institutions in the arts in Europe. He is also Theme Editor of Frontiers in Psychology – Health Psychology, a special issue on Critical Evaluation in Research on Arts, Health and Well-being, Editor of the Critical Studies in Dance Leadership and Inclusion book series for Palgrave Macmillan, and a member of the Advisory Group of the Nordic Journal for Arts, Culture and Health.

The most relevant publications

Lehikoinen, K. & Siljamäki, E. (In print). Socially Engaged Arts (SEA) Practices: Key Skills and Capabilities. Research in Arts and Education.

Kippo, S., Koivisto, T-A., Mäki-Opas, T., Lehikoinen, K., Lehtimäki, A-V., Lavikainen, P., Turtiainen, M. Martikainen, J. 2023. Kulttuurihyvinvointitoiminnan taloudellinen arviointi: Arviointimenetelmien jatkokehitystarpeet Suomessa. Valtioneuvoston selvitys- ja tutkimustoiminnan julkaisusarja 2023:26. Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia. [Economic evaluation of cultural well-being activities Further development of evaluation methods in Finland]

Jääskeläinen, T., López-Íñiguez, G. & Lehikoinen, K. 2022. Experienced workload, stress and coping among professional students in higher music education: An explanatory mixed methods study in Finland and the United Kingdom. Psychology of Music.

Lehikoinen, K. & Turpeinen, I. 2022. Fear, Coping and Peer Support in Male Dance Students’ Reflections. In D. Risner & B. Watson (Eds.). Masculinity, Intersectionality & Identity: Why Boys (Don’t) Dance? New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 207–226. Recipient, 2023 Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award, Wayne State University (US).

Lehikoinen, K. 2021. Sosiaalisesti osallistava taide terveys- ja sosiaalialan ympäristöissä: näkökulmia kulttuurihyvinvointiin. Synteesi 4, 50–73. [Summary: Socially engaged art in health and social care contexts: perspectives on cultural well-being].

Lehikoinen, K. Pässilä, A. & Owens, A. 2021. Conflicting professional identities for artists in transprofessional contexts: Insights from a pilot programme initiating artistic interventions in organisations. In H. Westerlund & H. Gaunt (Eds.). Expanding professionalism in music and higher music education – A changing game. London & New York: Routledge, 74–88.

Westerlund, H., Karttunen, S., Lehikoinen, K. Laes, T., Väkevä, L. & Anttila E. 2021. Expanding professional responsibility in arts education: Social innovations paving the way for systems reflexivity. International Journal of Education and the Arts 22(8).

Kallio-Tavin, M., Anttila, E., Jokela, T. Hiltunen, M., Lehikoinen, K. & Pusa, T. 2019. Cultural diversity in Finnish arts education research. In: L. Ferro, E. Wagner, L. Veloso, T. Ijdens & J.T. Lopes (Eds.). Crossing Borders: Arts and Cultural Education in a World of Diversity. Eno Yearbook No. 1. Wiesbaden: Springer, 2019, 71-89.

Lehikoinen, K. 2019. Dance in Elderly Care: Professional Knowledge. Journal of Dance Education 19(3), pp. 108-116.

Lehikoinen, K. 2019. Näkökulmia laajentuvaan ammattilaisuuteen ja taidealan korkea-asteen koulutukseen. In K. Monni & K. Törmi (Eds.). Yhteisö ja taide: teemoja ja näkökulmia 2000-luvun taiteilijan laajentuneeseen toimintakenttään. Teatterikorkeakoulun julkaisusarja 71. Helsinki: Teatterikorkeakoulu, Taideyliopisto. Ch. 1.0. [Summary: perspectives on expanding professionalism and higher education in the arts].

Lehikoinen, K. 2019. ArtsEqual Policy Work: Towards Resilience and Social Cohesion with Cultural Rights and Cultural-wellbeing. In A. Braid, A. Garcia Lopez, and Turner, R. (Eds.). Resilience and the City: Art, Eductation, Urbanism. Selected Presentations from the Thematic Mobile Sessions. 15th ELIA Biennial Conference. Amsterdam: ELIA, pp. 95-106.

Lehikoinen, K. 2017. Cultural Rights, Well-being and Democracy in Elderly Care: The Dance Ambassadors as a Case Study. Nordic Journal of Dance 8(2), pp. 30-41.

Lehikoinen, K. 2017. Justifying the Arts in Health and Care in Finland: A Discourse Analytic Inquiry. Cogent Arts & Humanities 4(1), pp. 1-12.

Lehikoinen, K. & Vanhanen, E. (Eds.) 2017. Taide ja hyvinvointi: Katsauksia kansainväliseen tutkimukseen. Kokos 1. Helsinki: Taideyliopisto. [Summary: an anthology on arts and wellbeing: reviews on international research].

Lehikoinen, K., Pässilä, A., Martin, M. & Pulkki, M. (Eds.). 2016. Taiteilija kehittäjänä: taiteelliset interventiot työssä. Kokos 1. Helsinki: Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu. [Summary: an anthology on artistic interventions at work].

Lehikoinen, K. 2014. Tanssi sanoiksi: tanssianalyysin perusteita. Kinesis 4. Helsinki: Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu. [Summary: dance into words: rudiments in dance analysis].

Lehikoinen, K. 2014. Askeleita tekstuaalisessa labyrintissä: tanssin kielellistäminen, intertekstuaalisuus ja tulkinta. In H. Järvinen & L. Rouhiainen (Eds.). Tanssiva tutkimus. Nivel 3, Helsinki: Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu, pp. 27-44. [Summary: steps in a textual labyrinth: turning dance into words, intertextuality and interpretation].

Lehikoinen, K. 2014. Taide muuttuvien kertomusten mosaiikissa: taiteilijan identiteetti muutoksessa. In P. Korhonen (Ed.). Hyvä Hankaus 2. Kokos 3. Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu, pp. 31-44. [Summary: art in the mosaic of changing narratives: artist’s identity in transformation].

Lehikoinen, K. 2014. Artistic Interventions as a Strand of Artistic Research. In A. Arlander (Ed.). The Impact of Performance as Research. Proceedings of CARPA 3. Nivel 2. Helsinki: Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu, Chapter 7.

Lehikoinen, K. 2014. Näkökulmia hyvinvointiin ja hyvinvointipalveluihin kulttuuri-, liikunta ja nuorisoaloilla: selvitys hyvinvoinnin diskursseista kolmannen sektorin palvelutoiminnassa. Kolmas Lähde. Helsinki: Aalto University. [Summary: viewpoints on well-being and services of well-being in the fields of culture, sport and youth work: a report on discourses of well-being in services of the third sector].

Lehikoinen, K. 2013. Qualification framework for artists in artistic interventions. In J. Heinsius & K. Lehikoinen (Eds.). Training Artists for Innovation: Competencies for New Contexts. Kokos 2. Helsinki: Taideyliopiston Teatterikorkeakoulu, pp. 49–63.

Lehikoinen, K. 2012. Arts-based work with people with dementia: Towards a curriculum framework for trainer training. In A. Smith (Ed.). Quality of Life: Using the arts to help people living with and affected by dementia. Quality of Life Project, London: Live Music Now, pp. 50–67. Electronic publication, DVD.

Lehikoinen, K. 2012. Taiteelliset interventiot ja taiteen soveltava käyttö työyhteisöissä: ajatuksia tutkimustarpeista ja tietopohjan vahvistamisesta. In S-M. Korhonen & P. Rantala (Eds.). Uutta osaamista luomassa – Työelämän kehittäminen taiteen keinoin. Lapin yliopiston yhteiskuntatieteellisiä julkaisuja B. Tutkimusraportteja ja selvityksiä 61. Rovaniemi: Lapin yliopisto, pp. 18–23. [Summary: artistic interventions and applied uses of art in working life: reflections on research needs and strengthening of the knowledge base].

Lehikoinen, K. 2010. Identities Performed and Transformed: Dialogical Choreography as Artistic Research – Intertextuality of Self-narratives. In A. Arlander (Ed.) Proceedings of the 1st Colloquium on Artistic Research in Performing Arts. Helsinki: Teatterikorkeakoulu, pp. 19–31.

Lehikoinen, K. 2010. Suuntana uudet palvelut. Hyvinvointia kulttuurista, liikunnasta ja nuorisotyöstä. In N. Koivisto et al. (Eds.) Kolmannella lähteellä. Hyvinvointipalveluja kulttuurin, liikunnan ja nuorisotyön aloilta, Kokos 1. Helsinki: Teatterikorkeakoulu, pp. 274–285. [Summary: towards new services: well-being from culture, sport, and youth work].

Lehikoinen, K. (Ed.). 2008. Business Bodies. Proceedings of the 1st International Business Bodies Conference. Helsinki: IADE.

Lehikoinen, K. 2006. Stepping Queerly? Discourses in Dance Education for Boys in Late 20th-Century Finland. Oxford: Peter Lang.

Lehikoinen, K. 2005. Choreographies for Boys: Masculinism in Finnish Dance Education. In I. Björnsdóttir (Ed.). Dance Heritage: Crossing Academia and Physicality. Proceedings, 7^th NOFOD Conference, Reykjavik, April 15 – 18 2004. Nordisk forum för dansforskning, pp. 138-145.

Lehikoinen, K. 1999. Fragile Masculinities: Reading Kvarnström. In J. Willis (Ed.). Proceedings Society of Dance History Scholars, Twenty-Second Annual Conference, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 10-13. June 1999. Stoughton, Wisconsin: Society of Dance History Scholars, pp. 129–137.

Lehikoinen, K. 1998. Postmodernistinen tanssi ja eräitä sen koreografisia työmenetelmiä oppiainenäkökulmasta tarkasteltuna. In A. Sarje, U. Halonen & P. Pakkanen (Eds.). Kirjoituksia koreografiasta. Tanssintutkimuksen vuosikirja 2. Taiteen Keskustoimikunta. Helsinki, pp. 179-193. (Summary: postmodernist dance and some of its choreographic methods scrutinised from the perspective of educational disciplines.)

Lehikoinen, K. 1997. Fragile Masculinities and the Sex Role Theory in Dance for Boys: A Critical Discourse. In E. Anttila (Ed.). Proceedings of the 1997 Conference of Dance and the Child International. Helsinki: DaCi, pp. 195-201.

Artistic activities

Kai has worked as a regional artist for the Arts Council of Southwest Finland (2005–2006 and 1991–1995) and as a freelance dance artist (1986 – 2009). His artistic production includes choreographies such as Lainattuja lauseita ja painojälkiä (2009), BI 4U a life… (1996), Cut along a dotted line (1996), Seiniä (1994), Kerttu (1991), Untitled (1990), Mysteeri (1990), Boksi (1986), and Kirje (1986). Kai has created two dance works for Dance Theatre ERI: Seiniä (1994) and Oppimiskokemuksia (1990). He has also created Kaleidoskooppi (1988), Peli (1987), and Päätöksiä (1986) for the Dance Association of Turku Region. In addition, Kai has worked as a choreographer in the musical Little Shop of Horrors (1990) at the Åbo Svenska Theater and in a music theatre version of John Steinbeck’s play The Grapes of Wrath at the Turku City Theater (1994).

As a dancer, Kai performed in Dance Theatre ERI’s Soldier’s Tale, Jeanne D’Arc, Harlequins of the Night and, Little Match Girl. He also toured with the Avodah Dance Ensemble in New Jersey, USA, and performed with Claire Parsons Co., based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has also appeared in Barker Theatre’s production Dance with the Fairies and the musicals Little Shop of Horrors and La Cage Aux Folles at the Åbo Svenska Teater in Turku, Finland.