Despite calling it quits last year, the multicultural Faces Festival will be staged once again this weekend at Raseborg Castle, some 90 km west of Helsinki. Festival director Börje Mattsson, who also has served as immigration coordinator for the West Uusimaa region and the Finnish UNICEF organisation, says the decision was sparked by a surge in racist and anti-immigrant comments in Finland.
Amid the noise of construction by volunteers, Mattsson tells Yle that there were a variety of reasons for the decision to revive the festival, which began in 1998.
“Faces was established to show that Finland is multicultural. A year ago, it seemed that this goal had been reached. But we got a lot of feedback from the audiences and performers saying that this event is still needed. Now that racism has increasing visibility in Finland, it was clear that we had to arrange Faces.”
Invites to Immonen, Soini
Mattsson describes Finns Party MP Olli Immonen’s anti-immigration statements as “horrific racism”. Immonen and his party leader, Foreign Minister Timo Soini have been invited to attend the festival – which leaders such as former presidents Tarja Halonen and Martti Ahtisaari have done in the past.
Referring to Immonen, he says: “How have these kinds of extremely negative spirits proliferated and climbed up to the level of the political leadership? Immonen’s statement certainly went too far, crossing over into racism and fascism. Somehow in today’s Finland it’s acceptable to say these kinds of things that one could not have imagined a few years ago. We’ve sent Immonen an invitation so that he can come to see whether this multiculturalism is such a terrible thing that should be feared. It’s not.”
For years, Faces has struggled with financial problems, and this year is no exception. There are still old debts to be paid off, but Mattsson says the situation is getting under control.
“Arranging this kind of festival is not a good business. We’ve always had a tight financial situation and this year we haven’t received any national funding. Perhaps this reflects the general atmosphere,” Mattsson muses.
Spotlighting immigrant performers
The shortage of funding is reflected in the performance programme – which lacks any stars or household names.
“This time we don’t have any performers brought in from abroad at all, but we’re emphasising the various cultures within Finland,” he says. “The performers represent a great many different backgrounds, forms of music and arts.”
Besides music with roots in Sierra Leone, Ireland, Estonia, Malaysia and many other countries, the festival offers dance, theatre, food and handicrafts from around the world, as well as workshops in poetry, instruments such as didgeridoos, fire dance, street dance and clowning. The festival kicks off at noon on Saturday and Sunday at Raseborg Castle, 12 km south of Karjaa.
