In August of this year, Globe Art Point was awarded a 3-year grant from the City of Helsinki for our newest project GAP LAB NEIGHBOURHOODS. The purpose of this project is to develop inclusive, low-threshold extracurricular artistic and cultural activities for children and young people aged 7 to 16 years. Our project targets Meri-Rastila, one of the suburban regeneration areas in Helsinki where youth participation in hobbies is below the city average.
Project Aims
- Prevent social segregation by offering regular, meaningful engagement through artistic activities.
- Build young people’s confidence in their personal and professional future, while supporting their personal agency, inclusion and wellbeing.
- Introduce art as a potential career path through guided mentorship by professional multicultural artists, who can be potential role models for children and young people.
- Develop and document a model for cultural education that can be expanded to other neighbourhoods after the three-year project has ended.
In the first year, two visual art courses will be delivered weekly in partnership with Kulttuuritila Merirasti, a trusted and inclusive community hub for the local residents.
- A visual Arts and Comics class targeting children aged 7 to 11
- and an Urban Art and Culture class for teenagers aged 11 to 16 years.
Each of these classes will be led by two professional art educators both in English and Finnish whose tasks will be to first create a curriculum for the classes and then facilitate weekly meetings with the kids at Kulttuuritila Merirasti. The selected day for these classes is a Wednesday, but the exact time is to be discussed with the local schools to ensure the kids’ availability to attend during afterschool hours. Each session will last approximately 2 hours with a decent snack break in between so the kids can regenerate and rest a little. Duration period of each course is between November 2025 and May 2026.
Project Timeline
September 2025: Open call is released.
October 2025: Artist pairs are selected by a jury composed of GAP’s board and staff. They develop course curricula tailored to the local context and age groups.
Promotion begins in local schools and through Kulttuuritila Merirasti to reach the target groups. Schools include Merilahden peruskoulu, Jaluspolun toimipiste (primary level), and Merilahti Comprehensive School (secondary level).
November 2025 to May 2026: Weekly classes take place
June and July 2026: Project outcomes are assessed, with feedback collected from participants and partners. Informed by this data, the model is refined for expansion in Year 2 during August 2026 while the program’s promotion is taking place.
Who Are we Looking for?
In total, we are looking to employ 4 professional art educators to facilitate the project activities. The applicants must have a background in working with children. Adult educators and other types of educators will not be considered for this project. As outlined above, each class will need to have an educator who speaks Finnish. The second educator should have a good level of English. Any other languages are a plus, especially Arabic.
The applicants must be available to sign a work contract for the duration of the entirety of the project (October-May) and therefore, if you are unsure about your future in Finland, please do not apply for this position. It’s important that the kids are provided with stability and familiarity.
Applicants must also be existing members of GAP Creatives Database! People who have just recently applied, but have not been approved, will not be considered.
The salary
The art educators will be working under a temporary project-based contract starting in Sep/October 2025 until May/June of 2026. The salary is € 17 per hour, and the working time would be 7,5 hours per week. These 7,5 hours include the preparation time and cleaning time after the classes are over and some light communication with the kids’ parents if needed. There’s a possibility of continuing with the same professionals in subsequent years. This decision will be based on feedback and evaluation from the pilot year.
Application deadline: 10.10. 2025
If interested in applying, please send us the following;
- Motivation letter (1 page max) highlighting your skills and reasons why you would be the best fit for this project. In your letter, please specify for which art class you are applying.
- Resume that clearly outlines your career path in art pedagogy.
- A portfolio of your recent work.
This material should be sent to [email protected] in 1 pdf document by 10th of October 2025 (23:59 EET). Late submissions will not be considered.
Due to the tight project schedule, the positions will be filled as soon as the suitable candidates are found.
If you have any questions related to this call, please contact our project Manager Alex Kollerová at [email protected].
We look forward to receiving your applications!