Finland’s Faces in the U.S.: Finding New Opportunities and Collaborative Platforms for the Creative Industries
Who are you, and what do you do in your position as the Adviser for Culture and Creative Industries at the Consulate General of Finland in New York?
I´m Kati Laakso, a Finnish citizen by birth but with an international background since. I was born in Switzerland and studied in Germany, Sweden and Finland. Learning how to operate in an international environment with people from very different backgrounds has been an instrumental part of my upbringing. I´ve always liked to work with projects and people that share a common goal but approach it from very different viewpoints. I studied business in Sweden and received an MBA from the University of Stockholm, with a minor in art history.
My work at the Consulate General is very interesting not only because no day or project is alike another. The job requires an open mind and the ability to adapt to diverse settings and situations. My task is to promote Finnish culture and the creative fields (people, companies, and brands) in the U.S., and to find new opportunities for these both on the artistic and business side. In addition I work a lot with communications, PR, and social media marketing as part of the Economic, Cultural Affairs, and Communications team of the Consulate General.
The Consulate General has worked with a wide network of local partners for a long time and it´s very inspiring to see how things are constantly evolving. My work is very collaborative and we strive to work with projects that have long-term goals and are beneficial for all partners involved. For example an art project might be a very interesting partner for a company, or a research project might have a lot of valuable insight for city governments. Finland has plenty of knowledge, innovations and talent for which there is demand in the U.S., and the possibilities in a city like New York often seem endless.
Since I work with all fields of culture I have a good lookout spot of the local and Finnish cultural industries. This also means I have to be able to concentrate and adapt to a multitude of subjects and very different projects simultaneously. I continuously go to industry events, seminars etc and meet a lot of people, that combined with being involved in plenty of projects and supporting these often throughout their duration can be quite challenging. Being surrounded by all these hardworking, creative people, and being able to help them develop their ideas and goals however is very inspiring. I feel the Consulate General is a good starting point to get in touch with for anyone wanting to enter the U.S. markets.
What in your opinion is the best part of the work?
The goal of my work at the Consulate General is to give birth, foster, and support meaningful connections and projects that will lead to business or artistic opportunities for the creative fields in Finland. It often means staying in the background once things start to happen and seeing the results sometimes only a long time afterwards. However, it´s great to connect likeminded people to each other and see them starting to work together. The same goes for organizations and companies, once you are able to connect an artist or art project with a great collaborative or even financial partner you feel accomplished. The Consulate General is a unique platform for making connections between different actors in the U.S. and Finland.
I love meeting new people and creating new ways of doing things. My work can include anything from fine arts to architecture and city planning, or food and classical music to design startups. I work a lot with the media, festivals, trade fairs, various companies, museums and other cultural organizations, as well as city and country governments. The various stakeholders all have different needs and it´s great that we can help such different groups through the Consulate General. The possibility to work closely with our own team but also our Nordic colleagues from the other Consulate Generals in New York has strengthened our ties and generated new opportunities. New York is a perfect environment for collaboration since there are an endless amount of people, organizations and possibilities to be inspired by, and to work with. Being able to sense rising trends and tapping into them is instrumental.
The other thing I love about my work is the possibility to follow so many different fields of culture simultaneously, and see the change that goes on in them. I work a lot with different export and cultural organizations back home in Finland that offer support in my work. In a city like New York new trends are born daily and it´s quite fascinating to be able to tap into this. Our local partners often ask me for recommendations for Finnish artists, programming or just ideas in general and it´s great to be able to promote the amazing talent we have back home in Finland. Having had the possibility to help many artists to perform in the U.S., and establishing new frameworks for collaboration has really been one of the highlights of my work.
What has been the most difficult part in working between the U.S. and Finland?
Finnish and American cultures have similarities but also big differences. The most difficult part in my work has been to promote Finns who still often are quite humble about their skills. Americans have a very different attitude towards PR, marketing, selling, and self-promotion. In order to achieve the goals of my work it has been crucial for me to adapt to the local mentality. Acting as a liaison between two cultures has thought me a lot about cross-cultural collaboration. In the U.S. and New York especially everything happens very fast and no one has time to wait. In Finland, not so. Although we have a lot of talent and knowledge Finnish people are still quite shy to tell about it. In some ways Finland is still a (too) well-kept secret.
What in your opinion are the biggest challenges for creative people today?
The competition in big cities like New York is fierce. You have to not only be very good at what you do but also be able to promote and sell yourself without losing the core of your creative practice. It is hard to excel on the artistic and business sides simultaneously. Big cities around the world are becoming more and more expensive to live in, however they still are the source of inspiration and creative force. Hence collaboration and helping each other become even more important, and this is where the Team Finland network steps in. The network was built to foster new kinds of collaboration and has different ministries work together towards common goals. In the U.S. our closest Team Finland collaborators are the Embassy of Finland in Washington, D.C., the Consulate General in Los Angeles, and our colleagues at the Tekes and Finpro US offices. Combined our resources can be put into so much more use and the results of this work can already be seen.