The Sámi Music Centre

The Sámi Parliament has worked actively to maintain and develop traditional Sámi music further and to arrange teaching of Sámi music. The ESR projects (The Sámi Music education project 2005-2007 and The Sámi music centre project 4-10/2007), managed by the Sámi Parliament and funded by the County Administrative Board of Lapland, were used to plan, map and enable the teaching of Sámi music to be started in the Sámi region. The results of these projects were used as the basis for the preparation of the suggested the Sámi music centre in 2007.

One of the central activities of the Sámi cultural centre, to be completed in Inari in 2012, will be the currently planned and unique Sámi music centre. The centre will coordinate and organize teaching of Sámi music in schools and devise syllabuses for Sámi music. The centre will provide expertise in the field of Sámi music to various educational institutes, even outside the Sámi region. The employees of the centre can work as assistant pedagogues in teaching environments and instruct teachers in the teaching of the Sámi music as well. The Sámi music centre will cooperate closely with the Sámi Education Institute. The centre will also develop and design the Ijahis Idja indigenous peoples’ music event, arranged annually in Inari.

In addition, the Sámi music centre is intended to further new cultural entrepreneurship by offering the possibility to record Sámi music, offering Sámi artists opportunities to perform, promoting Sámi music, and maintaining and developing traditional music further through passing it on to the following generations. The operations of the Sámi music centre were funded in 2008 and 2009 by the Ministry of Education.

The Indigenous Peoples’ Film Centre is a regional resource centre of the film and audio-visual industry which operates within the Finnish Sámi Parliament in Inari. The centre’s operations are currently funded by the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Cinema.

The Indigenous Peoples’ Film Centre supports the Sámi language and culture and creates prerequisites for the visibility and audibility of the Sámi and other indigenous peoples’ own voice in the film and media industry – on the indigenous peoples’ own terms and from their own starting points.

The Indigenous Peoples’ Film Centre supports the planning, development and production of films and media products by cooperating to find funding channels and partners and by organising educational and film industry events in the Sámi region. Additionally, the centre disseminates Sámi films across different events and distributes information on Sámi cinema, the Sámi region and Sámi filmmakers. In addition, Skábma organises the Skábmagovat indigenous peoples’ film festival.

Saamelaisen lastenkulttuurikeskuksen (LKK) tavoitteena on luoda ja vahvistaa yksilön ja yhteisön valmiuksia henkisen pääoman ja hyvinvoinnin, taiteellisen toiminnan ja kulttuuriperinnön ylläpitämiseen ja kasvattamiseen. Lastenkulttuurikeskus toimii yhteistyössä eri hallintokuntien, kulttuurilaitosten, koulutus- ja tutkimusyksiköiden sekä kolmannen sektorin kanssa. LKK huolehtii lastenkulttuuria koskevasta tiedottamisesta, yhteistyöstä eri organisaatioiden välillä, alueellisesta, valtakunnallisesta ja kansainvälisestä yhteistyöstä sekä lastenkulttuurin hankkeistuksesta. Lisäksi toiminnan tavoitteena on kehittää saamelaista lastenkulttuuria paikallisesti ja alueellisesti sekä turvata saamelaisille tasavertaiset mahdollisuudet monipuolisiin kulttuuripalveluihin ja -elämyksiin.