Entressen kauppakeskus, Siltakatu 11
02770 Espoo
Finland
- Heritage
Helinä Rautavaara Museum was founded in 1998 by a private foundation. The foundation has representatives from the city of Espoo, from the Helsinki University, from the Finnish Anthropological Association and from the Finnish Museums Association. At the moment the Helinä Rautavaara Museum is the only functioning ethnographic museum and the only museum which portrays the life story of woman in Finland.
The staff consists of 5 permanent and 3-8 temporary members. The annual budget is around 0,5 milj euros. The main funding comes from the city of Espoo and from the Ministry for Culture and Education in Finland.
In 2020-2021 the museum was a nominee for the Museum of the Year Award in Finland. In 2021 museum's documentary "A Hundred Year Journey" won the award for Indigenous/First Nation films in SCINEMA festival for being "a great reminder that museums and curators can and should work hand-in-hand with Indigenous people to decolonize their work and be healing presence". In 2017 the museum was awarded by Pedaali, The Finnish Association for Museum Education for its nationwide project Museums as a refuge which encouraged 14 museums to create activities for asylum seekers and migrants who had arrived to Finland 2015-2016. In 2008 the museum was a nominee for European Museum of the Year.
The museum has relocated and opened its in doors 2019 in a shopping mall in Espoon keskus which is one of the most culturally diverse areas in Finland.
The mission of the museum is to keep up the collection and promote understanding on cultural diversity.
By using participatory approach and working with communities we aim to build culturally diverse Finland and just world. Our values include inclusion, reciprocity, topicality and giving space for multiple voices.
The museum has specialized in issues concerning cultural diversity, cultural inclusion and awareness raising.
The museum organizes annually 1-3 exhibitions and more that 100 events. The museum has conducted various creative and innovative co curation, audience and education projects funded by EU, Finnish ministries and local municipality. Many of the projects are linked to awareness raising or non formal learning.
Helinä Rautavaara Museum was named after it founder, journalist Helinä Rautavaara (1928-1998) who dedicated her life to traveling the world and documenting the living cultural heritage in mainly in Middle East, Africa, Latin America and South Asia. Her subsequent travels added to her ever-increasing amount of photographs, super-8 films, audio recordings and videos. In Finland, she became known for her personal knowledge of South America, the Caribbean and Africa; during her last years, also for a museum project under preparation. Rautavaara created a wide international network of contacts through her good public skills, all-round education and with the help of Finland’s politically neutral reputation. Artistic creativity was as important tool for her as her knowledge of written sources.
We want to share our knowledge, experience and museum facilities to promote cultural dialogue.
New networks open possibilities for new types of co operation. We would be happy to work together with organizations that promote cultural dialogue and understanding.