The Tornionlaakso Museum and the Ainee Art Museum gathered large audiences last year. The renovation of the art museum and library building tightened the art museum’s foothold in the villages and the shopping center.
Almost 6,000 visitors visited the Tornionlaakso museum’s exhibitions last year. According to the museum, the opening of the border to tourism after two years of corona closures was clearly visible.
The museum says in its announcement that Swedes from near and far have found the museum again. The cultural heritage visits of Haaparanta schoolchildren were also allowed to continue after a long break.
As a regionally responsible museum, the Tornionlaakso museum handles the expert and official duties of the cultural environment. In 2022, the museum issued more than 300 statements on, for example, municipal plans, environmental impact assessments and forest use notifications. The museum’s area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility extends from Simo to Muonio.
Tornionlaakso museum’s role as a regionally responsible museum continues, and at the beginning of the year, the museum will hire a new employee for the position of renovation construction expert.
In addition, the museum receives a cultural heritage coordinator for two years with the support of the cities of Tornio and Haaparanta. The special task of the coordinator is to apply for rapid fishing in Tornionlaakso to be included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
Art education and exhibition activities were moved to new places
Aine Art Museum was on vacation for almost the whole of last year due to the renovation of the Rajakartano building. The art museum became active with its art education activities and exhibition cooperation with the shopping center.
The art education work that spread to the villages reached almost 4,900 Tornio children, young people and elderly people in different parts of the city. The art museum organized more than 300 art workshops during the year.
In the summer, the Aine Art Museum brought its art collection to the Galleria Kortteer of the Rajalla shopping center. The Väylän väki exhibition was visited by almost 4,000 visitors. The space of the shopping center also hosted the art education activities of the Ainee Art Museum, in which more than 700 people participated.
Aine Art Museum’s biggest cross-border cooperation project was Tilaa teteilijujuten – an equality project for sign language and disabled artists. It was produced in cooperation with the city of Haaparanta and the Culture for All service, funded by the Kone Foundation until the fall of 2022.
In the project, four artists and artist couples worked in residencies in Tornio and Haaparanna. At the end of the residency period, solo exhibitions were organized in both cities. The group exhibition will be presented to the public at the Aine Art Museum in the year that began.