At the beginning of April, the Jane and Aatos Erko foundation awarded a grant of 400,000 euros to the Mikkeli Music Festival. According to festival director Mikko Leppänen, the grant guarantees the financial backbone of the music festival.
Mikkeli Music Festival has undergone a lot of changes in just over a year: the title of festival of the year, a 400,000-euro grant, and personnel changes.
Leppänen sees the coming summer of music festivals as a bright one, as well as the next four years: Jane and Aatos Erko’s foundation awarded a grant of 400,000 euros to the Mikkeli Music Festival at the beginning of April. The annual amount is 100,000 euros.
According to Leppänen, the grant is a huge benefit.
– The grant gives us a financial backbone for the next four years. It also enables the planning of cooperation with the London Philharmonia Orchestra until 2026, says Leppänen.
The performances of the Mikkeli Music Festival are partially sold out, and scattered seats are available for a few shows. The music festival is organized from July 28 to August 5, when the majority of Central Europeans are also on vacation.
– There are many different factors. Rouvali is one, in addition to which this has long been an internationally recognized festival. We have also worked for 30 years for this festival, sums up Leppänen.
Finland Festivals has chosen Mikkeli’s Music Festival as the festival of the year
According to Leppänen, recognition clearly increases the attractiveness of music festivals.
– There are dozens of festivals in Finland that belong to Finland Festivals. Yes, things have been done right to receive such recognition. The support of the City of Mikkeli is of course also of primary importance, as is the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Leppänen promises versatile content for the festival. According to Leppänen, the Harry Potter train will arrive at the music festival this summer.