Looking back at AWAKE in Helsinki: Celebrating the future of creative entrepreneurship within arts and wellbeing
On 2 October 2025, the EU co-funded project AWAKE concluded with the final event at Lapinlahden Lähde, the centre for culture and wellbeing in Helsinki, Finland. The event gathered artists, cultural practitioners, health professionals, and creative entrepreneurs from across Europe, people connected by a shared belief that entrepreneurship within arts and wellbeing is both possible and necessary for building sustainable futures.
And for anyone who couldn’t be there in person, the full event was livestreamed and is now available on demand on YouTube. The event is now ready to be revisited by anyone who wants to catch up on the insights and stories shared that day.
Co-hosted by project partners from Pôle Culture et Santé Nouvelle Aquitaine, Cluj Cultural Center, Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture, and Lapinlahden Lähde, this international gathering didn’t feel like a one-off closing moment for the project. The event was more than a formal conclusion to the project. It served as an opportunity to share the knowledge, resources, networks, and ideas developed throughout AWAKE — Arts & Wellbeing as a Creative Business and Future Livelihood — running since 2023. For two years, the project has empowered many professionals to navigate the intersection between arts, culture, health, and entrepreneurship, with a mission of giving space to new businesses to flourish and sustainable futures.
Setting the Stage: A Gathering of Knowledge and Bright Minds in the Same Space
The morning opened with a warm welcome and an introduction to AWAKE’s mission. Among the first to take the stage were Cross-Sectoral Hackathon winners Julia Puebla Fortier and Karolina Anna Buszko, who presented their winning idea, Caring for Artists. Caring for Artists is a cross-sectoral app developed to support artists in maintaining their mental health and wellbeing.
It was a great bridge to what followed, a day of knowledge-sharing, inspiration, and honest reflection on what it takes to build a viable business in the arts and wellbeing field.
From Ideas to Viable Models: The Revision of the AWAKE Casebook
One of the key moments of the day was by Annabelle Türkis and Ariane Vitou on the casebook Growing a Viable Entrepreneurial Model at the Intersection of the Arts and Wellbeing. Introduced by Annabelle, this resource offers everyone practical insights into how creative projects can evolve into resilient enterprises. Through five case studies, it examines how ideas are born, partnerships can be formed, challenges faced, and sustainability achieved.
All in all, our goal has always been to provide a framework that others in the field can adapt and learn from.
As Türkis commented during her talk, “The Casebook is about understanding growth and not just financial, but creative and human. It’s about how we can create structures that allow art to care, and care to thrive through art.”
Hearing Different Perspectives on Resourcing Arts and Health
Two keynote sessions offered valuable perspectives on how to fund and sustain work at the intersection of arts and health.
From Finland, Katri Leppisaari and Kati Nuora of the Arts Promotion Centre shared local insights into funding opportunities and emerging models for cross-sector collaboration. They stressed the importance of recognising artists as professionals contributing directly to social wellbeing.
From the UK, Dawn Prescot introduced the work of LIME Arts and the Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, offering a glimpse into how public health systems can partner with creative practitioners to humanise care environments and support recovery.
Both talks underlined a common idea — that the future of arts and wellbeing depends on collaboration. When public institutions and private actors work together, creative entrepreneurship can move from isolated initiatives to lasting, systemic change.
Rethinking the Role of the Artist
In the context of exploring what it means to be an artist in today’s entrepreneurial and cross-sector landscape, Savolainen — whose work is featured as one of the cases in the Casebook — reflected:
“We should recognise how incredibly diverse and interconnected artistic work has become. Today, an artist is not only a creator, but also a connector, researcher, educator, and social innovator.”
Her words resonated with the audience, offering a reminder that the future of entrepreneurial practice within arts and wellbeing sector lies in collaboration, empathy, and systems thinking, rather than the isolated image of the artist creating alone.
This dialogue evolved into a broader panel discussion featuring Ville Pellinen, CEO of Lapinlahden Lähde; Bruno Gallice, Cultural Policy Adviser at DRAC in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region; Olga Kizina, Lead Expert at the Creative Business Network; and business consultant and artist Sandra Abreu.
All participants agreed on the need for stronger entrepreneurial support and more sustainable structures. Among the key themes discussed were the urgency of cross-sectoral cooperation and the importance of developing sustainable funding and entrepreneurial support systems.
Learning into Action: Afternoon Workshops
The afternoon at Lapinlahden Lähde came to life with a series of parallel workshops designed to translate insights into practice. Participants gathered in different sessions to develop concrete skills relevant to entrepreneurship in the arts and wellbeing sector.
The workshops included:
- Value: Sustainable Business Models with Olga Kizina
- Future Entrepreneurial Skills in Arts & Health with Jennifer Ramirez
- Measuring Social Impact with Clara Bourgeois
Each session reflected AWAKE’s aim to connect creativity with strategy and to strengthen a professional field capable of driving lasting change.
A Two-Year Journey: AWAKE’s Impact and Lessons Learned
Over its two-year period, AWAKE has spotlighted how artists can meaningfully enter and thrive within the wellbeing sector. Not as outsiders, but as essential collaborators close to healthcare systems that are in rapid transformation.
From online masterclasses to a hackathon, from a European expert roundtable to the publication of its Casebook, AWAKE provided valuable tools and opportunities for hundreds of participants to develop their practice, business skills, and necessary confidence.
Feedback from participants across Europe reflects just how transformative the experience has been:
“I learned how to create my business even from scratch. How to build a business plan, develop branding, and even think about licensing my creations for the future from a legal perspective.”
“I’m exploring co-creation right now for a new project, and AWAKE helped me understand the complexities of that process. It couldn’t have come at a better time!”
What Comes Next: A Network That Keeps Developing
Although the AWAKE project officially concludes, as per the European Union’s support timeline, its spirit continues through NDPC’s growing ecosystem of projects dedicated to connecting culture, health, and entrepreneurship.
For those who want to stay involved, NDPC is a partner in several ongoing initiatives, including:
- Culture and Health Platform (which strongly continues to strengthen cross-sector collaboration across Europe).
These projects share AWAKE’s belief that culture is not just a mirror of society, but a tool for healing, innovation, and sustainable livelihoods.
Watch the Event Again
For everyone who joined us at Lapinlahti, thank you for being part of a vibrant, inspiring community. And for those who couldn’t make it to Helsinki, we’ve got you covered once the conversation is far from over.
You can watch the full AWAKE Final Event recording on YouTube, rewind to your favourite moments, and share the discussions with your network.
As one participant said, “I hope this end will be a beginning.”
And that sounds about right, for the AWAKE community, this feels like just the start.
