ARMAS 10th ANNIVERSARY JUBILEE ONLINE SEMINAR
SILENCE OF AGEING:
How Arts and Culture Help Confront Loneliness in Later Life
Monday 30 March 2026 | 1:00–3:30 pm (EET) | Helsinki, Finland
The Silence of Ageing seminar explores loneliness as a phenomenon that affects us all — especially older people.
What is the nature of loneliness? How does it arise? How does it affect our well-being?
The online seminar was streamed through the Helsinki Channel.
The seminar recording link will be published soon.
The seminar is organised by the Armas Festival, the City of Helsinki and The Baring Foundation in collaboration with KAAPELI, the Finnish Institute of UK and Ireland, iCAN International Creative Ageing network, British Embassy Helsinki, and the Finnish Institute in Japan.
The seminar is also the second iCAN network online gathering.
PROGRAMME
Monday 30th of March
1-3.30 pm (EET)
Opening words
- Kai Huotari Managing Director of KAAPELI, Finland
- David Cutler director, The Baring Foundation, UK
Artists’ video: Susanna Leinonen Company
Keynote 1: ”Unravelling the nature of loneliness”
Elisa Tiilikainen professor, University of Eastern Finland
Speakers
- Yoko Hayashi Founder and director of Arts Alive, Japan
- Rebecca Blackman National Director for Engagement and Communities, Art Council, UK
- Mari Männistö Culture Director at the City of Helsinki, Finlan
Artists’ video: Circus Magenta
Break 10 min
Speaker
- Isto Turpeinen Doctor of Arts (Dance), Finland
Panel discussion
Lead by David Cutler, The Baring Foundation, UK
- Elisa Tiilikainen
- Yoko Hayashi
- Rebecca Blackman
- Isto Turpeinen
- Mari Männistö
Artists’ video: Dj Börje
Speakers
Kai Huotari
Managing Director
KAAPELI
Dr. Kai HUOTARI has over 25 years of management experience in the fields of culture, academia and technology. Since 2015, Huotari has worked as Managing Director at KAAPELI the largest cultural center in Finland. Previously, Huotari held managerial positions at EIT Culture & Creativity, at EIT Digital, at Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, and at DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival. In 2010-12, Huotari worked as visiting scholar at UC Berkeley.
Huotari serves in the board of Helsinki City Premises Ltd, The Helsinki Music Centre and Paimio Sanatorium Foundation. He has also served in the boards of YLE – National broadcasting company and HAM Helsinki Art Museum. He has a doctoral degree in economics & business administration, an M.A. degree in filmmaking, and a M.Sc. degree in computer science. He has published in the fields of service marketing and gamification.
David Cutler
Director
The Baring Foundation
David Cutler has been the Director of the Baring Foundation, a UK based independent human rights funder, since 2003. In that role he led a ten year arts programme for the Foundation on creative ageing. This included a major collaboration with the Arts Council England, Celebrating Age commissioning Luminate in Scotland and the National Arts in Care Homes Day and an international festival (B)old at the Southbank Centre in London, as well as many other projects. He was the Prime Minister’s Champion for Arts and Dementia in 2011-2012. In all he hasn’t written ten reports on creative ageing including Love in a Cold Climate with Finnish colleagues and Around the World in 80 Creative Ageing Projects. More recently he established the International Creative Ageing Network with Harriet Lowe and Raisa Kartunnen. He studied at Oxford University and the London School of Economics and was awarded an OBE.
Elisa Tiilikainen
Professor
University of Eastern Finland
Elisa Tiilikainen is a professor of Social Work at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research has focused on social wellbeing in later life and highlighted the diversity of older adults’ social relations and everyday life experiences. In the context of loneliness, Elisa has been particularly interested how loneliness is embedded in older adults’ life courses and shaped by the surrounding societal and cultural setting. In her presentation Elisa will unravel the multidimensional nature of loneliness from the perspective of time and place.
The founding director of Arts Alive
Rebecca Blackman
Director Engagement and Audiences and Midlands (Nottingham base)
Rebecca is the National Director for Engagement and Communities at Arts Council England as well as an Arts Council Area Director for the Midlands. She currently leads on Arts Councils work with older people as well as programmes like Creative People and Places focussing on underserved communities, alongside working on a range of community and engagement projects. She has also worked as an actor/teacher with various theatre companies; as a project leader for an NHS advice and counselling project; as a Senior Manager in local government and as a teacher of English and Drama. Rebecca has also delivered training programmes for Age UK and worked in a voluntary capacity with Shelter and in youth justice settings.
Mari Männistö
Culture Director
City of Helsinki
Mari has served as the Culture Director of the City of Helsinki since October 2019. She leads a division of approximately 300 arts and culture professionals, which oversees cultural policy, grant administration, and the city’s cultural institutions, including the Helsinki City Museum, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and eight cultural centres across the city. She is particularly interested in how arts and culture can contribute to addressing the complex challenges of our time. Mari holds a Master of Science in Economics from Tampere University and has previously worked as the director of a contemporary art gallery, as well as in book publishing and media business.
Isto Turpeinen
Doctor of Arts (Dance)
Isto Turpeinen is is an independent artist-researcher, pedagogue, and expert in cultural wellbeing. He is currently preparing a report for the Ministry of Education and Culture on the “HYTE coefficient,” aiming to identify indicators for cultural wellbeing in Finland’s wellbeing services counties. Turpeinen also contributes to the “Wellbeing from Culture for Older People” initiative by the Arts and Culture Agency. Previously, he held expert roles at the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike). He worked as a researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki, including the Academy of Finland-funded ArtsEqual project, which explored how art as a public service can enhance social equality and wellbeing in Finland.
