Skip to content

about us

Sustainability

Responsibility is central to our core values

At the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, we put our hearts into all that we do. Our work is very meaningful to us, but even more importantly, we want it to be meaningful to others. That is why we must also ensure the well-being of our society and environment.

The strategy of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, which covers until 2025, lists responsibility as one of our four values. The effectiveness of our responsibility measures is monitored via strategic targets and metrics. Financial and artistic responsibility to the society, responsibility for our personnel, and environmental responsibility are the three key elements of this work.

We have included some examples of our ongoing responsibility work below. To us, responsibility involves continuous development and improvement, and consequently we will be updating the contents of this page regularly.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

We are committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In 2021, we selected five key goals to which the Finnish National Opera and Ballet will particularly contribute: Quality Education, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption, and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. We consider these goals every time we review our focus areas. They also help us to further develop our sustainability reporting.

Artistic responsibility

As the only professional opera and ballet company in Finland, we serve the entire society by offering high-quality opera and ballet experiences to different audiences and age groups across the country. Now more than ever, we want to ensure that our performances reflect contemporary values and touch people regardless of their age and background. We work with a long term perspective, as the creative process of individual opera and ballet productions takes several years, and some productions can stay in the repertoire for years, even decades.

We worked with an intimacy coordinator at the rehearsals of Salome.

On average, we offer 339 free performances every year.

In 2021, we reached 1.2 million people with our digital broadcasts together with our media partners Yle and Helsingin Sanomat.

Environmental responsibility

We’re actively monitoring and minimising the ecological footprint of our operations. In practice, this includes digitalising our customer service and internal processes, improving the energy efficiency of our lighting and stage technology, choosing environmentally sound materials, and enhancing recycling.

We are piloting the circular economy of production materials in performing arts. The project is headed by MyStash.

We have held the EcoCompass environmental certificate since 2011.

We are listed in the City of Helsinki’s Think Sustainably service.

Responsibility for our personnel

By fostering equality, transparency and integrity, providing opportunities for continuous personal development and supporting our personnel’s health, safety and well-being at work, we ensure that the Finnish National Opera and Ballet is an attractive and inspiring place to work. We also offer employment opportunities to professionals who do not speak Finland’s official languages.

Our personnel includes 33 nationalities.

In 2021 we adopted gender neutral titles for all our professional roles.

We took part in drafting the Safe at Every Stage guidance, which aims to eliminate harassment, discrimination and inappropriate behaviour from the Finnish music industry.

Financial responsibility

As an operator mainly covered by public funding, we continually strive to improve our operational efficiency, increase our self-financing ratio, and invest responsibly. We plan our operations also from a financial point of view for several years to come.

see also