Rock Beats Scissors
The peaceful Rock Beats Scissors protest was held on Monday, April 15, 2024. The purpose of the protest was to remind that creative industries have a significant impact on both the economy and national identity and well-being. As the bedrock of society, culture is an important part of mental resilience and produces considerable researched well-being and health effects. Culture helps Finns cope with everyday challenges, despite the grim news coming from around the world.
Held concurrently with Petteri Orpo’s government’s framework session, the aim of the protest was to justify that it is not advisable to cut state funding for culture by highlighting the proven results and future benefits that our sector produces, and to provide information to ensure fair decision-making regarding state budget austerity measures.
Participating in the protest were:
- Avate Audiovisual Sector Workers’ Association
- Documentary Guild
- F.C.E Finnish Film Editors’ Guild
- Forum Artis
- Finnish Film and Media Workers’ Union SET
- Finnish Actors’ Union
- Finnish Directors’ Guild SELO
- Finnish Journalists’ Union
- Finnish Writers’ Union
- Finnish Music Creators’ Association
- Finnish Musicians’ Union
- Finnish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild
- Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society
- Finnish Artists’ Association
- TAKU Art and Culture Professionals
- Teme – Theatre and Media Workers’ Union
- Women in Film & Television Finland
Join the Campaign
The peaceful Rock Beats Scissors protest for creative professionals, which began on Friday, March 22, is visible on social media and at creative industry events during March and April 2024.
The importance of the creative industries as employers and their share of the gross domestic product have been steadily increasing.
- In 2022, approximately 136,100 people had cultural professions as their main occupation.
- The total annual wage sum of the creative industries has ranged from 4.4 to 5.1 billion euros in various studies.
- The creative industries generate a total of 2.6 to 3.3 billion euros in tax revenue (including wage taxes, VAT, and social security contributions).
- The turnover of the creative industries in 2021 was 15.8 billion euros.
- In 2021, the creative industries contributed 3.1 percent of Finland’s GDP.
- The share of our gross domestic product from the creative industries is already larger than in many more traditional industrial sectors, such as the chemical industry (2.7 percent), paper industry (1.4 percent), food industry (1.3 percent), and wood products industry (0.9 percent).
The theme of the protest is Rock Beats Scissors, which is familiar to everyone from the rock-paper-scissors game. The rock symbolizes the bedrock of culture, which stands united against threatening scissors, reminding us of the intangible capital created by creative professionals, which enriches both Finnish cultural life and the economy. We hold in our hands a significant growth sector, the care of which has a great impact on the vitality of society as a whole.