Operations & finance
Mission
The primary aim of Tero Saarinen Company’s operations is to promote a humane worldview and basic human values through the language of dance, while also increasing people’s understanding of their own physicality and its significance for a good life.
Vision
Tero Saarinen Company will continue on its path as one of the world’s leading dance groups. The Company's international status is based not only on unique works of art, but also on humane values, open interaction and the courage to step out of our comfort zone. The operating principles (Awake, Aware, Alert, Alive) apply not only to the creative process, but to all of the organisation’s activities.
Values
Tero Saarinen Company’s basic values are: a sense of community, openness, appreciation of hard work, and uncompromising high quality.
General strategy
The artistic aim is to use choreography, music and visual design to give people profound experiences in the form of enduring, total artworks – open, interactive situations that allow audience members to address fundamental human questions.
The aim of management and production is to assist in the achievement of the artistic goals. A long-term vision is to further the realisation of the Company’s mission by developing its artistic work and all related expertise to suit various formats and distribution channels. The finance strategy incorporates a wide variety of funding solutions, including from unconventional sources.
Structure and activities
Tero Saarinen Company’s production, performance and teaching operations are run by a registered non-profit association, Into liikkeessä (Passion in Motion).
The purpose of the association is to promote and develop dance studies and performance activities in Finland and abroad. Membership of the association is open to everyone who is interested in dance. Tero Saarinen chairs the association’s board. The group has a permanent office, storage space and rehearsal studios in the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki.
Poetry in Motion Oy, a company owned by Tero Saarinen, is responsible for the creation and licensing of Tero Saarinen’s works to other groups, along with the manufacture of merchandise.
Key figures and finance
Tero Saarinen Company operates as a network organisation typical of the creative sector: nine of the group’s members are on a regular full or part-time salary, but each year some 40 to 80 professionals from different fields and various parts of the world also work with the group on specific productions or on out-of-house service contracts.
Tero Saarinen Company puts on an average of about 30 - 40 performances a year, most of them outside of Finland. Apart from performances by his own group, Saarinen’s work is also spreading across the world through the international teaching programme and performances by other dance companies. Each year, his works are featured in the repertoire of 2-3 companies around the world.
In 2010, the Company performed in seven countries: China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and the USA. The average audience per performances was 836. Workshops were held in China, Colombia and Finland. Saarinen and his team made a new creation for nordwest in Germany. In total the By the end of 2010, the Company had performed in a total of 36 countries on all continents.
In 2009, the company’s total income was EUR 789,232 of which ticket receipts and other income from performances represented 40%, other income and production grants 11%, state subsidy 40%, and operating subsidy from the City of Helsinki 9%. The equity in the balance sheet on 31.12.2009 was minus EUR 17,103.04.
Tero Saarinen Company public subsidies
Tero Saarinen Company became eligible for regular state subsidy – under the Finnish Theatre and Orchestra Act – in 2004. In 2009, 58 theatres were subsidized by the Act, ten of them working with dance.
The average income structure for other companies subsidized by the Act (58) in 2009 was: ticket receipts and other income from performances 22 %; other income and production grants 4%; state and city subsidies 73%.
(Source: Finnish Theatre Information Centre: Theatre statistics 2009)
Public subsidies for dance in Finland
Compared with the theatre and music, public funding for dance in Finland has so far been small. In 2009, 95% of state support went to theatre and 5% to dance.
The funding shortfall built into the law particularly affects dance groups and centres. In terms of audience figures, in 2009, drama theatres received state subsidies of EUR 23.98 per audience member, while state subsidy for dance theatres, groups and centres was EUR 12.21 per audience member.
The subsidies received by established drama theatres from the City of Helsinki in 2009 were EUR 11.35 per audience member. The corresponding figure for dance companies and centres was EUR 3.42.
(Source: Finnish Theatre Information Centre: Theatre statistics 2009)
Annual Reports
The annual reports of Passion in Motion, registred association, can be downloaded here (only in Finnish):