Continuity and flow experience. Active meditation. Dancing together. Isolation. Fluidity. Rhythm. Join a free dance lesson on Bartók Béla Street! The idea is simple. The Dancing Finland campaign invites you to feel the joy of dance by participating in a free dance lesson. You do not have to be a experienced dancer to participate – everybody can join. Although the campaign originally was meant for a Finnish audience, it spread fast through social media, and events are beeing organised all around the world. Now it’s time for Budapest. During 2017, over 300 000 people have attended the events of

Saunakansa (Sauna Folk) exhibition featuring photos by Finnish photographer Jussi Puikkonen opens at Szatyor Art Space in Budapest on the 22th of September. The sauna is both a sacred and a mundane place for Finns. There are 3.2 million saunas in Finland (whereas only 5.5 million people), which means there are more saunas than cars. There is a tolerant, non-judgemental climate in the sauna as we are all naked and we all sweat there, either alone or in company. Jussi Puikkonen's photo series Sauna Folk shows a wide and colorful spectrum of saunas. The sensitivity of his works displays the

Finland celebrates its 100th anniversary as an indepent state and is also in the focus of this year’s Eleven Autumn Street Festival hosted by bustling Bartók Béla Avenue of the XI.district. The avenue transforms into a live showcase of Finnish culture at the festival organized by the Bartók Béla Boulevard Association with the support of FinnAgora and the Embassy of Finland. The program features Jussi Puikkonen’s SaunaFolk exhibition, the Finnish dance challenge Dancing Finland, a mobile-sauna for public testing and much more. There will be Finnish films, glass art, design and architecture.

Christmas comes early for fans of Finnish jazz this December, as top-class acts Gourmet and Jukka Eskola Soul Trio are booked for shows at Budapest’s Opus Jazz Club. New Jazz From Finland is a collaboration between FinnAgora and Budapest Music Center. New Finnish Jazz brings exciting contemporary acts from the Finnish jazz scene to Hungary. Gourmet is a favourite of both audiences and critics, and has been refered to by the former as ”The most proficient and at the same time the most entertaining Finnish jazz group”. Gourmet’s saga begun 20 years ago when founder members Mikko Innanen and Esa

Matti is a Finn who appreciates silence, peace and his own personal space. He is not a fan of small talk, and in social situations he actually wishes he could become invisible. Matti is the main character of comic strip series Finnish Nightmares by Karoliina Korhonen which features the greatest social fears Finns can face. He set off from the Finnish Institute in Norway in the beginning of 2017 and arrives soon to Budapest at the invitation of FinnAgora to be the special guest of the Eleven Ősz Bartók Béla Street Festival. You can follow Matti’s travels in Hungary on Instagram: #Mattiutazik #