The second Ars-Häme ry art prize was given on Saturday 12 December 2020 at Galleria Kone at the Verkatehdas culture center in Hämeenlinna.
The 2020 Ars-Häme Prize was awarded to Sirpa Taulu, the first Executive Director of Ars-Häme ry in Hämeenlinna, in recognition of her long-term and pioneering art promotion work in Kanta-Häme. Taulu has worked at Ars-Häme ry for 17 years. She started working as the association’s secretary and treasurer, and then she was promoted to the executive director. Taulu is known as a remarkable and artist-friendly organizer of art activities in Kanta-Häme.
Sirpa Taulu was awarded as she has played a key role in consolidating Ars-Häme’s activities and creating permanent support structures for professional artists in the Finnish visual arts field. Sirpa Taulu’s most prominent input is the Artotheque at Verkatehdas culture center, and the start-up and maintenance of international residency activities. Artotheque distributes artworks from over 90 artists around the Häme region. Under Taulu’s supervivion Ars-Häme ry started maintaining two artists’ studio spaces in Hämeenlinna and Riihimäki. More than 50 artists work there. One of the most favourite tasks of Taulu as an executive director of Ars-Häme was to promote socially engaged artistic activities. These achievements, as well as Galleria Kone, which is valued in the field of fine arts, would not be possible without her work.
Sirpa Taulu is full of ideas. Her organizational and financial management skills have been widely used in the association. She is an experienced developer and innovator in the field of art. Häme Arts Council awarded Taulu for her significant work in the field of cultural policy with the Pro Arte Tawastica honorary certificate in 2010 and the Häme Association’s Cultural Recognition Award in 2016.
The purpose of the Ars-Häme Art Prize is to give recognition to a person who has promoted art in the Kanta-Häme region. The first prize went to Jouko Astor, CEO of Verkatehdas in 2019.