HOW DID IT ALL START? Pertti’s Choice was founded when Pertti Kurikka retired and the band quit touring. The band’s managers Teuvo Merkkiniemi and Kalle Pajamaa asked what they would like to do next. “A brick and mortar store,” was the guys’ answer. Without hesitation the idea was put into action. The opening of Pertti’s Choice was held 24 April 2018. It was a full house.

PERTTI’S CHOICE has been active in a lot during its first years. The new brand and activities have been warmly welcomed and new partnerships have opened doors to outsider artists in cool productions and events. Finnish Outsider Art scene is well connected, and the long term development work and pioneering in different art disciplines has led to the point where internationally acclaimed Finnish artists are now also clearing the way to new culture makers and influencers.

SHOP products have found responsible cultural consumers. The store offers high-quality products by art studios and other producers around Finland and new things are stocked constantly. We aim to keep the pricing fair, as it is important to keep the products accessible for everyone. Every new customer brings great joy to us, for the revenue is directed back to the makers by developing the operation and by employing people with disabilities and special abilities.

GALLERY We hope the exhibitions will bring together a diverse group of people and new audiences who feel free to do things differently, experience and learn from each other. From the very beginning we have had the delight to work together with artists from many disciplines and professional fields. Pertti’s Choice Gallery hostes distinctive exhibitions that celebrate diversity in their own ways. Our artistic programming highlights the original life stories of the artists and engage marginalized people in new positions; planning artistic content, producing, inclusive curating and creative installions.

PRODUCTIONS seek out for new audiences and spontaneous encounters. Pertti’s Choice reaches over 3 million people in marketing every year. New partnerships, production procedures, technology, media and environments create new audiences for arts and culture with a global reach.

Best events generate new ideas and partnerships. Our core teams flexibility and efficiency often exceed the conventional ways of event production and rely on long-term co operations and partnerships. This is why we can easily seize great ideas.

IMPACT & INFLUENCE Pertti’s Choice supports cultural diversity and creates new opportunities for marginal groups in career development, employment and community engagement. Equal culture and the implementation of cultural rights are manifested in new roles and encounters but also in the right to dream big and execute bold experiments. And since we are onboard with PKN, it is naturally all done with a punk attitude.

We monitor the cultural, social and economic impacts of Pertti’s Choice’s activities. Launching an agency has an impact as such for it means the construction of a new structural and operational models that unite marginal makers and new audiences. Happenings during the tour offer abundant visibility also to our sponsors and networking partners. Societal impact is a sum of many different matters and the outcome of cooperation. Everything we do, emphasize employment issues, societal entrepreneurship and constructing collaboration over borders. We are actively taking part in urban development and engaged in creative placemaking for service development and design for residents and tourists. Pertti’s Choice presents a different kind of Helsinki and Finland, full of unique experiences.

PARTNERS AND NETWORK

Pertti’s Choice develops its operations in collaboration with a national and international expert network. We thank all of our collaborators for the support we have received so far and are eagerly waiting to see what the future holds!