Projects of the Sámi Museum

Present projects

A Sámi Cultural Environment Unit has been established at the Sámi Museum Siida in 2011. The founding of the unit has been made possible by two separate projects, the pilot project A Sámi Cultural Environment Unit (21.2.2011 – 31.12.2012) that has been financed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the project Living Environment – Ealli biras (1.3.2011 – 30.6.2013) that has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The main aim of both projects is to run the unit on a permanent basis after that.

The Sámi Cultural Environment Unit

Archaeologist Eija Ojanlatva works in The Sámi Cultural Environment Unit project, and she takes care of the official duties dealing with the management of archaeological heritage sites in the Sámi Area. Such official responsibilities concern, for instance, land use and planning, statements and field surveys, the receiving of archaeological objects and observations, and the management and inventories of antiquities in the Sámi Area.

Ealli biras - Living Environment

Project coordinator Päivi Magga leads the project Living Environment. The project aims at creating a Sámi cultural environment program for the Sámi Area and providing an exhibition on Sámi cultural sites and built heritage. The steering group consists of representatives from eight actors: the Sámi Parliament, the Giellagas Institute, the Cultural Environments of Lapland project, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY) in Lapland, the Regional Council of Lapland, Metsähallitus, the National Board of Antiquities, and the Sámi Museum Siida. The project is mainly funded by the European Regional Development Fund ERDF, and the national funding is given by the Regional Council of Lapland. The Sámi Cultural Environment Unit has its office in the vicinity of Siida, right on the River Juutua.

Contact information:
Archaeologist Eija Ojanlatva, Sámi Cultural Heritage Unit Project, Tel. +358(0)40 167 6145
Project Coordinator Päivi Magga, Ealli biras - Elävä ympäristö - Living Environment Project, Tel. +358(0)40 180 1501

Interactive Sápmi

The main objective of the project – which has the Sámi Education Institute as its applicant – is to create, through training, competence for the needs of the Sámi Area in the field of media; the target will be achieved by providing training in content production for the interactive media (media education), in animation technology, and in social media. The other targets of the project comprise a) making the Sámi children and young people living outside the Sámi Area more available both in terms of education and social activities, b) improving employment opportunities in the region and contributing to a decrease in net emigration by creating more job opportunities for the young in the Sámi Area, c) enhancing cultural knowledge and documentation and increasing thus knowledge of Sámi culture nationally, and d) providing teaching material on Sámi culture.

The Sámi Museum Siida participates in the project by documenting and presenting Sámi culture through the channels of new media. The museum also aims at enhancing the competence of its personnel in the field of new media. The project has been granted funding from the Northern Finland section of the ESF programme for Continental Finland. The project lasts from 1 August 2010 to 30 December 2012.

Further information:
The Sámi Education Institute, www.sogsakk.fi

Finished projects

Sámi Youth (Saamelainen nuoriso/Samisk ungdom)

The joint project of the Nordic museums that collect and record Sámi culture aims at documenting the life of Sámi young people together with the young themselves. The methods of documentation include photographing and/or videoing, and common workshops. The objective of the project is to activate young people to influence what museums will include in their collections on today’s Sámi culture. In Finland, the documentation partners consist of six 14–18-year-old “City Sámi” who live in cities. The project began on May 1, 2009, and will end at the beginning of 2011.

The main agency of the project is Ájtte – Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum (in Jokkmokk, Sweden), and the project is run by Ylva Jannok Nutti and Anna Westman. The partners of the project are Varanger Sámi Museum (Varangerbotn, Norway), the association Saemien Sijte (Snåsa, Norway) and the Sámi Museum Siida (Inari, Finland). The project is financed through the Interreg IV/A Nord program.

Further information:
Arja Hartikainen, Head Curator, tel. +358 (0)40 579 3313, arja.hartikainen(at)samimuseum.fi, http://samiyouth.typo3konsult.se/