Week of One Hundred Events - Sounds is Underway

Ääniä Festivaali is a joint effort by a new generation of culture-makers to bring art, culture and culture lovers to Äänekoski. “How has this city remained unfamiliar before?”

An intriguing experience for visitors

This week in Äänekoski: music performances, art exhibitions, workshops, art, and surprises. On Monday 26 July, around twenty exhibitions opened along with the first workshops. The festival vibe swept into the city with hundreds of visitors in tow.

For some, this was their first contact with Äänekoski. A contact that left them intrigued.

“How has this city remained unfamiliar before, even though I’m from so close by? All the events here interest me,” one festival-goer replied when we asked whether they’d like more tips for Äänekoski.

Among the visitors in the first days there were plenty of local faces, but also people who just stopped by while passing through following Ääniä, cottage-goers, arrivals from neighboring municipalities, and those who had come here to stay for the entire week.

In fact, the keenest began to wander through the gallery spaces already the week before, soaking up the production team’s buzz. The building and decorating work in empty retail spaces tempted people to pop in for a look.

Culture across all of Äänekoski

A burst of culture like this multi-arts festival spread around the city hasn’t been seen in Äänekoski, even if familiar elements can also be found during the week. In Rantapuisto on the shore of Häränvirta, the Rantalava stage is set up, hosting free concerts from Thursday to Saturday. The lineup is impressive, from Lauri Haav, who has bagged three Emma nominations, to the young jazz promise Maja Mannila Trio. International and Finnish performers of jazz, world music and improv will appear at Wille’s jazz clubs and concerts also from Thursday to Saturday.

“Right from the first meetings, it’s been clear that we’re putting together a lot of varied programming for the week so that as many people as possible feel the festival is theirs and can even take part themselves, for example in workshops.”

“Äänekoski is a familiar and suitably sized place, which makes it possible to carry out some pretty wild ideas,” executive producer Jasu Rossi put it well in an ÄKS interview.

Event professionals from elsewhere have marveled at how effortlessly cooperation with neighboring businesses and local associations has gone. When you can just walk in and get things done. Without that strong spirit of doing things together and local support, it wouldn’t have been possible for us to put together a week-long program with nearly a hundred performers – and offer almost all of it for free.

Ääniä Festivaali takes place in the last week of July, 26 July–1 August, in Äänekoski and Suolahti. The festival also spreads to the areas of Sumiainen, Konginkangas and Hietama. 

We want to make culture accessible also outside the population centers in this broadly spread-out city.

A tribute to cultural expertise

The ending of Keitelejazz shocked Ääniä Festivaali’s executive producer Rossi in early 2020. There was a feeling that something had to be done, because Äänekoski is known for a high-quality summer event and cultural know-how. Soon others gathered around the idea, and a new event began to be built in the locality, which quickly took its current form as a multi-arts festival. As a shared endeavor for all of Äänekoski.

Ääniä Festivaali is a non-profit event organized by a group of current and former Äänekoski residents united by a love of local cultural expertise. Behind the festival are the media cooperative Pukkimäki Osk and the Äänekoski rock music association Ärmy. The festival’s main partner is the City of Äänekoski. Other partners include Äänekosken Energia, K-Citymarket Äänekoski, ÄKS Äänekosken kaupunkisanomat and Kulttuurituotanto Creat Osk.

For the love of culture and Ääneseutu.

There are so many important voices. Be open to hearing them all.