MiklagårdArts is a change-maker platform, enabler, and connector to promote transnational and transcultural collaborations.

MiklagårdArts stands for a structure where collaboration becomes a sustainable and meaningful practice to design impactful projects and create diverse content in collaboration with existing arts and cultural institutions.

We want to help build a healthy and supportive society by cultivating understanding, radical inclusion, and empathy through the arts.

MiklagårdArts is one of the founding alliances of UNTITLED, a global, cross-sectoral alliance for social imagination and experimentation.

We facilitate

artistic interventions to merge internationalism and locality. We promote transnational collaborations with established arts and cultural institutions of the city to make Helsinki more international and diverse.

We build bridges

to unleash the potential between arts & science and arts & well-being; we want to unlock the territorial borders between tech-developers and traditional cultural institutions.

We curate & ınıtıate

tailor made artistic ideas and stimulate creative clashes that arise when one confronts an unknown artistic milieu. We are curious and open-minded. We want to inspire creative minds and souls for innovative multi-genre projects that will enrich the practices of Finnish arts and cultural institutions.

We celebrate

#diversity #equity and believe that values of #inclusion will foster cognitive diversity in the Finnish arts and culture sector. We want to help build a healthy and supportive society by cultivating understanding and empathy through the arts.

We seek to spark sustainable

working structures for independent cultural players. We are innovative. We promote new forms when it comes to artistic work, structure, business models, and the dialogue between arts & audience. Acquiring new ways of artistic collaborations will help us achieve an accurate understanding of the world where culture continuously develops alongside human beings.

Key
collaborators

The Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China.jpg

Ceyda & Erik

Founder and Artistic Director

Short bio:

Ceyda Berk-Söderblom is a cultural manager, curator, festival programmer, and expert of DEI. She is a senior project manager and researcher at the Trans Europe Halles (TEH), and leads the Cultural Transformation Movement project, a four-year project that aims to transform cultural organisations with full engagement of under-represented communities. Ceyda is also in charge of developing TEH’s relationship with the academic sector to be updated on the relevant academic literature on social justice, spatial justice, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and other topics relevant to underrepresented communities.

With over 20 years of experience in the field of arts, Ceyda has curated programmes internationally and worked closely with world-known institutions, orchestras, artists, and ensembles. In 2015 she founded MiklagårdArts, a facilitator and connector for promoting transnational and transcultural collaborations. Ceyda is a public advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion, focusing on policies, practices, norms, and institutions through her practice and her non-profit work as a board member and chair of Globe Art Point (2017-2021). She was an expert in the working group on cultural policy, immigration and cultural diversity appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (2020) to prepare policy guidelines and the Art, Culture and Diverse Finland Report.

Since April 2024, Ceyda has served as the Chairperson of Culture for All Service, one of the most established advocacy organisations in Finland within the arts and culture sector. The organisation is committed to promoting cultural services that are accessible, inclusive, equitable, and mindful of diverse audiences and arts professionals.

Ceyda is a long-term content collaborator of Stop Hatred Now. an intercultural and anti-racist platform organised initiated by UrbanApa arts platform in collaboration with several art and intercultural organisations.

Originally trained as a journalist, she has a degree in communication, critical thinking, business administration, arts management, and leadership in arts; received her MA from the University of Arts Helsinki, majoring in social inclusion and cultural diversity. Ceyda is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and holds a “Bene Merito” honorary distinction from the Republic of Poland.

Long bio:

Based in Helsinki and Lund, Ceyda Berk-Söderblom is an independent curator, cultural entrepreneur, manager, festival programmer and DEI expert with more than 20 years of experience. She has worked with diverse cultures as the programmer of international festivals with close ties to world-known institutions, orchestras, artists, and ensembles. Ceyda has an extensive international professional network and specialist knowledge in programming, curating, cultural branding, co-creation, fundraising, sponsorship, advocacy and lobbying.

She currently works as a senior project manager and researcher at the Trans Europe Halles (TEH), and leads the Cultural Transformation Movement project, a four-year project that aims to transform cultural organisations with full engagement of under-represented communities.

Ceyda is originally from Izmir -historically Smyrna-, an 8500-year-old city located on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Being born and raised in a city right in the middle of historical landmarks such as Ephesus, Pergamon, Sardis, and Klazomenai, she has been constantly surrounded by culture. She grew up in a cosmopolitan family and has always been fascinated by complex and fluid social identities.

Her initial experience of arts was recognising the endless horizons of literature under her late grandmother's guidance, who was a poet. This very first encounter with art haunted her child soul and sowed the seeds of her life’s passion, path and field of work.

In 2015, she followed her heart, decided to settle in Helsinki and started a new chapter in her life. She founded MiklagårdArts and leads its development as a change-maker platform by focusing on inclusiveness, internationalisation, innovation, and bridge-building. Ceyda curates projects to promote creative clashes that arise when one confronts an unknown artistic milieu. One of her projects, a collaboration with the Finnish National Museum, Studio Aleppo [Helsinki], has been awarded the "Production of the Year-2017" by Taku ry–The Finnish Art and Cultural Professionals Trade Union.

She has been interested in exploring the complex trans-mutual process of change in humans both on a personal and a societal level. She is one of the founders and a member of the Executive Committee of the Experience Research Society (EXPRESSO). It’s a global network of experience-researchers and professionals across disciplines and aims to increase the scientific and societal impact of experience research and well-being.

Ceyda was one of the founding members of the UNTITLED - initiated by Demos Helsinki - a social imagination and experimentation process to bring pioneering thinkers and doers together to form unlikely alliances and initiate real-world experiments.

Ceyda also engages in public advocacy for equity, diversity and inclusion within the Finnish art scene by focusing on policies, practices, norms and institutions. In 2020 she worked as an expert in a working group on cultural policy, immigration and cultural diversity appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture to prepare proposals for cultural policy guidelines and the Art, Culture and Diverse Finland Report.

In April 2024, she was appointed Chair of the Board at Culture for All, a Finnish organisation that is committed to promoting cultural services that are inclusive, equitable, and mindful of diverse audiences and arts professionals.

In 2019, Ceyda took up the position of the Chair of the Board of Globe Art Point (GAP) - an independent umbrella association to promote equality, equity, diversity and inclusion of foreign-born artists and cultural workers in Finland – where she served as a chairperson (2019-2021) and board member (2017-2019).

Between 2017-2019 she was a member of the Steering Group at Avaus / Opening project of Culture for All and a member of the development group of the “Friends of Finland” network.

In 2018, she was invited as an international expert by the Lithuanian Council for Culture to evaluate the applications and provide competent recommendations for the Council for a 3-year grant programme.

Before settling in Finland, Ceyda worked for the Izmir Foundation for Culture, Arts and Education (IKSEV), in her home city of Izmir, one of Turkey's most established art institutions. A non-profit, non-governmental Foundation is the organiser of two international festivals and a national composition contest, home to a music academy and museum. She held positions as Festival Coordinator and Main Producer at the International Izmir Festival (a member of European Festivals Association) and Programmer at Izmir European Jazz Festival (a member of European Jazz Network) for more than 14 years. Both festivals are flagship cultural events of the country, with high-level international visibility. Ceyda also worked for the other initiatives of IKSEV, such as Academy IKSEV, a pedagogical platform for master classes in the field of music and dance, and the Dr. Nejat Eczacıbasi National Composition Contest, which aims to encourage young Turkish composers of contemporary music.

During those years, Ceyda initiated transnational collaborations, including Martha Graham Dance Company’s Panorama project for the first time in Europe; presenting the award-winning RE-RITE, an immersive/interactive installation that features a film of the Philharmonia Orchestra playing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; co-organizing Yolda / Onderweg / En Route’ project, a musical celebration of the 50th year of Turkish migration to Belgium; initiating “Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE)” Hub for Turkey, a project of the European Festivals Association (EFA) co-financed by the European Union; organising the Atelier for Young Festivals Managers of the European Festivals Association (EFA) in Izmir. She has curated programmes internationally, including artistic programmes celebrating diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands and Turkey and Poland.

In 2010, as the head of a grant team, she enabled a grant project financed by the Izmir Development Agency to found MUZIKSEV, the first traditional instrument museum in Turkey.

During her time (2002-2015) at International Izmir Festival, she has presented companies such as Béjart Ballet Lausanne, The Tokyo Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Dutch National Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Martha Graham Dance Company and Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve; and orchestras such as Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini conducted by Lorin Maazel, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Zubin Mehta, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala conducted Myung-Whun Chung, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Daniele Gatti, Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert, Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Kzysztof Penderecki, Orchestra Luigi Cherubini conducted by Riccardo Muti; and soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Giora Feidman, Gheorghe Zamfir, Ian Anderson, Mihaela Ursuleasa, Julian Llyod Webber, Lucia Micarelli, Alexander Ghindin, David Lively, Janis Vakarelis, Cyprien Katsaris, Michele Campanella, Shlomo Mintz, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Mario Frangoulis, Yannis Markopoulos, Jose Carreras, Cesaria Evora, Emma Shapplin, Jane Birkin, Katia Guerreiro, Omara Portuondo, Robin Gibb, Buika, Pink Martini, Natalie Cole, Alexander Markov, Alexander Rudin, Chick Corea, Yuri Bashmet, Uto Ughi, Mischa Maisky, Hille Perl, Lee Santana, Rachel Podger, Yo-Yo Ma, Hüseyin Sermet and Itzhak Perlman.

As the programmer of the Izmir European Jazz Festival (2002-2015), the first and only festival building its programme around European jazz in Turkey, she presented musicians such as Paolo Fresu, Jacky Terrasson, Aydın Esen, Jacques Loussier, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Claudio Fasoli, Louis Sclavis, Urszula Dudziak, Erkan Oğur, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Ulrich Drechsler, Fahir Atakoğlu, Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernandez, Andy Manndorff, ICP Orchestra, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Tomasz Stanko, Burhan Öçal, Tuluğ Tırpan, Wolfgang Puschnig, Kerem Görsev, Alan Broadbent, Ernie Watts, Yuri Honing, Edmar Castaneda, Marcin Wasilewski, Stefano Battaglia, Benjamin Herman, Dainius Pulauskas, Ondrej Krajnak, Gregory Privat, Timucin Sahin, Loren Stillman, Christopher Tordini, Gene Jackson, Maciej Obara, Tom Arthurs, Erik Truffaz Pascal Schumacher, Francesco Tristano, Mateusz Smoczyński, Michel Wintsch, Bänz Oester and Gerry Hemingway.

She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at the Faculty of Communication of Ege University, her Business Administration and Management diploma from Dokuz Eylül University, her Executive Management Diploma at London College of Management; her Master of Arts degree at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki with a secondary subject: cultural diversity and social inclusion with her thesis, Diversity and Inclusion: a mission-critical task for today’s arts managers - Understanding diversity and inclusion management in the arts and culture sectors in Finland; and studied at the Business of Culture, Aalto University Executive Program for Leaders in Arts and Culture.

Ceyda holds a "Bene Merito" honorary distinction from the Ministry of International Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

Ceyda, who has an incurable passion for literature, contributed to Andante Magazine, a monthly classical music magazine in Turkey, and worked as a blogger at the European Festivals Association blog spot, festival bytes.

As a co-editor, she published “Crossing Boundaries! European Contemporary Circus”, a visual book that includes the best examples of the circus in its contemporary narrative. Her essay “Unveil Creative Chaos - A Call to Storm the Bastille,” commissioned by the Berliner Festspiele, was published in the Jazzfest Berlin 2018's Magazine.

In-house Artistic Partner

Erik Söderblom was born in 1958 in Helsinki. He studied piano and cello since childhood. After finishing school he studied philosophy and arts at Helsinki University. Having initiated his theatre studies in London, he went to Munich, where he studied opera directing with August Everding at the Hochshule für Musik. From 1982 to 1985 he conducted the Chamber Strings of Helsinki-ensemble. At the same time he continued his studies at the Theatre Academy of Helsinki. He graduated from the directors’ class in 1987.

Between 1988 and 1990 Söderblom was director of Turku City Theatre. In 1990 he – together with a group of young actors, directors, writers and set designers of his generation – started up the “Q-teatteri” in Helsinki. With this ensemble he made an acknowledged series of directions of both newly written Finnish texts and classical texts such as Feodor Dostoevsky´s “Writings from the Cellar”, Williams Shakespeare´s “Hamlet” and “Twelfth Night” and Leo Tolstoy´s “War and Peace”. All these productions have been shown on festivals in Finland and abroad. Today Q-teatteri is recognized as one of the artistically leading ensembles in Finland.

Söderblom was chairman of the board and artistic leader of Q-teatteri between 1996-2002. On his initiative Q-teatteri founded the Baltic Circle, a network for free theatre groups around the Baltic Sea. Q-teatteri also hosts the important international Baltic Circle theatre festival. Söderblom was the first artistic leader of this festival.

Alongside his work with Q-teatteri, Söderblom has directed in theatres around Finland and abroad. The best known of his international works is the prize-winning staging of Jouko Turkka´s play “Connecting People” in Von Krahli-theater in Tallinn.

In recent years he has returned to opera and is considered to be a leading Finnish opera director. He has directed performances such as the prize-winning productions of Mozart´s “Entführung aus dem Serail” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” at Pori Opera and the huge outdoor performance of Wagner´s “Der fliegende Holländer” in Turku.

Söderblom has been praised for his directions of contemporary opera. As a trained musician he has the ability to read intricate new music scores and has directed the world premieres of several Finnish operas such as Tapio Tuomela´s “Mothers and Daughters”, Lars Karlsson´s “Rödhamn” and Mikko Heiniö´s “The Hour of the Serpent”, all at the Finnish National Opera; and Veli-Matti Puumala´s “Anna Liis” during the Helsinki Festival 2008.

For the Turku2011- European Capital of Culture, Söderblom directed yet another big scale opera production: the world premiere of “Erik XIV” by the composer Mikko Heiniö and dramatist Juha Siltanen.

The series of Söderblom´s productions of Mozart´s operas continued during Helsinki Festival 2013 with “Don Giovanni”.

Among Söderblom´s recent works are the staging of J.S. Bach´s “St John´s Passion” with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra in November 2013, and a semi-concertante performance of Dmitri Shostakovitsh’s long forgotten opera parody “Orango” in August 2014 for Helsinki Festival. In August 2015 as his artistic farewell production as director for Helsinki Festival he presented a widely praised semi-staged performance of Alban Berg’s opera “Wozzeck”.

Erik Söderblom´s role in Finnish theatre as an important pedagogue is worth mentioning. In the years 1998-2002 Söderblom was leading a famous music theatre class at Turku Polytechnic. From 2001 to 2009 he was a Professor of Acting at the Helsinki Theatre Academy. During the years 2005-2009 he also worked as vice rector for this university.

Söderblom was CEO and the Artistic Director of the Helsinki Festival from 2009 up to August 2015. During his leadership the festival not only became one of the most outstanding festivals of Europe, but also became the biggest art festival in the Nordic countries with its 300.000 annual visitors. In September 2015, he left his position at the festival to focus on his own artistic work.

In 2016 Söderblom was invited to become a member of the Artistic Committee at Tampere Theatre Festival, the most prominent performing arts festival in Finland.

Erik Söderblom is a member of the European House for Culture since 2016.

Since August 2017, he has been working as the Artistic Director of Espoo City Theatre.

In 2018 Erik Söderblom was made a “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government.