The Saami Council Distributed the 2026 Cultural Grants
The Saami Council has distributed the cultural grants for 2026. A total of NOK 1,590,000 in cultural grants was distributed, and applications totaling NOK 9,079,907 were received. Of the total amount, NOK 990,000 was distributed to project and travel grants and NOK 600,000 to working scholarships.
Working Scholarships to Feodoroff, Juuso, and Lifjell
The Saami Council distributed three working scholarships for 2026. The one-year working scholarships were awarded to Laura Feodoroff (film), Antti-Oula Juuso (art, language, traditional knowledge), and Ole-Henrik Lifjell (music). The amount of one working scholarship is 200,000 NOK. More detailed descriptions of each artist and their work, as well as other cultural grants awarded in 2026, are available below.
- Among the many good applications, we felt it was important, especially regarding working scholarships, to support minority minorities by language and age. In general, we also considered bringing something new to the Sámi cultural world and how much there would be a need to fund even more artists or projects, reflects Lada Suomenrinne, Chair of the Saami Council's Cultural Committee.
The Cultural Committee Felt It Was Important to Support New and Small Entities
In the picture are members of the Cultural Committee, Lada Suomenrinne, Petra Laiti, Magnus Antaris Tuolja, and Heaika Hætta at the meeting.
Picture: Saami Council
- We had many applicants, all of whose applications and ideas we appreciated, but we now felt it was essential to support new and small entities. It is interesting to see how our cultural world lives and how active our creators are, despite the difficult funding situation at the moment. However, we hope that the artists, actors of the art field, and projects we fund will be able to create essential experiences and works that strengthen cultural life, specifically in Sápmi, says Suomenrinne.
The purpose of the Saami Council's cultural grants is to support, revitalize, and promote a unified Sámi art and culture sector. Individual Sámi people, Sámi groups, and associations can apply for the grant. The Nordic Council of Ministers funds the Saami Council's cultural grants.
Laura Feodoroff: Lyhytelokuva Čääʹččjieʹlli - Maid of the Water
Film
Laura Feodoroff is a Skolt Sámi dance artist from Helsinki. She has worked in dance in a variety of roles as a dance artist and teacher since 2008. Most recently, her artistic work has taken her to Sámi film, both in front of the camera as a performer and behind the camera as a scriptwriter and choreographer-director. The recently premiered dance film “Siõrškuäđam - Vaietut askeleet” is her first artistic work related to Skolt Sámi and her debut in cinema. With the scholarship from the Saami Council, she can focus on her creative work on the dance film “Čääʹččjieʹlli - Maid of the Water”. “Čääʹččjieʹlli” is a poetic short film based on a Skolt Sámi mermaid tale, reinterpreted through dance and visual storytelling. The film explores themes of mental health, intergenerational trauma, and internal conflict, as embodied by the mythical mermaid.
Picture: Jenni Kollani
Ole-Henrik Lifjell: Aales
Music
Ole-Henrik Lifjell is a Sámi musician, joiker, and singer. His work explores atmosphere, presence, and how joik can act as a living foundation in its own right, as well as in dialogue with contemporary music. He aims to preserve and develop the complexity of joik while letting its simple, circular form meet modern compositional ideas. The Sámi language is also central to his practice, shaping melodic, meditative soundscapes and guiding his artistic expression. He aims to delve into the Pite Sámi joik tradition during the period, both through digital archives—including recordings of his own relatives—as well as through visits to family and time spent in Pite Sámi areas where joik has long served as a means of communication. His focus is on deepening his understanding of joik’s form, rhythm, and vocal techniques, while exploring improvisation as a complementary, intuitive approach. He works consciously with the interplay between joik’s timbre, rhythm, personal tone, dajahusat, and other text-based melodies. His goal is to shape an expression rooted in tradition yet open to new musical spaces—where voice, language, and emotion merge.
Picture: Ammus
Antti-Oula Juuso: Life in the past through pictures and stories
Art, langauge, traditional knowledge
Antti-Oula Juuso is a 76-year-old Reindeer Sámi from Giehtaruohtas, Eanodat, Kaijukka siida. Reindeer, nature, and art have been at the heart of his life since childhood. He started painting in the 1970s, and since then, he has depicted traditional Sámi life, reindeer, the changing seasons, and the quiet beauty of the region in his art. Juuso feels that in today's cultural world, the ability to remember landscapes and natural forms in the mind and bring them into view in paintings is no longer as strong. For him, images emerge from the depths of memory, from remembering the details of places and nature. This is a traditional skill evident in his paintings and yoiks; yoiking and painting stem from the same memory. Through the luohti, or yoik, one can also paint in the form of a melody. Juuso plans to use the working scholarship to create several works of art depicting different seasons and Sámi life in the rhythm of nature - how humans and nature live side by side and are interdependent.
Picture: Private
More information:
Lada Suomenrinne
Chair of the Cultural Committee
lada.suomenrinne(at)gmail.com
Unna-Maari Pulska
Secretary of Culture
unnamaari(at)saamicouncil.net