Million-dollar donation to the Sibelius Acad­emy, University of arts Helsinki.

Philanthropist and benefactor Elsa Brule has made a million-dollar donation to the Sibelius Academy’s Global Music Department at the University of the Arts Helsinki. The aim is to strengthen intercultural dialogue and collaboration in Finland and around the world through music.

Finland's largest and most widely read newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (2022) published an article about Ms. Brule's donation. The original article is written in Finnish and can be read here. Along with Helsingin Sanomat, many other influential Finnish newspapers and news agencies, such as Turun Sanomat, STT and Keskisuomalainen have also published articles about the donation and the impact it will have on the development of the Global Music Department at the University of Arts Helsinki.

Below is a translation of the Finnish article published in Helsingin Sanomat and written by Eleonoora Riihinen (2022).

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Sibelius-Academy received a million dollar donation from a donor with family ties to Finland. Here is why Elsa Brule wants to support music education in the country of her grandfather.

Before, Elsa Brule gave money to support literacy. During her trip to Finland in 2019 she understood that music is the language that unites people.

`Sibelius and the Academy that carries his name evoke respect and pride for Finland, but also remind of the incredible power of music.’ Elsa Brule says. Picture by Rick Guidotti.

The Sibelius Academy of the University of Arts has received a donation of 1 million dollars, about 880 000 euro from a private donor Elsa Brule, USA.

The exceptional donation has been addressed to the Global Music -program that aims to strengthen the communication and collaboration between cultures. At the moment there are musicians from over 25 cultural backgrounds in the program.

Elsa Brule is a philanthropist with the Finnish heritage. Her grandfather moved to the USA from Finland when he was 18 years old to avoid being drafted to the Czar’s army.

Brule got interested in the Global Music program during her visit to Finland in 2019, as she visited the Academy and Sibelius’ home Ainola. Ms. Brule was invited to Finland among others by Erika Sauer, who works as a consultant and with whom Ms. Brule later became friends and continued collaborating with.

‘I have no background in music, but I never say no to an invitation to visit Finland, so I came to just to see and to listen’ Ms. Brule tells to HS in a video interview.

Earlier, Ms. Brule has supported literacy, for example, by helping build and renovate school libraries within and outside the US. That is why she initially saw no obvious connection between her first interests and the music education.

‘But when I heard of the examples of the students coming from poor countries, who had been given a chance to study music in the Sibelius Academy I understood that music is a language that unites people’ -she says and continues:

‘I was so impressed of the whole institution, faculty, students, administration, exciting ideas, and the possibilities that it inspired me to participate on a level that I felt would benefit the Sibelius Academy, Finland, United States and first and foremost the young musicians all over the world’ -Ms Brule describes.

One performance especially mesmerized Ms. Brule. It was the duo Vilda, performing Sami music, by the Sibelius Academy students Hilda Länsman and Viivi Maria Saarenkylä.

Duo that performs Sami music by Hilda Länsman and Viivi Maria Saarenkylä performing in Ethno -gala in Tavastia-club in 2017. Picture by Sami Kero / HS.

Brule got an idea of a project that would bring together students of a school for native American children in New Mexico and the students of Sami background in the Sibelius Academy.

It did not take too long before Länsman and Saarenkylä travelled to New Mexico with the teachers of the Sibelius Academy to have a music workshop with the students in the St Joseph Mission School.

‘That was an amazing experience’ -describes Ms. Brule who financed the project.

According to her, there is no music education at the school, so it was a new experience for the kids. Together with the Sibelius Academy students and staff the children made music in the workshop the topic being water.

‘Can you imagine any other more universal or uniting theme than water? It is as important in Lapland, as it is in the middle of the desert in New Mexico’ says Ms. Brule in the video interview.

The guests got to be a part of a religious ritual of the native people, where there usually is no access for outsiders.

Building bridges between the Sami and the American native people’s cultures got Ms. Brule to support similar projects in a larger scale.

With her gift Sibelius Academy can expand the activities to foster the music of the minority cultures within the next five years.

With the donation, the collaborative projects with the immigrants and different groups that are in danger of being marginalized will be expanded in Finland. New collaboration projects are going to be formed between Chile, Tanzania, and Mozambique, as well as in other parts of the African continent. In addition to there will be stipends for the international students.

‘I have always been curious for other cultures. It has always been a part of me. It may have got to do with the fact that my roots are in Finland, and I am proud to be a part of something bigger. Perhaps that is why I can relate to the needs of the minority cultures to preserve their traditions,’ Ms. Brule describes and adds:

‘When the world gets smaller it is even more important to respect and treasure also the differences. We are all similar in many wonderful ways...but the differences make the world an interesting place’.

The Global music program in Sibelius Academy is made out of the collaboration of the multicultural student body. For example at the moments there are projects in a refugee camp in Syria, amongst environmental activists in Chile and in the prison in Suomenlinna. One of the students has formed an orchestra with other immigrants in Helsinki.

‘Music and art are our tools, and the collaboration between the cultures is a catalyst for new musical and pedagogical innovations, and to develop the skills of listening, empathy and global citizenship. Those may be increasingly important when we build the peaceful future in our world’ the director of the Global Music Program Nathan Riki Thomson says in the press release.

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Other articles and news regarding the donation

Uniarts (in English)

Turun Sanomat (in Finnish)

STT (in Finnish)

Keskisuomalainen (in Finnish)