Organisations at Valve
Many organisations from different fields of art reside at Valve. More information about the organisations can be found on the cards below.
Airnest Productions / Air Guitar World Championships
The Air Guitar World Championships has been arranged in Oulu since 1996. Contestants around the world put their best on stage shamelessly with their invisible instruments. Welcome aboard! #makeairnotwar
Akseli Klonk
Akseli Klonk Association aims at creating, promoting and developing puppet theatre in Oulu and northern Finland. The association maintains a theatre called Akseli Klonk, which specializes in puppet theatre plays for children.
ARTo
ARTo is an artotheque and art shop maintained by Oulu Artists' Association. ARTo currently has artworks from over a hundred local, professional visual artists. Open Wed–Fri 12–6pm and Sat–Sun 12–4pm.
Cafe Restaurant Paljetti
Cafe Restaurant Paljetti offers products made from fresh ingredients in their own kitchen. A large part of the selection is completely vegan.
Flow Productions
Flow Productions is known for multi-artistic work that creates complete experiences for all the senses. Flow Productions also brings world-class Finnish and international contemporary circus artists to Oulu under the heading Flow Sirkus.
Galleria 5
Galleria 5 is a space for art exhibitions introducing the latest trends of contemporary art. Diverse and high-class exhibitions offer content worth seeing throughout the year. Open Wed–Fri 12–6pm and Fri–Sat 12–4pm. Free entry.
General Cultural Services of the City of Oulu: Urban Neighbourhood Culture and Culture for Well-being
General cultural services support the cultural activities in Oulu and take part in the production of cultural services for the Oulu region. General cultural services include the development and availability urban neighbourhood culture and culture for well
The Irish Festival of Oulu
Welcome to the premier Irish music and culture festival in Northern Europe.
JoJo – Oulu Dance Centre
JoJo is a professional dance production centre offering international, multidisciplinary dance art programme, with a focus on contemporary dance. The programme includes the OuDance Festival in the autumn. JoJo also offers open workshops for everyone.
Kaltio
North Finnish cultural magazine Kaltio is the only national opinion magazine published outside of Helsinki area for over 70 years.
Kulttuuriosuuskunta ILME
The multidisciplinary cultural cooperative ILME aims to increase society’s well-being
through equally accessible art. ILME operates to aggregate and facilitate quality community art, offers art services and arranges the dyadic art festival Kehä.
North Ostrobothnia Regional Fund
The North Ostrobothnia Regional Fund is one of the Finnish Cultural Foundation's 17 regional funds. The Fund is devoted to promoting and developing art and science by providing grants and awards and organizing other activities in the region.
Oulu Artists Association
Oulu Artists Association is a professional association of visual artists in the Oulu region. They maintain a space for art exhibitions at Galleria 5. The artotheque and art shop ARTo, ARTtila and the media space Pimento are located on the same premises.
Oulu August Festivals
Oulu August Festivals consist of six festivals and additional programme, which attract approximately 60,000 visitors annually. The programme includes over 400 events from music and poetry to air guitar, music videos and contemporary circus.
Oulu Comics Center
Oulu Comics Center is the multipurpose center of Northern comics community. The basis of the Center is to increase comics knowledge and to bring forth both the comics and the makers.
Oulu Comics Festival
Oulu Comics Festival is the northernmost annual Nordic comics event. The programme includes interesting exhibitions, seminars, interviews and additional programme.
Turku Comics Store Oulu
At the Oulu Comics Center in Valve, you can also find the Turku Comics Store Oulu. The store has about 2,500 titles of Finnish and English comic books. From the store, you can also order more than 4,000 items, about half of which are in English.
Oulu Culture Centre for Children and Youth: Film School and Literary Art School
The centre acts as a nationwide developer of the children's culture sector in film and literary arts education, as well as planning cultural education and art education and offering events for children, young people and families.
Oulu Film Centre
Oulu Film Centre screen films in Studio Cinema and operates the Film Centre library/archive at Valve. The Film Centre also arranges events, seminars and meetings with film professionals. The purpose of the Film Centre is to advance the knowledge and study
Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival
Around 30,000 people visit the festival yearly. In addition to movie series and competitions, the festival offers meet and greets, exhibitions, seminars and workshops. Many of the screenings have free entry.
Oulu Music Video Festival
Oulu Music Video Festival Association arranges audiovisual events. In addition to the Oulu Music Video Festival in August, the association arranges Doc Lounge documentary film clubs and manages the Finnish music video archive.
Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre
The Northern Photographic Centre features temporary exhibitions of well-known Finnish and international photography artists. In addition, the Photos of the Month exhibition series presents new projects by both professionals and photography enthusiasts.
Soiva Siili
Soiva Siili is a children's orchestra founded by Kyösti Salmijärvi and Markus Lampela in 1995. They perform in day care centres, schools and family events. Soiva Siili was awarded the State Prize for Children’s Culture in 2014.
Student Theatre of Oulu (OYT)
OYT was founded in 1963. The theatre aims at maintaining and promoting activities in the field of performing arts and developing theatre arts. In addition to performances, OYT organizes courses, Mysterybox performances and open improv trainings.
