With this pleasant spring season, events are popping up right along with the lilacs, azaleas and rhodies.

FFSC V-P Satu Mikkola, FFSC member Olavi Hiukka and I attended the Finlandia Foundation National Board of Trustees  Annual Meeting at Boynton Beach, Florida, in March. Scholarships and grants were awarded with several given to Pacific Northwest projects. FFSC received a grant to assist with the production of a play, Troublemaker’s Mother, an adaptation from the Kalevala by local play-write Nick DiMartino. You may remember Mr. DiMartino as the author of the well received Sampo play which was premiered at FinnFest USA 1999. Information on the performance dates of this play will be published in the newsletter when available. At the board meeting we also elected Anita Smiley from Connecticut as president, succeeding John Laine of Texas.

FFSC hosted a well attended Annual Membership Meeting and election of members-at-large and officers at the Swedish Cultural Center in April. Along with our incumbent nominees Cathy Perry, Mia Spangenberg and Tapio Holma, we elected two new board members. Sirkku Vilpas and Ron Karjala. You are most welcome to the FFSC board. Members  will receive an introduction to Sirkku and Ron in future issues of this newsletter The officers are as follows:

Rita Vermala-Koski, President

Satu Mikkola, Vice President

Fran Whitehill-Treasurer

Membership Secretary-Esko Männistö

FFSC Newsletter Editor-Taina Lindström-Redfern

At the time of the meeting the Secretary position was open, but I am now pleased to inform you that John Burbank has accepted that position. For that we are all most grateful. With welcoming new representation to the board, I am also thanking two exceptional board members who are stepping down, or at least taking a break from their duties. Karoliina Kuisma has been a dedicated and dependable secretary for several years. Babak Amir Parviz has also been on the board for several years and has always contributed to our meeting deliberations with a keen understanding of Finnish traditions. During their years on the FFSC board, we have offered our best wishes on their marriages and on the births of their baby daughters. Now we wish these two young UW educators a wonderful summer and a heartfelt kiitos for your service.

During the annual meeting I also managed to present board member Marja Hall with the President’s Award for 2007 that she so very much deserves. It was originally intended for presentation at the Independence Day Dinner Dance (IDDD) in December of 2007 but got smashed into a thousand pieces. The replacement was hiding in a box at the 2008 IDDD. Finally, with her usual sense of humor and warm smile, Marja accepted her award last month. This year FFSC awarded two $1,250 scholarships. Marty Ronish of Edmonds WA received her scholarship to assist with her project to develop a one-hour multi-media documentary on the life and works of Jean Sibelius and in particular featuring Osmo Vänskä conducting the Chicago Symphony in Sibelius’ 5^th Symphony. Ms. Ronish made a powerful statement in her application : “If the purpose of this scholarship is to promote scholarly study and raise awareness of your wonderful country of Finland, the project that I am proposing would be a good use of the resources.”

The second scholarship was awarded to Chris Luquette of Renton WA. Chris is a young musician who will travel to both the Nordlek in Lahti and Kaustinen Folk Music Festival in Finland this coming summer. Chris plays classical guitar, taught himself Bluegrass on the banjo and then eased into mandolin. Chris considers himself to be an American folk musician and as such is drawn to research the music of his heritage: Finnish, Swedish and Irish. Chris’ goal is to be a professional musician and Music Historian. We wish our awardees the best of luck with their projects and look forward to hearing of the results in the future.

Just a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending fellow chapter, Finlandia Foundation Columbia-Pacific Chapter’s, gala in celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Finnish Classroom at Portland State University. It was a wonderful event with great food, a fine program and ended with dancing to the tunes Hilkka Helena and Heikki Perttu. Vappu was celebrated here in Seattle that same day, but I heard (from Haavis Amanda herself) that it was lots of fun with great food, a fine program and dancing to the tunes of a newly formed Finn-Am band, The Tempos. This past Saturday, May 16^th, FFSC played a leadership role in hosting the FinnFest USA 2009 Pre-cruise Seattle Shore-excursion at the Nordic Heritage Museum. With well over 200 FinnFesters in attendance, the guests were treated to tours of the museum exhibits with the Dream of America always an interesting surprise to all. The special Marimekko Exhibit in the Suomi-Finland Room received many favorable comments and this event just happened to coincide with the Summer Homes of Noted Finnish Architects Exhibit. I wish to thank all of the FFSC board members who volunteered at the event. You are incredible!

You may have noticed the ad for Finland Summer Festival 2009 in this newsletter. FFSC is a co-sponsor of this event that was first held in 2007. It will be a family-friendly, fun-filled and free of admission event with activities for all. We’ll even have the Viking Ship Nordic Spirit on view at the festival. Volunteers will be needed, so if you can spare a little time, please contact me to sign up. I look forward to meeting and greeting you at this and any of the other events that are planned throughout the year in our community.

 

Wishing you happy summer days! Kauniita kesäpäiviä toivottaen!

 

Rita Vermala-Koski 

             June_July 2009    FFSC Newsletter