A huge number of people gathered at the Oulu2026 Opening Festival to celebrate the launch of the European Capital of Culture year on 16–18 January. Around 200 events across Oulu city centre attracted over 250,000 visits. The programme offered a wide range of cultural experiences, from concerts to ice hockey, acrobatics to car tuning, panel discussions to pub quizzes, and from art exhibitions to dance parties in the snow.

Culture Next, the network of 50 European cities of which EcocNews is a media partner, will be present with its own delegation and its own space at the Oulu 2026 opening ceremony.

Fotografiska Tallinn is bringing a photography exhibition to Finland for the very first time! The high-quality exhibition, curated for the Oulu2026 programme, is inspired by the Oulu2026 main theme, cultural climate change.

In just 100 days, Oulu and its 39 partner municipalities in Northern Finland will open their year as European Capital of Culture. Excitement is building across the region as final preparations are underway – and the official event calendar, featuring thousands of cultural experiences throughout 2026, has just been published.

Four months to go until the start of the European Capital of Culture year. More than 500 operators are working together to create a year in which northern Finland will be the new cultural center of Europe.