The story
Helsinki Festival in Helsinki
Helsinki Festival, Finland's largest multi-arts festival, grew out of the earlier Sibelius Weeks and was established in its present form by the City of Helsinki in 1968. Running roughly seventeen days from late August into early September, it spans theater, music, dance, visual art, circus, and film across venues citywide, mixing free outdoor programming with ticketed indoor performances.
Helsinki Festival grew out of an earlier event called Sibelius Weeks, a classical-music-focused festival that ran from 1951 to 1965, before the City of Helsinki established the festival in its present, broader form in 1968 specifically to expand the cultural program beyond classical music alone.