(The image features artworks by Karoliina Arvilommi, Marjaana Rotko, and Pirjo Nylander.)

A free application process has opened for all artists, art hobbyists, working groups, and visual arts organizations to exhibit in the municipal exhibition spaces of Uusikaupunki, Laitila, Vehmaa, Taivassalo, and Mynämäki. The call covers up to eight different exhibition venues, allowing for a wide range of exhibitions of various sizes and types to be selected. The joint exhibition call by the municipalities aims to strengthen cooperation among cultural operators and enhance the mobility of artists within the Vakka-Suomi region.

Available exhibition spaces include:

• Uusikaupunki Cultural Center Cruselli
• Kustaa Hiekka Reading Room in Laitila
• Library exhibition spaces in Uusikaupunki (city center and Kalanti), Laitila, Vehmaa, Taivassalo, and Mynämäki

The exhibition period is approximately one month and can be scheduled anytime between January and December 2026.

How to Apply

First, review the exhibition application guidelines (available only in Finnish; you can contact municipal cultural workers for assistance with translation). Then send your application by email to joni.pietilainen@uusikaupunki.fi by Sunday, September 28, 2025.
Use the subject line: "Näyttelyhaku 2026" (Exhibition Application 2026).

The application is informal (free-form), but must include at least the following information:

• Applicant's contact details
• A brief artist biography
• A written description of the exhibition
• Image samples of the artworks
• Information on any previous exhibition history (if applicable)
• Preferred exhibition space(s) and time period(s)

You may apply to multiple exhibition spaces with a single application.

Applicants will be informed of the decisions no later than Friday, October 17, 2025.
For more information about the exhibition spaces, you may contact the representatives of the respective municipal exhibition venues.

Uusikaupunki library keeps moving and the official opening date is 13th of August. Library will be closed until that. If you've loaned material before the closing of the library and received a returning date of 4.8., worry not, the loan times have been automatically extended until the 14th.

The mobile library will no longer be on the marketplace. Wintteri visitations will continue from the 5th onwards, when a librarian is present on Tuesdays and Fridays from 1pm to 3pm.

The renovations of the old Uusikaupunki main library building are being finished up and the library is preparing to move back. The final opening day in the temporary facilities is Saturday, 14th of June.

During library shutdown the book bus will serve on the marketplace between 24.6.-1.8. on Tuesdays 15-18, and Fridays 12-15.

Kalanti library will be open for self-service during July. Staff will be present on Wednesdays from 10 to 16. 
Wintteri digital library will be open as Wintteri is open, so after midsummer it will be on a five-week break from 28th of June until 4th of August.

The library newspapers are free to read at Raijan kioski also during shutdown, until the renovated library building opens.

Reservations to the main library will be interrupted during the shutdown. If you wish to redirect your reservations to Kalanti library or the bookbus, you can do it in the online library.

Book loan times will also be extended over the shutdown. You can loan as many books as you wish before the shutdown begins, and keep until the reopening.

You can return books to the temporary library's return slot during June. In July, the return slot will be at the renovated main library.

Cineast is a free movie platform, where you log in with your library card number and its associated PIN-number. Ask a librarian for your PIN-number, if you don't have one or you've forgotten it. You can also change your PIN-number in the online library (vaski.finna.fi, change the language from the "Suomi" button in the upper right), by choosing "Forgot your PIN code?" underneath the login button. If the email account linked to your library account is still in use, you can change the PIN-code yourself.

In Cineast you can find a wide variety of regularly updated quality content, that includes both fact and fiction for all ages. Useful filters, such as filtering by genre or reviews, help in finding something suitable to watch. Material can be found in a variety of different languages, and all movies have subtitles in both Finnish and Swedish, and sometimes also English. Loaning is easy - to to the Cineast website, choose "VASKI" from the library selection, choose a movie, and input your library card number and your PIN-code in the given fields.

A movie is considered a loan as soon as it starts. If you're not sure, if you want to use a loan for a specific movie, you can watch a trailer on-site. This does not use up any monthly loans. A movie will stay in your collection for 48 hours since it began. Cineast functions on both a computer, and on phone through an app.

One user can loan up to four movies a month from Cineast. The site functions through prebought licenses, which are used by every watcher. If all licenses are used before the end of the month, no more movies can be loaned until the month changes.

Cineast can be found on the web at https://www.cineast.fi/en/ and from a phone app store with its own name.

Starting in September, the Uusikaupunki Library will extend its opening hours. From Monday, September 4th, the library will be open Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Also in September, the library will resume its digital guidance sessions. These will be provided on Tuesdays, September 12th and September 26th. During these times, an advisor named Aino will be available by the library window from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. She will offer assistance with everyday challenges involving phones, tablets, or computers.

We wish everyone a bright autumn and enjoyable reading experiences!

What was the town like where composer B. H. Crusell was born in 1775?

The Uusikaupunki Museum has created a mobile guide called "In the Footsteps of Crusell" especially designed for the Crusell Week and its visitors and participants. The mobile guide features ten map locations that tell the story of the Uusikaupunki where the composer Bernhard Crusell was born in 1775 and lived for the first eight years of his life. These ten points of interest not only cover various stages of the composer's life but also provide insights into what it was like to live in late 18th-century Uusikaupunki, including the location of the school, the marketplace, the harbor and more. 

The order or direction of the guide does not matter, but the museum recommends starting the tour at the birthplace of Berndt Crusell, located at Myllykatu 6. To access the mobile guide, there is no need to download any application. It can be accessed at https://tarinasoitin.fi/crusell

You can choose the language by selecting either the Finnish or English flag symbol within the guide.

The museum has also released another English-language mobile guide, which allows visitors to explore the surroundings of Kaupunginlahti  https://tarinasoitin.fi/Kaupunginlahti . You can choose language of flag-symbol.