Soon cultural conventions will start to fill the post-corona streets. During the corona spring we ether haven’t had the same possibilities to arrange events and happening as in other years. Now is a good time to stop for a moment and look back on the collaborations we’ve made in culture, art, music and sports, which we use the #HCPSPIRIT tag for. Where did #HCPSPIRIT start, what have we done and what has it brought to us and our community?
We supported the club-kid collective House of Disappointments when participating to vogue Omniversary Ball in Amsterdam (2019). HOD wants to break gender roles and plays with self expression and accessory they create mainly by themselves from recycled materials.
It all started with empty walls
Our first grasp to cultural collaborations, that we were unaware would later take us deeper to its embrace, were when our office relocated to the Cable Factory. Cable Factory is home to a colourful scale of actors from art schools to creative offices and dance associations. As we moved into the new premises, our empty concrete walls needed something to make them less, well, stony. We had started to get to know the artists in the area and asked them for a solution. The works of artist Luca Delgado just shouted out to become seen and ended up decorating our spaces. Today, our office functions as an alternating art exhibition.
One of our first support projects was the community art work Roinasauna, which was part of the Cable Factory’s Kierrätystehdas event. The sauna toured around Helsinki and was built from recycled material brought by visitors. The event, which encourages an ecological lifestyle, resonated with our value base and we wanted to enable the theme to be expressed through art.
#HCPSPIRIT has since continued to live mainly in the hands of HCP’s employees and the surrounding community. We are a teal organization, ie. a self-imposed organization, in which individual’s wholeness is central. A separate work self and leisure self are an old-fashioned perception of an individual as a part of an organisation. We want to encourage bringing one’s own personalities and interests into working life as well. Good examples of this today are individuals who value responsibility and are not afraid to bring ethical thinking into their workplace. We have ended up taking this further to its own path in #HCPSPIRIT, where we are actively involved in projects that are important to employees. Whether you are interested in art, skateboarding, arctic fishing or voguing, we want you to be a part of them through your work as well.
#HCPSPIRIT is a significant part of being a B Corporation, although our cultural collaborations started before we applied for a B Corporation certificate. B Corporations balance profit and purpose, and through the shared value we create in #HCPSPIRIT, we can be more to our community and ourselves.
In the communal atmosphere of Skeittikontti, the skate container, everyone can try skating in guidance during summers. We were involved in organizing the Concrete Jam X #HCPSPIRIT (2019) street event and pool party, where nearly 40 skaters competed together regardless of age or gender.
Favela Funk Finlandia documentary (2018) portrayed the lively tour of rap artists Paleface, Gracias and Flam in Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. HCP was involved in supporting a preparatory trip that sought stories from the world of favelas and rhythmic music.
Artist Luca Delgado has been closely involved in our community since 2016. Luca’s live painting at Tenho Restobar (2018) illustrated how art is created on canvas. Luca’s works also fill the walls of our Cable Factory office.
We organized the fourth Asylum techno party (2016) at Cable Factory in the boiler room basement.
Thaiboxer Kristoffer ”Krasti” Björkskog in the ring (2019), where he says he is closest to happiness and meaning of life. HCP has had the pleasure of supporting Krasti early on his promising career.
You can’t buy community
The benefit we get from cultural activities ourselves can be hard to put into numbers or words – and utility is not ourgoal. However, we have found # HCPSPIRIT to play a key role, at least in terms of employees’ freedom to express themselves, strengthening our brand identity and the stakeholder relationships we get to form.
We organized the operning party of Zodiak’s Side Step festival together with the House of Disappontments (2020). We managed to bring different people to encounter and create a communal atmosphere for the Cable Factory.
The creative environment of the Cable Factory has become a central part of our identity. Last summer we plotted with our neighbor Zodiak, Center for New Dance, and helped organise the opening event of Side Step Festival. Zodiak’s executive manager Ari Tenhula told us that the project was their first experience of business cooperation, which left the feeling of mutual value creation and the strengthened atmosphere of Cable Factory.
The collaboration made it possible to reach new audience groups – we want to bring people together and managed to attract a wider audience interested in vogue culture. Nor would we have been able to create such an extensive sideline program. HCP helped diversify the event and create a sense of communality that would not otherwise have been possible.
Ari Tenhula, Zodiak
Genuine encounters are paramount in building stakeholder relationships. We don’t carry corporate banners around or set up a tent where we will talk about our own asset management services. Traditional sponsorship is not for us, as we want to be more closely involved. It takes years of work in the cultural sector to gain a foothold. Work cannot be glued on or plainly a strategic initiative of the top management. You have to go on the terms of the scene.
Our cultural frame brings us closer to our customers. When we go on trips to greet athletes whose assets we manage, we are present, cheering for their careers. We also meet other athletes in this type of travels and we are visible in their world. We want to give more than just financial support. We want to cherish long-term and genuine relationships. We have noticed that what has formed around us is a wonderful and connected community.
The #HCPSPIRIT bus has toured Austrian Alps, Norwegian Fjords and the Copenhagen Skate Park, among others.
Surrounding community and work where you can make an impact increases the experience meaningfulness at work. In recent years, we have been awarded the Best for Workers recognition in which one of the criteria was the freedom to participate in #HCPSPIRIT projects. Our job satisfaction is top notch. The fact that we have not had much turnover in terms of permanent staff and several fixed-term workers and trainees have been left with us in some way witnesses that. At present, all of our permanent employees are also our shareholders.
Odd ones, stay together!
The value of art is immeasurable. Top sports unite us and make us all stars. Culture binds us as a nation and helps us experience meanings. The importance of environmental and ethical issues doesn’t even need to be emphasised. “Could us private sector actors help directly in building a better society?” we are thinking. We contribute through taxes, but hey, it’s pretty cool to choose exactly where the support is going to, and be involved in it yourself!
Our collaborations are often related to smaller and younger players, rising stars. We have found ourselves sort of unfit in the financial industry and it is often nice to connect with others who are walking their own path and are not afraid to do something different. #HCPSPIRIT collaborations also constantly alter the way we see the world. Also, our other actions that are perhaps atypical of the financial industry make us feel different – in a good way. We are not afraid to shake up the financial sector, that is our purpose.
We are also inspired by other private sector actors who have taken matters into their own hands. A strong value base is already a norm in business. However, we would certainly need more genuine action. We ourselves are constantly wondering what we can do to create the widest possible positive impact on the community and the world around us.
You can find more of our previous collaborations from #HCPSPIRIT page. We can’t wait to see what we end up doing next!
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About the Author
Anette Tuomainen works as a Junior Communications Manager at Helsinki Capital Partners as Miika Koskinen, who is responsible for marketing communications and customer experience, is finishing his journalism studies. Anette became excited about HCP for its visionary investing, responsible values and identity attached to cultural actors. From her opinion, these make HCP stand out positively in the investment services industry.
#HCPSPIRIT – Cultural work as part of existence July 9th, 2020Anette Tuomainen
