Marianna Kajantje, MA, (*1944, Finland) has been head of the Helsinki city cultural office since 1983 and since 1998 she has been managing director of the Lasipalatsi media and film centre. In 1983 she founded the Annantalo Arts Centre for children and young people and was its director until 1992. She then worked for the Alexander Theatre and from 2004 until 2006 was its deputy cultural director. She has diverse experience of projects funded by the EU structural fund: from 2002 until 2005 she was involved in the European research project Eurocult 21 in which local government cultural policy concepts were studied. The conception and development of the Lasipalatsi media and film centre were financed as a pilot project by the URBAN programme of the EU structural fund. From 2001 to 2004 the centre was also the coordinator of an EU project focusing on immigrant and disabled artists (EQUAL programme).