Silence Festival

The Silence Festival is a performing arts and new music event held in the village of Kaukonen in Kittilä. The site-specific festival serves as a platform for experimenting with and premiering new art, featuring a program where contemporary circus, new music composition, and multidisciplinary collaborations meet.

A Warm Thank You to Everyone Who Joined Us at the Silence Festival!

The 16th Silence Festival was held in a wonderful atmosphere from June 4 to 7, 2026, in Kaukonen, Kittilä. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who participated in this year's event-our festival guests, artists, volunteers, staff, and partners. You all made this year's festival possible and helped create its unique spirit.

Focusing on contemporary music and circus arts, this year's festival welcomed over 1700 visitors. Highlights in the village of Kaukonen included a large circus tent and an art exhibition opened in the old dairy for the duration of the festival, organized in collaboration with the Rovaniemi Art Museum. The program featured two commissioned world premieres alongside a new work-in-progress developed during the festival week.

The festival was organized by the Kittilä-based Art Organisation Silence (Taideorganisaatio Hiljaisuus).

Silence Festival - A Platform for New Art and Encounters in the North

Founded in 2010, the Silence Festival is an established and award-winning meeting place for Finnish performing arts and new music. Over the past 16 years, more than 400 Finnish and international artists from various fields have worked in the village of Kaukonen in Kittilä. This multidisciplinary event brings together leading figures in contemporary circus, new music composition, and other artistic fields. In recognition of its outstanding work, the festival was awarded the State Prize for Circus Arts (2017) and the Pohjolan Osuuspankki Helmi Prize (2024).

The festival serves as a launching pad for new art, presenting annual world premieres and boundary-pushing works that transcend traditional genres. The ongoing collaboration between circus and music has resulted in several unique works presented to audiences for the first time. Providing artists with a bold environment for experimentation, the festival is increasingly positioning itself as a showcase event for Nordic and European programmers.

The village setting of Kaukonen and the absence of traditional performance venues make the event spatially unique. The village’s characterful spaces-in which the pieces are conceived or adapted-take a leading role in the performances, challenging and inspiring creators to think beyond conventions. Through this approach, the festival generates significant work opportunities in the North for performing artists while delivering impactful artistic experiences to a diverse audience.

Unique festival athmosphere

Contemporary classical music and contemporary circus combined with the unusual surroundings form the essence of Silence Festival. The river Ounasjoki running through the village creates a special atmosphere and most years it also has a role in the festival program.

The festival was born from an idea by circus artist Sakari Männistö and producer Joonas Martikainen to fill the Kaukonen village with high-level performing arts. The Silence Festival has been multidisciplinary since the beginning. It brings the most interesting performances and artists from Finland and abroad to Lapland. The festival is a platform for surprising encounters to people, Northern nature and different art forms.

On your arrival to Kaukonen, the community hall we will help you with everything you need. See you there!