Meet our new Project Coordinator for fall 2026, Uni Erkkilä!

We’re trilled to welcome Uni Erkkilä as our new Project Coordinator Intern for fall 2026! 

To get to know her a little better, we asked Uni a few questions about her background, her interests, and what she’s most excited about as she begins her journey with FCINY.

Read on to discover more about her story and what she’s looking forward to in the half year ahead!

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about what you will focus on during your time at FCINY?

Hi all! I’m Uni Erkkilä, the new Project Coordinator Intern at FCINY. 

I study Strategy and Organisational Design as my major in Aalto University, with Critical Pedagogy and Mediations of Art as a minor. Combining my background in tech and business with my interests in culture and the arts feels right to me at the moment. 

At FCINY, my focus will be on the day-to-day operations of our residencies, project production, and coordination with our partners. I’m here to learn how an established international cultural institution operates and is led, from strategic planning and fundraising to residency programmes. 

Greetings to all my future colleagues in the art and cultural field in Finland and in NYC. I’m looking forward to working with you! 

What have you been up to before moving to NYC, and what's your main area of interest?

Alongside my studies, I’ve been working as a producer for cultural organisations and events such as Helsinki Design Week. This year before moving to NYC, I was producing Solstice, an electronic and alternative music and arts festival in northern Finland.

I’ve always had a lot of different interests, from food, wine and hospitality to music and fashion. At the moment I’m keen to study more cultural theory and art history to move towards working with contemporary art. I’m curious to see where that takes me!

What inspired you to apply and specifically pulled you towards this internship and FCINY, and what made New York feel like the right place for this internship?

I’ve known about this internship for years. I used to encourage friends studying visual arts or design to apply. A few years ago, I realized that with my own work experience I could apply too, even though my background in a tech degree wasn’t necessarily what the job description was looking for. I grew to dream of living in NYC through this specific internship. 

New York, of course, is interesting as it is. I feel privileged to be able to experience it through work which I enjoy and that feels meaningful. I think otherwise this huge city could easily feel lonely. 

One thing that has stood out to me during my first month here is the scale and diversity of opportunities within the creative industry. A cliché, “the city of endless possibilities,” as some say, but compared to the relatively small market in Finland, it really does feel that way. Designers seem to have work here (:D)! 

I’m also interested in seeing how the art field operates and manages to sustain itself in a market where public funding plays a significantly smaller role than it does in Finland. I hope to explore that further throughout my internship.

Outside of work, what are you hoping to explore while you're here—people, places, neighborhoods, food, music, art, anything?

I feel like I’m in limerence with my new routines. I enjoy my morning commute to work, or going to my next-door laundromat and reading while I’m waiting for the load to be ready. Somehow I feel that in Helsinki, I rarely had that kind of time for myself. I’m excited to meet new people, make friends, go dancing, and visit as many galleries, museums and exhibitions as I can.

New York is quite overwhelming, but I don’t think that’s necessarily negative. I get distracted all the time; I’m less inside my own head. I was feeling low the other day and suddenly some random person on the street complimented my outfit. Or every morning the MTA staff at the station next to our office wishes everyone a good day as they step out. I was dancing with friends at a rooftop party and fireworks appeared across the city LOL. Those constant small moments help me feel present. At the same time plans change all the time, schedules are not set, your commute is delayed, you miss the next one. The city demands patience, inner peace, haha. So I hope I’ll get better at that.

Coming from the relatively homogenous Finland, being surrounded by so many different people, cultures, languages, styles and ways of living has become, and in the long run will be the most important part of my time here. My world has quite literally opened here.

When asked about your favorite cultural experiences…

I’m thinking about a tomato salad I had in Barcelona a year ago. Perfectly ripe tomatoes with cherries, a party in my mouth. I guess it was mind blowing because of the environment, the friends I was with and the wine that we had it with. That salad tore up the whole table. I’ve since claimed it as my dinner party recipe.  

Seeing Madonna live as a 9-year-old in Jätkäsaari was also a pretty defining moment for me.

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