Cultural diversity is central to Drifts’ identity. The platform foregrounds transcultural artistic practices and plural perspectives through multidisciplinary and site-specific programming.
Drifts supports practitioners whose work challenges dominant cultural narratives and engages with different social, political, and ecological realities. The platform creates conditions for dialogue between different artistic methodologies, communities, and cultural contexts, through collaborations, public programmes, and translocal exchanges.
Its' activities are developed through long-term partnerships with artists, local actors, and institutional networks. By working across different geographies and communities, Drifts supports broader visibility and participation for emerging practitioners and the global majority.
Drifts is committed to create fair, safe, and non-discriminatory working conditions across all activities. The platform provides compensation for artists, workers, and collaborators while advocating for the recognition of artistic and cultural labour. As a growing non-profit platform working with limited financial resources, Drifts prioritises available funding toward artistic labour and production. These priorities form its curatorial and organisational processes, supporting more equitable conditions for collaboration and participation across its activities.
Since 2021, all public programmes have remained free of charge in order to support accessibility regardless of economic background. Festival venues are wheelchair accessible whenever possible, and communication is provided in Finnish and English across the website, mailing lists, and social media platforms.
Drifts aims to create an environment where diverse audiences, communities, and practitioners can engage with contemporary art through multiple forms of participation. The platform actively works to reduce social, cultural, linguistic, economic, and physical barriers to participation.
As a nomadic platform, Drifts approaches accessibility through site-specific practices and activities situated within everyday urban environments. By working across different districts, venues, and public spaces, the platform expands access to contemporary art beyond centralised cultural institutions.
Accessibility is approached as an ongoing process that develops through curatorial, organisational, and production practices. Drifts continues to develop more accessible forms of communication, participation, and working conditions through dialogue with artists, collaborators, audiences, and local communities.
Ecological responsibility informs how Drifts plans and produces its activities across curatorial, organisational, and production processes. Sustainability is considered throughout programme development, from research and planning to implementation and post-production.
As a nomadic platform, Drifts primarily works within existing urban environments, cultural venues, and public spaces rather than constructing temporary infrastructure. The platform aims to minimise excessive material consumption, energy use, and unnecessary waste through its spatial and production methods.
Drifts favours reusable, recycled, and locally sourced materials whenever possible and prioritises accessible locations connected through public transport. Audiences, artists, and staff are encouraged to travel by public transport, cycling, or walking, while international collaborators are encouraged to consider lower-impact travel options and longer-term exchanges when feasible.