Diego Barros: Thriving in Finland’s Cultural Landscape

Diego Barrios' story is a testament to how openness, adaptability, and a relentless pursuit of passion can lead to success, even in a foreign land. A Brazilian cultural producer with a rich background in theatre and cinema, Diego's journey to Finland in 2011 was motivated by professional ambition and a love for the arts. Today, as an MBA student and cultural producer in a diplomatic institution, Diego has learned to navigate Finland's unique challenges and embraced the country's opportunities. In this interview, Diego shares his insights on his experiences in Finland, challenges, and advice for newcomers.
From Brazil to Lisbon, ultimately reaching Finland
I am a cultural producer; my passion is to make everything needed in art happen. So I've been producing different projects in different Art Fields, but my majors are theatre and cinema. I have been creating many film festivals, theatre festivals, and theatre shows throughout my career, and this is what I do- I make things happen, and to make things happen, my background is in business management. I have a first degree in business management, and then my master's was in theatre studies. My business management degree was taken in Brazil and my master's degree was in Lisbon. Now, I am taking my second master's degree in business management here in Finland, and this is the background. This is the foundation of what I do, which is to produce conditions for art and culture to show up and to make things happen—this is my passion.
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Initial Impressions of Finland Upon Arrival
Well, as a person who works in the cultural field, I recognized immediately that it's a very closed environment for those who are not familiar with the country or with the field, but this is like everywhere in the cultural field in general, it doesn't belong only to Finland, I've seen this also in Paris, in Lisbon- in the places that I have been living and working, so here I also recognized the pattern of being in the cultural field- the jobs in the cultural fields as a very closed context and the second thing is that I found nevertheless that people in the professional field were very nice and very open to people who got experiences so it got me lots of leads to develop and to place myself in the environment. So, summarizing, even though the cultural field professionally is a very closed context for those who are arriving, those who are here seem to be very open to dialogue with people who are bringing new experiences and new backgrounds. This was my first impression: it's a dichotomy; it's closed, but at the same time, when you try to open up, things open up because people are curious to know.
When I arrived 13 years ago, this was one of the peculiarities with the industry because, on the contrary, comparing, for example, to the IT industry, lots of people work in English, so I immediately perceived that people use Finnish mainly to work in the cultural field. So, I immediately got the impression that I needed to study the language, and I needed to study the language fast to develop myself in the field. I am still in the cultural field, but I now work in a diplomatic institution, so the impression that I have now is that I see significantly more foreigners working in the cultural field than 13 years ago.
Overcoming the challenges in the culture field
I found it challenging to find the right people to start working together. As I mentioned, I saw that the cultural field is a very closed context, but then I started to work for some theater festivals because it's my major, where I have more experience. I began to get to know people, but not everybody could lead me to a job. We all know that the cultural field, in general, lacks a lot of resources, especially concerning government resources to make things happen. When the government thinks about austerity or cutting expenses, they typically cut in education or the cultural field. Therefore, there's a lack of optimal resources to distribute among different art makers and events. Not everyone I met could lead me to a job, which was the challenge I faced in identifying the right people who could actually help me find a paid position—recognizing these individuals among the large number of people I was meeting in my first work experience here.
The hybrid background that I have in arts and business has always helped me because if I don't find anything on the production side, I can find something on the artistic side, or I can find something in management in other industries. It takes time, but I always find options.
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Adapting to the Finnish culture and lifestyle
First of all, it was difficult. It may sound simple, but for me, the fact that the country has four seasons and therefore it's very different in the same year is something that I have to adapt to first because I come from different countries and I have lived the majority of my life in Brazil. We don't have four seasons, especially from where I come from in the Northeast, so it's hot and very hot, and it rains sometimes. The atmosphere is pretty much the same, but here you need to adapt to different atmospheres – you need to use different clothing, you need to have a different mindset, and your body reacts differently, of course, when it's dark in winter and when it's sunny in the summer. So, this part of adapting to a different country with different seasons and, therefore, different landscapes was the first impact, followed by the darkness in the winter. My problem was never the coldness but the darkness because it really affected me.
Experience with the Finnish language
Yeah, from the beginning, I immediately realized that people in the cultural field mainly use Finnish to work, so I subscribed to Finnish courses right away. So, let's say I arrived in January 2011, and then I took three intensive courses from May to July. In the autumn of 2011, I started with the regular courses, and I studied regularly for around five years until I reached an intermediate level. Then, I thought that I would like to practice more in the field, like working in Finnish or speaking in Finnish in my daily life. To be honest, I just had problems with that. The problem sometimes was that when I tried to speak Finnish in my daily life (in restaurants or supermarkets), people would try to switch to English if I took a little bit too long to express myself in Finnish. However, I insisted on speaking in Finnish anyway. At the moment, I would just insist on speaking in Finnish, and eventually, they would get tired and speak Finnish to me as well.
In addition, I haven't taken any YKI language test (as it's not really needed in my current diplomatic work), but I may consider taking it in the future if my work is no longer in diplomatic representation.
Connecting to local communities
When I started to work here, I worked in theatre festivals, and it was pretty much with Finnish-related people. During my first 4 or 5 years here, it was about connecting, and it deepened my connections and network with Finnish players, let's say. After that, I started to work in positions that were more connected with international professionals, and when I started to work at the Brazilian embassy, I began to connect more with the Brazilian community and foreigners who want to learn Portuguese at my workplace because I work at the institute that teaches Portuguese to foreigners. Working with different cultural backgrounds and local communities, in my experience, has been great so far. I like this diversity; it’s natural for me to try to connect with different backgrounds because I learn from it, so it's been great. Culturally different groups sometimes are so close to themselves that they don't connect with others, but as for myself, of course, I would like to connect with different people.
Support networks in adjusting to life in Finland
When I arrived in Finland, I was not eligible to enroll in any integration program that offered Finnish courses or any other form of structured support. Therefore, my life partner and my friends played a significant role in helping me settle in Finland.
My life partner has been there for me throughout, helping me understand how things work and encouraging me. She helped me with job applications—reading my emails, giving me feedback like, “Start by explaining why you’re a good fit for the position and then build on that,” and even recommending me for opportunities or sharing job openings she came across.
My friends, both Finns and non-Finns, supported me formally and informally. I quickly established connections with people who were born here and others who moved here, and through my MBA studies I have extended my network even further. The friendships I’ve built are a testament to the power of mutual support and empowerment, which has been crucial for me during this journey.
Welcomed by the Finnish community
Yes, I felt very welcomed. I have also dealt with cultural differences. As a foreigner, I tried to take it in a way that is not personal; it's a real cultural difference that we need to manage somehow. Finding myself here without losing myself just to fit in because what I really am is the result of the experiences and places where I was born or places that I have been.
The people in Finland are straight to the point- that’s something that I really appreciate. In the Latin world, for example– we say no but mean yes, or we say something, but there’s a hidden meaning. But in general, my experience has been that people have been straightforward.
Finding employment for stability
Work experience, overall, was really tough. I had to do volunteer work first and build a network that could lead me to a paid job. In the cultural field especially, the pay, I would say, was decent but not as promising compared to other industries. It really took time to reach a point where I became more stable.
I wanted to get a background in business management, so that's the reason why I got into the MBA program in Business Informatics. I was already doing project management in my field, which would mix education and technology applied to education. I was already managing it but intuitively, so that's the reason why I pursued my MBA.
Perspective of life while living in Finland
As a producer, I like to organize things to make things happen for the culture and arts to shine. I did it more mainly passionately and intuitively and, lastly, rationally. Now, with my experience in Finland, as it’s a very rational society in general, in my development process, I got some of this rational experience applied to my personal and professional life. Using rational capability to organize even better things.
In Finland, I could develop myself personally and professionally in a way that would create better conditions in the work that I do. It feels like a privilege to contribute in such a meaningful way.

Tips for newcomers
I just took intensive courses to immerse myself in them, and that is my first tip. I knew that it would be unmotivating that Finnish is a unique language compared with the Indo-European language that I already know or Romanic languages. Those languages are so different; therefore, I couldn't compare them- so my second tip is really not to compare her languages. When I suddenly stopped to compare, my learning curve grew exponentially. It was very fast when I did not compare it with English or any other Romanic language that I know when I tried to learn Finnish just as it is- just trying to replicate then it helped with my learning experience. Also, when I started to just listen and try to imitate, I learned quite quickly enough.
The second thing is not losing yourself while trying to adapt. Your background is the highlight of yourself. It might be tempting to act like a local, but your richness is the diversity that you bring into this country, so you should never deny it (your unique self). It happened to me before; I asked myself, “Shall I change completely in order to fit in?” Finland is quite different from any other country, so don’t compare and don’t expect that you will get the same good things that you had from the previous place you’ve been.
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