Flow Festival and the activist group Flow Strike have reached an agreement that brings an end to a boycott campaign that has targeted one of Finland’s largest music events for nearly two years.
The deal ends calls for artists and audiences to boycott the Helsinki festival over concerns about links between its ownership structure, corporate partners and companies operating in Israel.
Flow Festival's chief executive Katariina Uusitupa and Flow Strike spokesperson Jenna Jauhiainen confirmed the agreement on Thursday.
As part of the settlement, Flow Strike will withdraw its boycott campaign while the festival commits to using principles from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement when assessing future commercial partnerships.
The agreement does not affect the festival's ownership or existing sponsorship contracts. Flow remains part of Superstruct Entertainment, a festival operator that owns dozens of events across Europe and Australia. Superstruct is backed by several investment groups, including private equity firm KKR, whose investments became the focus of criticism from activists following its involvement with the company.
The dispute began in 2024 after campaigners raised concerns about KKR's investment portfolio and its business links connected to Israel. Artists, performers and cultural workers joined the campaign, with some cancelling appearances while others used festival stages to voice support for Palestine.
Under the agreement, Flow Festival says it will increase transparency around future sponsorship decisions and formally consider BDS criteria when evaluating new partnerships. The BDS movement supports economic and cultural pressure campaigns against organisations it believes are linked to Israeli policies towards Palestinians.
Uusitupa said the festival's position on Gaza had not changed.
“From the beginning, we have unequivocally condemned the genocide and war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip,” she said.
She added that the festival had already considered BDS guidance when making partnership decisions in the past, but that procedures would now be documented more clearly.
Flow Strike described the agreement as the result of sustained pressure from artists and activists. In a statement announcing the end of the campaign, organisers called the outcome a victory and said it demonstrated the influence of collective action within the cultural sector.
The group argued that the campaign expanded beyond Finland and helped draw attention to ownership structures within the European festival industry. It also claimed that pressure campaigns launched at other festivals across Europe were influenced by the movement that began in Helsinki.
Jauhiainen said meaningful negotiations only became possible after a change in leadership at Flow Festival earlier this year.
Despite the agreement, several demands made by campaigners remain unresolved. Flow Festival's ownership structure will remain unchanged and existing commercial partnerships will continue. Sponsors linked to the festival include multinational companies such as Google and Heineken, both of which operate in Israel.
Flow Strike acknowledged that some of its wider objectives had not been achieved. The group said its demand for KKR to divest from companies doing business with Israel remains outstanding.
The dispute became one of the most visible debates within Finland's cultural sector since the start of the war in Gaza. Artists used performances, public statements and withdrawals from festival line-ups to highlight the issue, while campaigners organised demonstrations outside the event.
HT
