DESPITE THE WINTERY season it’s not an arctic breeze that is sweeping over Helsinki from February 11 – 13 but art in the form of the very first artArctica Festival. During the festival, three Helsinki based artists - singer and singing pedagogy student Alicia Burns, violinist and political science student Katarina Sjöblom and musician and wilderness guide Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis - will bring movies, exhibitions, photography, discussions, music, dance, and poetry by artists from every corner of the Arctic to Helsinki’s Sörnäinen district. The aim of this international event that spans almost the entire Arctic from Greenland to Finnish Lapland, from Iceland to Canada is to show the many sides of the Arctic.

We can cite current real world examples of leaders whose days are numbered precisely because they remained silent or chose to collaborate in the destruction of their brothers and sisters, rather than to oppose these senseless, endless wars.

Kicking off on 24 February, Finland is once again infused with the spirit of the tango, with the welcome return of the Grammy Award-winning Argentinean dance group Tango Pasión.

The highly regarded troupe is set to bring a new show Sinfonia de Tango. A tribute to the legend of composer Astor Piazzolla, audiences in Helsinki can enjoy the Pasión until 28 February, before it sets off around the country. Stops in Turku, Hämeenlinna, Lahti, Mikkeli, Kuopio and Oulu are scheduled.

ONCE again, the 14th annual DocPoint is the first port of call for what is becoming an increasingly crowded film festival calendar annually. Presenting the best Finnish and international documentaries of the year, the festival lands once again in the Capital Region from 27 January until 1 February.

Founded in 2001, DocPoint represents one of the largest documentary film festivals on the Nordic landscape. Here in Finland it is the only festival solely dedicated to documentary films, and has also been organised concurrently with Tallinn since 2010.

Bringing with him the growing eclecticism of his songbook, Mark Lanegan hits the stage at The Circus on Friday 6 February in support of his latest release, Phantom Radio.

The road to this point has been anything but without curves and unexpected turns for the former Screaming Trees frontman. Emerging from the shadows of the grunge movement, the singer-songwriter has diversified his output to the point of sheer unpredictably. Each release has been greeted with acclaim of some degree, as his grunge roots have been overshadowed by more sensitive leanings.