New Search
If you are not happy with the results below please do another searchThe General Principles of Cultural Policy up to 2020 (see chapter 1.1) state the objective of Estonian cultural policy to be: forming a society that values creativity by maintaining and improving the national identity of Estonia, researching, storing, and transferring cultural memory, and creating favourable conditions for the development of a vital, open, and versatile cultural space and for participating in culture. Participation has become a more important factor and indicator in cultural life for state as well as for local authorities. There are a number of cultural institutions (museums, theatres, cinemas etc.) that have special discounts or membership cards.... read more →
According to Statistics Estonia and their most recent research, in 2013 a visitor to a cultural or sports event spends an average of EUR 14 per visit. A visitor to a cultural or sporting event will spend an average of EUR 6,80 on tickets, EUR 3,80 on food and drinks and EUR 2,50 for transportation and parking. When attending a concert, an average household cost is EUR 38 per visit. While attending a theatre, the household spends an average of EUR 36, attending other cultural events (festivals, community gatherings etc.) EUR 33, the museum EUR 22, and the cinema EUR... read more →
Cultural consumption and participation studies are carried out by the Estonian Institute of Economic Research and in some sectors also by Statistics Estonia. The latest study in the form of a survey was carried out by Estonian Statistics in 2017. The survey was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and its methodological basis is ESSnet Culture, the framework for harmonized European cultural statistics. A sample of 10 000 Estonian residents aged 15 or over who have been randomly selected were invited to participate in the cultural participation survey. While the population aged 20-64 attending Estonian cultural institutions in 2009-2010 decreased... read more →
Support for professional artists and creative unions is regulated by the Creative Persons and Artistic Associations Act. According to the Act a freelance creative person is an author or performer, whose main source of livelihood is professional creative work in the fields of architecture, audiovisual, design, performing arts, sound, literature, visual arts, or shorthand, not under employment or similar obligations. The artistic association unites and represents persons working in one creative field: architecture, audiovisual arts, design, performing arts, sound arts, literature, visual arts or scenography. An artistic association must have at least fifty persons who have been creative in the... read more →
The main source of grants and scholarships is the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (see chapter 1.2.2). The Cultural Endowment issues also annual awards in all eight sub-endowments. In literature, the annual awards ceremony is held on the 14th of March (Native Language Day). The awards are handed out in eight different categories for books published in the last year: prose, poetry, dramaturgy, dissertation, children's literature, translated Estonian literature and translated literature into Estonian. The ceremony of the music endowments' annual awards is held on the International Music Day, the 1st of October. The ceremony is organised together with the Estonian... read more →
The Cultural Endowment of Estonia supports the creative work of artists by providing scholarships, study and travel grants as well as project support (see chapter 1.2.2). According to the Copyright Act, authors of books (writers, illustrators and translators) loaned from public libraries are compensated based on the frequency of loans. The purpose of the copyright compensation fund is to compensate authors and copyright holders for their loaned works in public libraries. The Authors' Foundation was established in 2004 by the Estonian Writers' Union, the Estonian Publishers' Union and the Estonian Graphic Designers' Union. Three percent of the net value... read more →
Support to arts, folk arts and other creative activities has mainly been distributed through arm's-length-policy bodies, such as the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (see chapter 1.2.2.). The support from the Ministry of Culture is divided over different fields. For architecture, the Ministry has the grant programme “Development projects in the field of architecture”. The programme finances projects that aim to promote and enhance Estonian architecture (including architectural design, planning, interior architecture, landscaping, spatial planning and urban design). In the audio-visual field, the Ministry of Culture gives out activity support to the Estonian Film Institute, but also directly finances Black Nights... read more →
There are fields of culture, where the désetatisation process has been completed: the eight state-owned theatres of the 90s are now state foundations and in 2013-2014 three state-owned music organisations (National Symphony Orchestra, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Eesti Kontsert) were changed to foundations. In the field of museums, the trend of désetatisation is in process. Several museums were already or will be consolidated in the near future. Foundations are preferred to state institutions as this form gives the organisations more flexibility in management and more opportunities to take regional or professional specifics into account. In February 2019, the Parliament... read more →
Table 1: Data and trends of public and private cultural institutions DomainCultural institutionsPublic sectorPrivate sectorNumber (2019)Trends last 5 years (comparison to 2014) (in %)Number (2019)Trends last 5 years (comparison to 2014) (In %)Cultural heritageCultural heritage sites26 485- 0,3%N/AMuseumsInstitutions20- 24%*170N/AArchivesInstitutionsN/AN/AVisual artsPublic art galleries/exhibition halls75**75**Performing artsScenic and stable spaces for theatre100N/AConcert housesN/AN/ATheatre companies10- 9%48N/ADance and ballet companies2***010***N/ASymphonic orchestras6040LibrariesLibraries895- 8%N/AAudiovisualCinemas1049N/ABroadcasting organisations1021+50%InterdisciplinarySocio-cultural centres / cultural houses450N/AN/A Sources: Ministry of Culture, Statistics Estonia, Estonian Theatre Agency * As a result of the museum reform, several museums have been merged into a single institution, the total number of branches is 249.** Total number in public as... read more →