From April 2007 to April 2015, the Ministry of Culture was led by the liberal Reform Party. In 2012, the Minister of Culture started the process of compiling a new general principle of cultural policy. This process ended in February 2014, when the Parliament approved the General Principles of Cultural Policy up to 2020. These principles became the basis for the state’s decisions in the field of culture (see chapter 1). From 2015 to 2019, the Minister of Culture was a leading politician of the social-democratic party. During this period, the Ministry of Culture paid great attention to improve the... read more →
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If you are not happy with the results below please do another searchRepresentatives of about 194 nationalities live in Estonia. The population consist of 69% Estonians, 25% are Russians, 2% Ukrainians, 1% Belarusians, 0.8% Finns and other are smaller national minority groups. The task of the Ministry of Culture is to ensure the integration process within Estonian society between Estonians and the representatives of national minorities, and support the cultural life and societies of the Estonian minorities to preserve their cultures and languages in Estonia. The Estonian Constitution states: § 49. Everyone has the right to preserve his or her ethnic identity.§ 50. National minorities have the right, in the interests of... read more →
Since the 2000s, Estonian cultural organisations got involved in more international cooperation networks and got awarded more EU and other European grants to get engaged in cultural and humanitarian cooperation projects. The main funders have been Creative Europe and Erasmus+ programmes. However, successful international cultural projects are initiated mainly by individuals and private organisations (NGOs) based on personal contacts rather than as a matter of governmental policy. Estonian culture has received international recognition when the Estonian (together with Latvian and Lithuanian) song and dance celebration tradition was included on the UNESCO's World List Intangible Heritage (2008). Included on the list... read more →
Estonia became a member of UNESCO in 1991, joined the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe in 1992, and became a signatory to the Berne Convention in 1994. Since Estonia joined the EU in 2004, multilateral cultural cooperation between member states has grown, also on an international level. The Ministry of Culture started to compile the internationalisation strategy in 2019. In 2006, the Ministry of Culture joined the International Network on Cultural Policy and the CULTURELINK network. Previously, Estonia has joined networks of cultural cooperation at the European level, such as ELIA (The European League of Institutes of... read more →
The General Principles of Cultural Policy up to 2020 contain the priorities of cultural cooperation: “The state will create opportunities for the internationalisation of culture. Culture has an important role in external relations, export and the country’s public image. The network of representatives of culture is going to be widened, cooperation will be increased with the different ministries and export-promoting organisations, support for the development of cultural exports and cooperation is going to be increased significantly. More than before, the state will increase its efforts to network on target markets outside Europe, for which cultural organisations and creative enterprises have... read more →
The educational system (including pre-school, basic and secondary education, universities and vocational education) is governed by the Ministry of Education and Research. Especially in the field of vocational education there is a cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. In organising the field of education, it is important to start accumulating culture-related knowledge and skills from an early age in order to ensure a new generation of participants in culture. In cooperation with the state and local governments, opportunities must be created in education as a whole, including hobby education and recreational activities (see chapter 5.1). Language policy is also governed... read more →
Estonia is a democratic parliamentary country. Under Article 59 of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, the legislative power in Estonia is in the hands of the Parliament (Riigikogu). Riigikogu is the representative assembly of the Estonian people. In addition to passing legislation, the Constitution imposes other functions on the Riigikogu: adopting the state budget and enforcing budgetary compliance, exercising a review of the activities of the government, appointing senior state officials and representing Estonia in international organisations. Among other tasks, Riigikogu - decides the allocation of budget resources for the cultural sector; regulates sectors with specific laws (Performing... read more →
Objectives The General Principles of Cultural Policy of Estonia up to 2020 (adopted by Riigikogu (the Parliament) 12th February, 2014): The objective of the cultural policy is to form 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. General principles have been set, stating that cultural policy is based on the constitutional aim of ensuring the preservation of the Estonian nation, language, and culture in perpetuity. The national culture... read more →