Describe the main features of the policy/measure:
The Cultural Endowment of Estonia is a legal person governed by public law with the objective to support arts, folk culture, physical fitness and sport. It also funds the construction and renovation of cultural buildings. The basis of the activity of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia is the Cultural Endowment of Estonia Act, which was passed on 1 June 1994 and entered into force on 1 July 1994. The function of the Cultural Endowment is to support:
• projects which promote, introduce and popularize the arts, folk culture, physical fitness and sport
• artistic associations
• research related to culture and sport
• the commemoration of deceased figures in the arts and sports
• talented persons with development potential in various areas of culture and sport and to facilitate their individual development
• outstanding figures in the arts and sport (lifetime achievement support), and their families upon their death
• the construction and renovation of cultural buildings which are of national importance
The structure of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia includes eight endowments and fifteen county expert groups.
An endowment is a structural unit of the Cultural Endowment with the function to distribute financial support allocated by the supervisory board of the Cultural Endowment to a specific area. Funds are distributed through application rounds or based on the endowments’ initiative. The activities are organized by an endowment panel consisting of seven persons who are active in the corresponding area of culture and who are nominated by organizations of this area of culture. The Minister of Culture approves the membership of an endowment panel. The term of authority of a panel is two years and one person may belong to two consecutive memberships of a panel.
A county expert group is a structural unit of the Cultural Endowment, which acts in every county of Estonia with the function to distribute financial support allocated by the supervisory board of the Cultural Endowment to the areas of culture within the county. Funds are distributed through application rounds or based on the expert groups’ initiative. An expert group consists of five members that are persons active in the cultural field on the county level, the supervisory board of the Cultural Endowment approves the membership for two years. One person may belong to two consecutive memberships of an expert group.
Income of the Cultural Endowment is formed of:
• proceeds in the state budget from the excise duty on alcohol and tobacco 3.5%
• proceeds in the state budget from gambling tax 46% (whereof 63% is allocated to finance cultural buildings which are of national importance and 37% is allocated to award grants and support and for administrative expenses)
• property donations and bequests made in favor of the Cultural Endowment
• income received from investment of the assets of the Cultural Endowment
• income from other economic activities
Website of the policy/measure, if available:
What are the results achieved so far through the implementation of the policy/measure?:
The Cultural Endowment of Estonia contributes, with area-specific knowledge and flexible decision methods, to the variety and continuity of the areas of culture and sport. More than 15 000 applications are submitted yearly and due to limited budget, approximately 65-67% of them get financial support.
Financial resources allocated to the policy/measure in USD:
2016: 30 854 627 USD (25 940 465 EUR)
2017: 33 079 349 USD (27 810 860 EUR)
2018: 64 643 459 USD (54 347 810 EUR)
2019: 58 184 212 USD (48 917 316 EUR)
Partner(s) engaged in the implementation of the measure:
| Name of partner | Type of entity |
|---|---|
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia
| Public Sector
|
Has the implementation of the policy/measure been evaluated?:
YES
If yes, what are the main conclusions/recommendations?:
In 2018, socio-economic research center Praxis analyzed the funding practices of Cultural Endowment of Estonia in order to identify the differences of granting practices between endowments and county expert groups, how the practices have changed during 2011-2017 and what are the funding priorities. It was concluded that Cultural Endowment of Estonia plays very important role in funding the cultural domains, although there are also smaller alternative supporters (i.e. local authorities and initiatives) with very limited budgets and they are not dealing with systematic development.
The analysis shows that most applications are submitted and funded in the folk culture endowment, but the higher amounts of support are in the sports and physical education endowment. It is more likely to receive support from the folk culture endowment and least likely from the sports endowment. The priorities for support have not changed much during the period 2011-2017. There is a formal link between funding priorities stated in financing rules of the endowments and development priorities arising from the national strategic documents. In both cases, the objectives and priorities are formulated in a relatively general way. There is a need for establishing central information system that covers all of the support allocated to cultural domains. It would allow monitoring and analyzing the total public contribution to culture by domains, financiers, beneficiaries, objectives, activities, etc. It was also concluded that in order to keep the project-based focus, larger cultural institutions should receive support for their operating costs from other sources.