“We are pleased that the Nordic Council of Ministers decided to contribute to the Baltic Culture Fund and we believe that this will lead to many cultural encounters, joint endeavours, new creative works and exciting art and cultural events that enrich both local and international cultural collaboration,” said Christer Haglund, the director of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia.
“The Baltic Culture Fund has been created to support Baltic cultural collaboration and through that also to gain more traction outside the Baltics. By organising joint events we have a better chance of drawing attention on an international stage and the Nordic Council’s contribution provides a great opportunity for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to showcase in Nordic countries,” said Kertu Saks, the chairwoman of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The goal of the Baltic Culture Fund, founded on 8 July 2018, is to promote cultural cooperation between the Baltic countries and strengthen the internationalisation of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian culture through joint cultural projects and events. The Fund especially supports new and one-off cultural events outside the Baltic countries, such as concerts, exhibitions, festivals, performances and international events with a Baltic focus, such as projects in architecture, visual art, design, literature, sound art, performing arts, libraries, museums and archives.
The Fund is administrated by the national cultural endowments in three-year rotation; the Cultural Endowment of Estonia is the first to coordinate the Fund’s activities. Funding will be allocated to Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian joint cultural events once a year. The call for applications opened at the beginning of this year and will close on 20 May. All projects taking place in the Nordic countries and funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers must be concluded before 31 December 2020.