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. Grants are awarded annually and the deadline for applications is 20 May.
“The Baltic Culture Fund was established to support and encourage cultural cooperation between the Baltic states to achieve more international impact,” said Indrek Saar, Minister of Culture and chairman of the supervisory board of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. “The success of the joint events organised by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during the centenary year of their independence in Paris, London and Venice shows that together we have better chances to attract international attention and put our distinctive culture on the world map,” added Saar.
The Baltic Culture Fund will support professional events and projects in architecture, visual art, design, literature, sound art, performing arts, libraries, museums and archives. The Fund also welcomes interdisciplinary projects.
The Fund especially supports new and one-off cultural events outside the Baltic countries, such as concerts, exhibitions, festivals, performances, international events with a Baltic focus, and showcases and forums promoting the internationalisation of culture.
The Fund is administrated by national cultural endowments on a three-year rotation basis; the Cultural Endowment of Estonia is the first to coordinate the Fund’s activities.
According to Kertu Saks, chairwoman of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Baltic Culture Fund will be the first broad international programme to be managed by the Endowment. “In the past, we have funded international projects through the Traducta translation programme, in which we supported foreign publishers and translators in introducing the best of Estonian literature to the world. Working with an international expert committee will take our activities to a new level,” added Saks.
Each Baltic country will contribute 100,000 euros to the Fund annually. The Fund also accepts donations.
The grants will be 25,000–100,000 euros per project, with at least 20% of self-financing to be added by the organiser. Only legal persons from Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania will be eligible for support. The lead partner for each project must bring in partners from all three Baltic countries.
Project applications will be assessed by an expert committee of six representatives, hailing from various cultural domains and will each be appointed for a period of three years. Each country will be represented by two committee members appointed by the supervisory board of the national cultural endowment.
The statutes, application procedure and logo of the Baltic Cultural Fund will be available on the programme’s website. The working language of the Fund is English.
Contacts:
- Estonia
Suur-Karja 23, 10148 Tallinn ESTONIA
Fund leadership period: 1 January 2019 – 31 December 2021
- Latvia
State Culture Capital Foundation
K.Valdemara iela 20 , Riga LV-1010 LATVIA
Fund leadership period: 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2024
- Lithuania
Lithuanian Council for Culture
Naugarduko g. 10, 01309 Vilnius LITHUANIA
Fund leadership period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2027