A total of 300,000 euros has been allocated to joint cultural projects involving the Baltic countries. In total 6 projects were supported in the fields of performing arts, literature, music and visual arts. In total 29 applications in the amount of 1, 564 187 euros were submitted. The budget of the fund for 2021 was 300,000 euros, of which each Baltic state contributed 100,000 euros.
The fund is administrated by the national Cultural Endowments on a three-year rotation basis; the Cultural Endowment of Estonia was the first to coordinate the BCF’s activities.
“We have witnessed strong culture cooperation aspirations in the Baltic countries during these three years and the amount of the applications to BCF was much higher than expected. The rules of BCF are demanding as these projects have to have scale and the events organized have to take place abroad. BCF received 82 proposals in total in three years for projects in performing arts, visual arts, music, literature, architecture, design and museum fields. The Baltic culture professionals applied for 4,7 million euros to cooperate. We could only grant 1 million euros in total. In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that many projects have had to postpone and change the activities, we regard the first three years of the BCF implementation successful,” said Kertu Saks, the Chairwoman of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
2021 Baltic Culture Fund support was granted as follows:
65,000 euros were awarded to the New Theatre Institute of Latvia, with the Lithuanian Dance Information Center and Kanuti Gildi SAAL/MTÜ Teine Tants for a project “Baltic Take Over“. This is a curated program of performative works from a collaborative process in Helsinki. The process is led by Baltic dance culture leaders and festival managers. The festival in Helsinki will take place in June 2023.“The Parcours of the Blossoming”, a project that promotes Baltic contemporary art, provides joint educational activities, increases artistic engagement between the Baltic States and the rest of the World and organizes an innovative exhibition, received a grant of 70,000 euros. The project is led by Rigas Starptautiska Biennale and the partners are Estonian Temnikova and Kasela Gallery and Lithuanian Art Centre Rupert. The project events take place in Berlin, London, Moscow and Paris from June to December 2021.
The biggest grant, 75,000 euros, was awarded to a project “Baltic Contemporary Music Festival in Germany “ involving Estonian NGO Festival AFEKT, Latvian Festival Arena and Lithuanian Festival Gaida. The festival will have 4 concerts of contemporary music of Baltic composers in Germany. The main events of the project take place in July 2022.
With a grant of 30,000 euros, the Lithuanian Contemporary Art Centre, Latvian Contemporary Art Centre Kim and Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art will publish a visual arts Reader and organize an extensive international promotional campaign that includes live events, online streaming, publicity and advertising with the project “The 14th Baltic Triennial Reader”. The events will be organized in Berlin, Minsk, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Warsaw from March to December 2021.
Centre for School Improvement from Lithuania, the Latvian section of IBBY and Estonian Children`s Literature Centre provide a platform for Baltic children literature authors for co-creation. The project is called “Diversity of Human Rights Literature for Children from Baltic Authors” and the events will take place during the Book Fairs in the UK, Frankfurt and Bologna. The grant of 30,000 euros will be used from May 2021 to June 2022.Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics, Estonian Union of Ceramic Artists and Lithuanian Artists`Association collaborate on a project to organize large-scale Baltic contemporary ceramics exhibitions abroad (Korea). The project “Safe Horizons. Baltic Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition” will take place from July 2021 to June 2023. The project received a grant of 30,000 euros.
The aim of the Baltic Culture Fund, founded in 2018, is to promote cultural cooperation between the Baltic countries and strengthen the internationalization of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian culture through joint cultural projects and events. The Baltic Culture Fund supports new and one-off cultural events outside the Baltic countries, such as concerts, exhibitions, festivals, performances, international events with a Baltic focus, as well as showcases and forums promoting the internationalization of culture.
Grants are awarded annually and the next deadline for applications will be announced by the Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation (Valsts kultūrkapitāla fonds) at the beginning of 2022.