Cultural exchange, gender equality and developing education this year’s grantees

Out of 25 applications the board for Foundation Sweden-Estonia Cooperation Fund has approved grants to four different projects held in Estonia during 2021. The filmfestival Just Film (PÖFF), Feministerium – Tallinn feminist Forum, ContempArt – “Music teaching for people with special needs” and the music festival Mägede Hääl – “Voices of the Mountains” all received grants this year.

The filmfestival Just Film (PÖFF) is celebrating its 20th anniversary in November and will get support for a Swedish program presenting new and classical Swedish children’s movies to a new audience. The Festival Director, Heleen Sutt wants to “bring focus to films and literature that have been around for years but still have the potential to inspire, comfort and bring people closer together.” Just Films is Black Nights Film Festivals biggest subfestival.

Feministeerium, an independent feminist web magazine and NGO will get support to be able to invite the Swedish Gender Photographer, Tomas Gunnarsson to the second Tallinn Feminist Forum, in November 2021. Kadi Viik, one of the founders of Feministeerium says that “He will give a public lecture on inclusive communication through images for a broader audience and a practical, interactive workshop for a limited group of people who already work with communication and imagery.” Kadi Viik has a background in human rights and has previously worked for the Estonian government and the UN agencies UNDP and UNFPA.

During 2021 and 2022 the Swedish-Estonia Cooperation fund will support education of music teachers and other professionals in teaching music to people with special needs. The project will be lead by Julia Savitskaja, CEO of ContempArt MTÜ. She is a professional opera singer and organizer of cultural events at the Narva Opera Festival, currently studying psychology at the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis. “Music helps relieve mental stress, it is an additional communication tool for people with special needs and helps to start speech.” Teachers from Sweden, Finland and Latvia will be coming to Estonia to teach at workshops for up to 100 persons, with an additional 100-200 persons online.

The music festival Mägede Hääl – Voices of The Mountain is held every year in eastern Estonia. This year they will receive support to bring the Swedish artists Prins Emanuel & Inre Kretsen to the festival. Ivar Murd, Head Organiser of Mägede Hääl Festival says that he would like to have more cultural exchange between Sweden and Estonia so that the artists in both countries can have a bigger international audience.

-        We received many interesting ideas and projects, but these four projects stood out in the competition by bringing Swedes and Estonians together. We have a lot to learn from one another and when we bring people with knowledge and different experiences together great things can happen, says Kristi Liiva, Chair of the Sweden-Estonia Cooperation Fund.

-        The Corona pandemic has put a strain on international exchange and relations. Last year we didn’t open up for applications due to the difficult situation. I sincerely hope that all of the projects can be realized, says Pär Nuder, Vice chair of the Sweden-Estonia Cooperation Fund.