Today there are 19 theatres and theatre companies in Estonia who receive support from the budget of the Ministry of Culture: 7 state-subsidised repertory theatres, 1 foundation, The National Opera, which is a public law agency, 2 municipal theatres and 8 private non-profit theatres with a more narrow artistic scope and restricted audience. The majority of state theatres function as institutions. Theatre as an institution, together with the theatre-house, permanent staff and continuous performance activity, is considered very important. In the last few years the number of small theatres and money allocated to them has increased.

Plan of new performances in 2004

The most common form of performance is spoken performance. Besides diverse world drama, contemporary Estonian drama is gaining in popularity. People in a Europe without borders value their local values more and more. The percentage of foreign drama is usually larger in theatres in the entertainment sector.

Biennial festivals like "DRAAMA" (the festival of Estonian theatre) and the more alternative international festival "Baltoscandal" provide a regular overview of theatre life. In addition, smaller domestic and international contemporary dance, children´s and amateur theatre festivals are organised as private initiatives.

Social studies and surveys of culture consumption show that Estonians have a great need for theatre. The state has initiated special support programmes to make theatre accessible to all social strata (a separate programme is aimed at people in rural areas).

Average number of visitors 1998-2004

Estonian amateur theatre is well developed and provides high-level entertainment. It offers good competition for professional theatre-makers. There are approximately 700 amateur theatre groups (260 school, 300 drama, 70 Russian, 30 puppet, 10 music and 30 handicap theatre groups), bringing together 16000 participants.

Theatre as a communicative and interpretive art form comprising different fields of creative art is more and more often used in training projects, psychotherapy and so on.

International co-operation
In the unified European cultural space, Estonian theatre has been able to take advantage of the positive sides of globalisation. In addition to the great international success of our contemporary dance theatre, Estonian music and word performances have received high acknowledgement in foreign countries. They participate in both international professional and amateur theatre festivals and in international co-operation projects. Many personal cross-border contacts have been established thanks to this. The state also encourages participation of foreign theatre people in Estonian theatre projects and in the work of repertory theatres.

Financing
The national cultural policy ensures that the state will support theatres irrespective of their form of ownership. The aim of such a policy is to keep the annual amount of theatre visits around 900.000 with the average ticket price not exceeding 1% of the average salary. The Ministry’s annual support enables theatres to give more than 4600 performances, to stage 120 new plays, maintain a staff of 1850 and provide services to approximately 900.000 theatregoers.

Theatre receives direct support from the state budget, i.e. from the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Gambling Tax Council. The Ministry of Culture also supports the Estonian Drama Agency, which mediates the copyrights of plays to be put on stage. Local governments allocate project-based activity support mainly to smaller private theatre companies. Project-based co-operation with other countries applying for money from funds for specific purposes (Culture 2000) has also become more active and contributed greatly.

Legislation and information
Activities in the field of theatre are regulated by the Performance Establishment Act (RT I 2003, 51, 353) and the National Opera Act. The Estonian Theatre Information Centre, a common information centre for all theatre related matters, provides a good overview of the activities of theatres and respective organisations.

• Estonian theatre system