The 2023 culture budget will bring one of the biggest salary increases to cultural workers who receive a salary from the state. With the support of additional money, the sustainability of cultural organizations is ensured in the situation of the suddenly rising cost of living, and a strong contribution is made to the cohesion of society and the progress of exercise.
Ensuring the survival and development of culture and sports
One of the biggest salary increases of all time awaits cultural workers and coaches with higher professional qualifications who receive salaries from the state. The national minimum wage for cultural workers will rise from EUR 1,400 to EUR 1,600, or 14.3%. In addition, the salary fund of cultural workers receiving salaries from the state will increase by 7.34 million euros - the managers of the institutions will have the freedom to decide how, in addition to the increased minimum wage, the fund will be distributed within the institutions. The minimum salary of a youth coach with a higher professional qualification will increase from 1,020 euros to 1,400 euros, or 37%.
The state will also help cultural institutions in coping with increased costs to ensure their sustainability. In order to ensure the sustainability of the culture and sports sector, the base funding from the state will increase by 12.8 million euros. This concerns both the institutions of the Ministry of Culture's administrative area as well as cultural and sports organizations operating in the private sector.
The state will start issuing 5 additional artist salaries every year and increase artist and writer salaries. In order to ensure creative peace for our leaders, their salary increase must be comparable to the rest of the cultural workers.
The state will increase the budget of the Author Compensation Fund by 400,000 euros, which will lead to a significant increase in borrowing compensation for the nation's most beloved writers. It is certainly not ideal , but we will continue the discussion on how to ensure a stable increase in borrowing benefits in the future as well.
The Culture Backpack support program, which helps to ensure that every basic school student has the opportunity to have cultural experiencea, will receive 0.5 million euros in additional funding. The program's budget is 1.5 million euros in 2023, which allows students to visit theaters, cinemas, museums, concerts or other cultural events related to the curriculum as part of their school studies.
Physical activity - a natural part of everyone's day
2023 is the Be Active year. The state will invest 3 million euros in the development of health sports centers. The support measure will continue, where together with the co-financing of local governments, we will develop regional health sports centers in the next four years with at least 4.8 million euros. We will also allocate additional funds for the construction of football halls - 1 million euros for the construction of a football and gymnastics hall in Kuressaare, as well as 1 million euros for Paide. The Competence Center for Physical Activity, whose activities are allocated 600,000 euros per year, will start work.
The latest survey on physical activity in Estonia reveals that more than half of both adults and children still move too little - 57 percent of students and 58 percent of adults do not move enough on a daily basis. At the same time, both active children and adults are happier, more cheerful, more engaged and less withdrawn. In order to reach the level of the Nordic countries in terms of physical activity by 2030, at least two-thirds of the population of Estonia must exercise regularly.
Supporting a coherent and stable Estonian society and cultural life in Ida-Virumaa
The state will contribute 1 million euros to the implementation of the cultural program of Ida-Viru. It is important to organize regular joint events that support a sense of community and bringing pan-Estonian events to the region. The aim is to support series of events, programs consisting of different events (e.g. a performance, concert, festival, etc.) and having a combined effect.
The preservation of the language and culture of Ukrainian war refugees will be supported with 100,000 euros from the 2023 state budget. The new support measure is aimed at Ukrainian war refugee children and young people, who are offered Ukrainian language and cultural education. From the point of view of integration, it is important that war refugees get to know Estonian culture, while valuing and preserving their culture of origin. This has a positive effect on the ethnic and state identity of national minorities, their knowledge of mother tongue and their participation in social life.
The state will also support private media channels with 1 million euros in creating high-quality Russian-language content. Russia's war against Ukraine further increased the need to bring Russian-speaking Estonian residents into a common communication and information space. As a result of the support, the ability to produce original content and deliver professional and balanced current information in Russian will increase.
Development of libraries
In the future, the state will annually contribute 0.5 million euros to the library innovation fund.
The fund brings a significant investment to the development of Estonian libraries in order to create an even more modern and user-friendly library network. The program helps to modernize the environment of public libraries and expand their current role to activities that meet the needs of local residents. The grant program will begin to finance innovations that help make the library a local community center or library service more accessible - for example, innovative spatial solutions, self-service options, development of new services or improvement of accessibility. The program also aims to increase the regional political importance of public libraries.
Also, in 2023, the state support to the acquisition of books etc. for public libraries will increase by 147,000 euros, to nearly 2 million euros.
Supporting major events with significant international impact
The state will support cultural and sports events that help to introduce Estonia to the rest of the world and have a significant impact on the economy. The Ministry will support the film festival PÖFF with 1.4 million euros and the organization of the Rally Estonia with 1.85 million euros.
The repayment fund of Film Estonia will increase from 2 million euros to 4 million euros. Interest in Estonia among foreign film producers has already increased by leaps and bounds, and increasing the fund will help to bring our film culture to an international level.
Ensuring the sustainability of the song and dance celebration
The state fully supports the process of the song and dance festival included in the representative list of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The cultural budget includes the organizing of the youth song and dance festival "Püha on maa" in the summer of 2023.
Last updated: 01.06.2023
