Estonia

In Estonia, the discussion about the cultural and creative industries began at the state level with the surveys conducted in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2015 by the Estonian Institute of Economic Research.  The year 2007 was another important moment for the CCI development as Tallinn’s application for the European Capital of Culture 2011 focused on valuing culture in the evolution of a creative city. In 2009, several programmes targeting the development of non-profit organisations and enterprises were designed and launched by the state-owned foundation Enterprise Estonia (EAS) in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. Until 2013, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications was responsible for the development of creative industries. Starting in 2014, the development of the creative economy has been the assignment of the Ministry of Culture, based on the principles of cultural policy delineated by Culture 2020, the Estonian Business Growth Strategy 2014-2020, and the provisions of the implementation plan of the European Union Structural and Investment Funds for 2014-2020 [1].

Thanks to the continuous rise of the role of the private sector, combined with the revenue generated by creative organisations themselves, the upkeep of the CCI is expected to be less dependent on government funding. In its 2020 Strategy, the Estonian Ministry of Culture commits to create supportive conditions to trigger private investment in culture (from entrepreneurs, NGOs and individuals) as well as to conduct initiatives in partnership with private companies. The programmes for NGOs and the public sector target mainly regional and local development, while the programmes targeted at the private sector provide support for participating in international fairs in order to improve the image of Estonian cultural goods and services, and to foster collaboration with partners abroad. Three strategic goals have been established in the 2019-2022 work schedule, along with the relevant social, economic and external indicators: 1) the implementation of cultural influence for the promotion of social cohesion; 2) support for culture-based creativity in education and innovation, and for the promotion of employment and economic growth; and 3) the strengthening of international cultural relations.

In this configuration, cultural and educational institutions focus on early stages of the creative value chain (creation phase) through educating creative professionals and intermediary organisations and their support to the core arts fields and cultural industries. There is a need for more exploratory education, courses and new types of intermediaries. This can be most likely provided by CCI support organizations. For example, higher arts related degrees are provided by few universities and some universities have departments for professional education e.g. in arts and music. Separate arts education programmes can be acquired from several institutions around the country. The educational institutions are state bodies, state-owned public bodies, municipal institutions or private (non-profit or for-profit) organizations, private ones being in minority though.

Within the interest and supportive organizations, there are particularly many from sectors of architecture, design, music, dance and theatre. Many of the interest organizations, which are supporting several CCI sectors, are state-administered. When supporting the CCIs, a lot of emphasis has been put on the incubator activities that have been set up specifically for creative enterprises. In these cases, a large part of incubators’ funding comes from the municipalities, implicating the cities’ dedication for the creative industries. In 2015, the state support to CCI formed 13% of the sector’s total income. [3]. 

In addition to the funding resources of the country, the EU enhances access to finance for CCI SMEs and small public organisations operating within CCI through the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility. This EU financing support mechanism is demand-driven and its availability in Estonia is subject to the take up by local financial institutions or foreign financial institutions with operations in the country.
Channelling the funding for CCIs indirectly through creative incubators has been favoured, by offering supportive services through mediators and development centres, by joint marketing platforms, clusters, and incubators; it is possible to provide support actually for longer term than by making a one-time direct investment. However, the biggest problem is with the private funding. There are not enough private investors, venture capitalists or business angels.

In Estonia, where 21 % of people in cultural employment were aged 15-29 (compared to 19 % in total employment), young people’s share of culture-related jobs is higher than in the rest of the EU. Besides, the cultural workforce is highly qualified with more than 65% having completed tertiary education, while self-employment corresponds to 17% and nearly 25 % of all artists and writers in the country were self-employed in 2017.