News

The government approved Estonia’s positions on the AgoraEU programme at its Thursday session. AgoraEU sets out the programme for the cultural and creative sector, the audiovisual industry, news media, citizens, equality, rights and values for the years 2028–2034.

“Over the past year and a half, together with the culture ministers of the European Union, we have been working to ensure that in the next EU budget period our cultural and creative sector is clearly visible and valued. Estonian creators and cultural organisations have repeatedly demonstrated how broadly and powerfully the creative field enriches both our own and the entire European cultural space,” commented Minister of Culture Heidy Purga.

The proposals submitted by Music Estonia concerned four topics:

• The planned budget of 1.796 billion euros for culture as a baseline level.

• Distinguishing between cultural and music activity lines and continued support for the Music Moves Europe programme.

• Continued support for partnerships.

• Addressing fair and ethical principles for digital and artificial intelligence solutions.

In addition, we have highlighted two more topics:

• The importance of high-quality music data.

• Integrating social and civil-society-related themes into cultural and creative entrepreneurship.

The programme is the only EU funding source specifically targeted at the cultural and creative sector, including promoting cross-border cooperation and distribution in the audiovisual sector and supporting news media.

The aim of AgoraEU is to promote cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage, increase the competitiveness of the cultural and creative sectors—especially the media and audiovisual industries—protect creative and media freedom, and safeguard and promote equality, civic engagement, rights and values.

The proposal for the programme largely maintains the existing opportunities for professionals in the cultural and audiovisual fields to engage in cross-border cooperation. New themes include more clearly defined support for the video game industry, the news media strand and its challenges, and the development of innovative solutions.

“As a small country, it is especially important for us that smaller cultural organisations and independent creators can also enter the international arena, find cooperation partners and access funding that helps creativity grow, mature and develop across borders,” Purga added.

At the EU level, two networks work on supporting the sector, both of which Music Estonia belongs to — EMEE and Live DMA. In addition to our members’ contributions, we have forwarded other proposals as well. We will continue our work; negotiations will last for another year and a half!