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EESTI ELU reedel, 14. jaanuaril 2022 — Friday, January 14, 2022
The National Archives of Estonia is calling for grant applications in the field of collection, preservation, and publicization of Estonian cultural heritage created by expatriates or about expatriates
The poster for the My Estonian Career Path consultations in January 2022. Photo: minukarjaar.ee
The Estonian Ministry of Culture’s latest plans to support integration Vincent Teetsov Since the early 2000s, the Estonian government’s at tempts to bring more people to Estonia have grown into a hefty bundle of promotional materials. There are websites designed to increase tourism (Visit Estonia) and to increase immigration through avenues of employment (Work in Estonia), business (Invest in Estonia and Startup Estonia), and academia (Study in Estonia and Research in Estonia), to name a few. If you’re interested in Estonia, one of these sites will likely have provided you informa tion at one point or another, ensuring you get your facts from an official, direct source. While these sites contain an abundance of information, there is still a chance you might have missed out on programs that are available to you; ways that pro spective and recent immigrants, as well as people who are disconnected from Estonian society, can form a closer connection. This is why the Estonian government seeks to directly communicate with tar get audiences to prompt action, so no one is left to figure things out alone. For example, in early January 2022, the Estonian Ministry of Culture’s Depart ment of Cultural Diversity sent out a newsletter with a roundup of resources on living in Estonia, shared from all over the web, in English, Russian, and Estonian. The resource in English from this particular newsletter that was the most useful was the Eesti Töötukassa’s (Unemploy ment Insurance Fund) site, minukarjäär.ee. Most recently, they have been advertising five group counselling sessions, be tween the 28th and 31st of January, 2022, about career paths in Estonia. These will take place online, as well as in-person in Tallinn and Jõhvi. If you’re looking for a con densed, verbal version of the details found through Work in Estonia, this could be a suitable place to start.
More offerings like this are happening in English than in previous years. For instance, there is an online virtual semi nar at the end of January on “Becoming a business owner in Estonia” with career specialist Lemme-Getter Metsala. The seminar runs through services available within the country for supporting the path of an entre preneur, and tips for success in running your own business. Another resource shared in the Ministry of Culture’s recent communications was a trilin gual portal put together by stu dents from Tallinna Ülikool (Tallinn University) for recent immigrants who want to send their children to Estonian schools. The portal is quite ba sic, but clearly outlines the structure of staff in Estonian schools and their duties, as would be needed to navigate a child’s school experience. In this same theme, there is a list of school supplies guardians should expect to purchase for their child, and where one can buy these supplies. For all those who have ever contemplated a move to Esto nia, including Canadians and Americans, these tools will in crease the likelihood of integra tion into Estonian society and decrease the likelihood of dependency on an expat community. The latest driver behind these communications and tools is a new initiative approved by the government of Estonia in November 2021: the Cohesive Estonia Development Plan 2021–-2030. The plan strives to integrate people of other nationalities into Estonian society and help them adapt. Piret Hartman, Undersecretary for Cultural Diversity, con tended in a subsequent article that Estonia has been moving towards a “two-way” style of integration, beyond what she argues to have been the “one way” approach of the 1990s, where a secure place was grant ed only to those already fluent in the Estonian language. Hartman writes of the intent to increase the number of job
The National Archives of Estonia is calling for grant applications for projects that support the collection, preserva tion and publicization of Esto nian cultural heritage created by expatriates or about expatriates. Cultural heritage refers to both oral and material heritage, including folklore, life stories and memories, musical tradi tion, documents, photographs, audiovisual heritage, publica tions, works of art, etc. The call is within the frame work of the Global Estonian Program, created by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The call is financed by the Estonian Government from the budget of the Ministry of Education and Research. The total size of the fund is €118,000. Both organisations and individuals can apply for support. The following activities can be funded: • recording, indexing, describ ing, physically arranging, restoring, mapping and collect ing (field work, acquisition actions, transport of archives), preparing for digitization, and digitizing of Estonian historical and cultural heritage created by expatriates or about expatriates in order to preserve Estonian cultural heritage and make it available to the public (on the web, in print and/or in a memory institution). • creating data collections/data bases/information portals re
garding the above mentioned cultural heritage. • preparing and conducting surveys; • creating websites, compiling publications and exhibitions; • developing of cultural heri tage cooperation networks (organising info sessions, semi nars, and other events) • counselling communities on practical archival work (orga nising trainings and professional guidance on archiving for Estonian communities outside of the country); • cooperation projects between Estonian and foreign memory institutions in order to arrange, describe and make available Estonian historical and cultural heritage created by expatriates or about expatriates; • research on the history and cultural heritage of the Estonian diaspora related to the collec tion, arrangement, or publicity of archival material or cultural heritage. NB! The application must include a list of the source materials of the proposed publi cation; • publication of already com pleted manuscripts on the Estonian diaspora. NB! The application must include a list of the source materials of the proposed publication; • preparation and distribution of information materials (in print or online) on the prin ciples of work processes in archives, libraries and museums; • research on Estonian cultural
opportunities for other na tionalities, to foster closer ties between each individual to Estonia. This is a reason for the aforementioned career counsel ling sessions. Principles of integration are to be applied everywhere else, though, in “social policy, educa tion policy, security policy, and cultural events.” That is, under standing and communication between nationalities will not just take place in school and work, but in leisure activities, too. In a separate report for the Lõimumis/kohanemisprogramm (Integration/Adjustment Pro gram) 2022–2025, the Ministry of Culture shared their measure ments of a number of indexes of integration. One index was the “Proportion of people of other nationalities with active Estonian language skills” and the “Proportion of non-Estonian speakers of other nationalities.” In 2020, 41% of respondents were reported to have been fluent in Estonian (encompass ing comprehension, speaking, and writing). 8% did not speak Estonian. The Ministry’s goal is to increase the rate of fluency to 50% by 2023. With that in mind, an apt
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heritage created by expatriates or about expatriates. The application deadline is February 7, 2022 (incl.). The Archival Committee will make its decisions on 18 February 2022. Please send your application to rahvusarhiiv@ra.ee or by mail to the following address: Rahvusarhiiv, Nooruse 3, 50411 Tartu, Estonia, quoting the reference “Global Estonian Program.“ Committee members: Mart Orav (magazine “Aka deemia,“ Chairman of the Committee), Andero Adamson (Ministry of Education and Research, Vice-Chairman of the Committee), Martin Eessalu (Ministry of Education and Research), Sirje Karis (Tartu City Museum), Lea Kõiv (Tallinn City Archives), Ilme Mäesalu (Estonian National Heritage Board), Priit Raudkivi (Tallinn University), Priit Rohtmets (University of Tartu), Jüri Viikberg (Tallinn Univer sity), Raimo Raag (Uppsala University) and Kadri Linnas (Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Contact person: Kristi Ots, kris ti.ots@ra.ee, +372 738 7511. Estonian archival centres operating abroad, whose main task is to collect, preserve and enable access to Estonian cul tural heritage (including the acquisition of archives of other organisations and persons), and associations and co-operation networks of organisations estab lished to support this goal can apply for an operating grant.
Visnapuu was born on January 2, 1890 in Helme parish, Estonia. He fled the Soviet occupation to Germany in 1944 and emigrated to the United States in 1949. Henrik
Visnapuu died on April 3, 1951 in Long Island, New York, at the age of 61. Henrik Visnapuu was one of the most prolific and multi faceted of Estonian authors; he has over 30 publications to his name, including more than 20 poetry collections, memoirs, scripts, romantic verse, and essay books. As a high-level government official in Estonia during the late 1930s he helped shape and significantly in fluenced the entire country’s cultural policy of the time, but also in 1941–1944 during years of war and the occupation. Contacts for more information: Sirje Kiin, USA: +1 (605) 270 1391, sirjekiin@hotmail.com Jürgen Rooste, Estonia: e mail: armastatudpoeet@hotmail.com, +372 55 990675 Estonian Ameri can National Council: www. estosite.org
o bservation was made that new immigrants may take language courses several times, yet still not possess the confidence to speak. Encouraging social prac tice outside of a classroom setting is necessary then to increase fluency.
The government of Estonia’s latest surge of resources goes beyond marketing, instead func tioning like an active dialogue with every resident of Estonia, to maximize their potential, across linguistic abilities and cultural backgrounds.
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diaspora, culture, or history in Estonian or another language. The Estonian American National Council, founded in in 1952, is the nationally-elected representative organization of Estonian Americans and a regis tered 501(c)(3) nonprofit orga nization representing the in terests of Estonian Americans in the United States and Estonia, and is dedicated to preserving and sustaining Estonian culture and heritage. For further infor mation, see the website www. estosite.org. About Henrik Visnapuu
