870,000 euros will be added to support international cultural and sporting events

Estonian Ministry of Culture,
16 January 2025, Estonia

At today's meeting on 16 January, the government made a decision to allocate 872,477 euros of additional money to the call for proposals of the Ministry of Culture, which will support international cultural and sports events that stimulate the Estonian economy by involving foreign money.

"The support measures for international events have justified themselves in every way today. Thanks to the support of the state, several events have been able to take place, which bring tax revenue back to the state budget, introduce Estonia to the world and enrich the cultural and sports life here. Today, however, the interest of applicants has become significantly higher than the initially planned grants. In order for the planned events that will stimulate the Estonian economy to take place in 2025, it was necessary to find additional money," said Heidy Purga, Minister of Culture.

Since 2018, the Ministry of Culture has Application round, the aim of which is to bring to Estonia events that enrich cultural and sports life that stimulate the economy. The round primarily takes into account the economic impact – as a result of the event, the tax revenue received by the state from expenses incurred in Estonia with foreign money must be at least equal to 1.2 times the amount of support. In order to prove the economic impact, the beneficiary must also submit, after the event, together with the report on the use of the grant, an economic impact analysis prepared by an independent party, on the basis of which the final amount of the grant will be determined.

In 2024, 9 events were supported by a total of 1.94 million euros from the round, in which 3.14 million euros of VAT was paid to the state on the expenses incurred. Thus, the state recovered the allocated support by as much as 1.61 times.

This year, it has already been decided to support 9 events from the round with a total of 2 million euros. The largest amounts of support were allocated for the organisation of IRONMAN Tallinn and the Tallinn Marathon, all recipients of the grant can be viewed in the decree of the Minister of Culture. The additional allocation of funds by the government also makes it possible to support those events that could not be supported initially due to the end of the volume of the call for proposals.

In total, the state will support international sporting events with at least 6.4 million euros this year. International major sporting competitions with very high country marketing potential Measure a total of 2.83 million euros will support the organisation of Rally Estonia, the European Figure Skating Championships, biathlon international titles and the men's basketball EMI final, should the Estonian Basketball Association receive the right to organise the subgroup tournament of the European Championship final.

Intended for organisers of smaller international sports competitions in Estonia Measure 32 more sporting events will be supported with a total of just over €1 million.

https://www.kul.ee/uudised/rahvusvaheliste-kultuuri-ja-spordisundmuste-toetuseks-lisandub-870-000-eurot