Riigikogu’s cultural committee said it supports speeding up the construction of public broadcaster ERR’s long-awaited new television station once the relevant legal reforms come into force.
Committee Chairman Herjo Pikhov (SDE) said on Thursday that the Cultural Endowment Fund (Kultuurikapital) currently has the funds to implement this, but first this project will be transferred to Kultuurikapital along with five other beneficiary investments. He said it should be included on the list. Amendments to the law will make this possible.
“We fully support the use of Kultuurikapital’s funds towards the completion of the long-awaited TV house,” Pikov told ERR.
“Committee members were of the same opinion during the preparation of this bill,” Pikov continued.
On Tuesday, the Culture Committee decided to send the bill amending the Estonian Cultural Fund Act and the Gambling Tax Act to second reading (out of three). This bill, introduced by the same committee, would allow investment support to be allocated to additional buildings. Those that are considered to be of national cultural importance and achieve strategic objectives in the cultural field, in addition to those already approved by the Ministry of Justice.
The bill authorizes the oversight committee of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to decide on the funding of other cultural monuments of national importance, based on proposals from the Minister of Culture and approval of the Riigikogu Cultural Commission. However, this is already happening, provided it does not affect the completion of the Tallinn project. It is listed as a building of cultural significance.
Pikov also added that if a building added to the list is completed, the next cultural building can be selected for support only after all payments for the previous one have been completed.
“The financing of new objects can only be decided if there is actually sufficient funding. This is the current situation here. “has the ability to finance the completion of the “previously added to the list by decision of the Riigikogu,” she continued.
“On the contrary, the failures regarding some objects have actually increased the funds waiting in the cultural capital. It would be better to use these to contribute to the completion of buildings considered to be of national importance .”
Pikov added that once the legal reform comes into force, a request corresponding to the construction of a new television station will be submitted to the Minister of Culture and the Committee for Culture can approve it.
The addition to this list of additional cultural properties is done in a different way than in the previous list of cultural properties of national importance, which included a total of five buildings and was voted on by Riigikogu in September 2021 (link in Estonian ).
These five are the Downtown Cultural Center (SÜKU) in Tartu, the Kleanholm Manufaktur district in Narva, the Arvo Pärt Conservatory in Rakvere, an extension of the current building of the National Opera Theater (Ravsuper), and the Tallinn Film Wonderland .
“Next, the main room of the Riigikogu was decided. But it was Minister of Culture Heidi Purga who decided on the additional cultural property, and she came to the Culture Committee with her proposal. If the proposal is approved, the minister will proceed with the next steps “with cultural capital,” Pikov said in October.
The Culture Commissioner said that the second reading of the bill amending the Estonian Cultural Fund Law and the Gambling Tax Law is scheduled for February 21, and that the bill is expected to come into force in mid-March.
Last October, Pikov told ERR that the bill could have been adopted in 2023 had it not been for the sabotage taking place in Riigikog.
The second element of the bill concerns creative workers, changing the proportion of activities that are funded by funds received from the cultural capital gambling tax, so that the current creative work allowance becomes a creative work fee. Masu. It is argued that this will give creative people a level of social security that freelance cultural workers have long sought.
In May 2023, the Tallinn city government began detailed planning for a new television station. The television station will be built on a site currently used as a staff parking lot, between the radio station (La Adio Maja) on Via Goncioli and the news station (Uudi Stemaya) on Via Goncioli. Kreuzwaldi.
The detailed plans are based on a design drawn up five years ago by architect Kadarik Tüür Arhitektid OÜ, who won a competitive process in place at the time.
The project has stalled since then, mainly related to the funding issues mentioned above, and was also delayed first by the coronavirus pandemic and then by the invasion of Ukraine.
The cost of building a new television station is estimated to be around 65 million euros, but the 2024 state budget does not include funding for it.
Once built, the TV House will replace the current somewhat dilapidated facility in Goncioli. The radio and press were renovated several years ago.
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