A coalition of nightclubs and concert venues have formed the Estonian Nightlife Association in response to the myriad of challenges facing the circuit, amid the impending closure of Tallinn venue Sveta Bar.

Sveta Bar, which will shut down on 1 January, launched in the Telliskivi district in 2017 and developed into one of the best known nightspots in the city. The award-winning space became part of the Liveurope venue network and has been a staple of showcase festival Tallinn Music Week.

Noting that tourism in Estonia is at its lowest level since 2010, Sveta co-founder Luke Teetsov-Faulkner explains the bar’s closure was mainly due to a combination of economic factors, including “the Covid-19 crisis, energy and economic crises, restrictions and laws, war, gentrification and higher prices for absolutely everything”.

Sveta’s plight is said to be a sad reflection of the predicament faced by many promoters and nightspots in the country at present.

“Having interacted with various venues, I can confidently say that Sveta is not the only one in this situation,” said Sveta Bar partner Roman Demtšenk, speaking on Estonian TV programme Terevisioon. “Maybe there will be more news coming of other clubs also having to close their doors.”

“Our first priority is to make ourselves known and to make our voice heard”

In a bid to improve the state of affairs, the newly formed Estonian Nightlife Association (Eesti Ööelu Liit) will serve as the representative organisation for businesses in the sector.

“For years we’ve been working mostly independently, but with the situation being as it is and a new tax hike on the way, the only appropriate response is to truly collectivise and come together, to fight for ourselves so live music and club culture can exist and thrive in Estonia,” says Elena Natale, the founder of Tallinn’s HALL club.

“Our first priority is to make ourselves known and to make our voice heard. When it comes to policy, our goal is to achieve a tax differentiation for live music venues and nightclubs. The upcoming VAT tax hike that takes it up to 22% is one of, if not the highest in Europe for cultural endeavours.”

Over the last six years, Sveta has presented a diverse programme of club and live acts, including Boy Harsher, Molchat Doma, SHXCXCHCXSH, UNIIQU3, Umru, Lebanon Hanover, A Place To Bury Strangers, Shortparis, Author & Punisher, Xiu Xiu, HEALTH, She Past Away, Die Selektion, Pablo Bozzi, Bored Lord and Boris.

“It is hard to imagine TMW 2024 without Sveta. It is hard to think of Tallinn without Sveta”

“Music venues like Sveta, are the cornerstone of contemporary music life, by providing regular work to artists and the sector,” says Shiftworks founder and Tallinn Music Week organiser Helen Sildna.

“To grant a diverse music life, we need to identify key players, who nurture careers in music from week-to-week. No question that art will reach its audience through galleries and museums, orchestras and theatre at concert and theatre halls. Music clubs will need a similar status of their own – to be recognised as irreplaceable spaces for musicians and audiences to grow together.”

Sildna continues: “It is hard to imagine TMW 2024 without Sveta. It is hard to think of Tallinn without Sveta. Building a brand, finding an audience, developing a scene and taking care of music culture, as they did, is a deeply unique work of risk-taking, commitment and curatorial smarts.

“I welcome the initiative of Estonian Nightlife Association, as only by joining forces and making our case heard and understood, can we be better in future at safeguarding these beacons that hold together the unique fabric of our diverse music culture.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

The Estonian government has announced a €42 million aid package for the cultural sector, which includes a €6m ‘risk fund’ for large-scale events.

The government’s decision comes after 355 organisations from across the sector submitted a joint proposal to the government, emphasising the impact culture has on the economy and the population’s mental health, and underscoring its need for financial support.

The supplementary budget includes €21m to help cultural events organisers (such as promoters) cover the costs of labour hired with contracts under the law of obligations, as well as other unavoidable costs.

The organisers of international cultural and sports events will also benefit from the separate €6m risk fund, designed to support large-scale events with a ‘significant economic impact’ in the event that they are affected by cancellations, postponements or restrictions.

“The purpose of the risk fund is to encourage organisers to plan events in the second half of 2021 in order to restart the economy”

The supplementary budget also comprises €5.3m for cinemas, film production and film distributors, €6.7m to support freelance creative persons and €2.7m for sports.

“Today is a special day. The cultural sector proved that there is great strength in cooperation and the whole sector can continue work with more confidence. It is also significant that the members of government understand that culture supports both the economy as well as our citizens’ mental health,” says Helen Sildna of Tallinn Music Week festival.

“The purpose of the risk fund is to encourage organisers to plan events in the second half of the year in order to restart the economy, yet provide confidence that their expenses will be covered in changing circumstances. The sector’s next objective is to continue working together in order for culture to have a clear part in the EU relief packages as well.”

Ave Tölpt, from the country’s music export office, Music Estonia, says: “I am very glad that the cultural sector has been highlighted in the crisis packages as a sector with a much wider impact. I believe that thanks to the representatives of the sector coming together to formulate their message, the mechanisms of the cultural sector as a whole have become much more comprehensible in general as well. The necessary aid for survival in the crisis will help retain the diversity of the music sector and the related businesses in the future with a greater sense of hope.”

“The creation of a risk fund is forward-looking…this is a significant signal for those outside of Estonia as well”

Eva Saar, from Jazzkaar jazz festival, says: “Cultural organisations have an important role in restarting the economy after the virus situation improves and also as the providers of nourishment for the spirit. The decision that the government made today gives the sector a chance to survive and carry that weighty role in the future as well.

“The creation of a risk fund for large-scale events is forward-looking and encourages organisers to bring economically and imagologically important international events to Estonia – this is a significant signal for those outside of Estonia as well. Thank you to everyone who contributed and to the policymakers.”

Estonia is the latest market to announce an event cancellation fund for events, following closely behind Denmark which announced a DKK 500m safety net earlier this week.

In the northern hemisphere, other insurance pots include Germany’s €2.5bn pot, Austria’s €300m ‘protective umbrella’, the Netherlands’ €300m fund, Belgium’s €60m festival cancellation pot and Norway’s €34m festival safety net.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Promoting TMW 2020 was by far the most challenging experience that our team has had in our 12 years of festival history. It is fair to say that organising events with huge financial risk, at times like this, can be done only by putting your organisation under a pressure it has never been under before.

Going ahead with an event is a tough decision for any company leader to make. He or she will need to analyse and decide whether it’s reasonable or sustainable to do so, and ensure that the event not only lands on its feet but bounces back afterwards. If the experience gained can then help to promote workable measures for the music industry, it was a necessary investment.

Greatest challenges

• International travel – had we foreseen in March that there would be no joint travel measures in place even within the EU and the Schengen area by August, we would have made a decision to go regional (Baltic-Nordic) with our music and conference line-ups, instead of European. International work in the field of the performing arts, in circumstances where every country – on the basis of their individual virus rate, testing capacity and political pressure – sets their own travel restrictions system, cannot be done. As a matter of principle, we did not want to give up on the international collaboration aspect.
• Rapidly changing event restrictions – our governments have gone for the easiest, but probably not the most efficient means of restricting social gatherings, basing the entire logic on capacity numbers instead of zooming in closer to look at how the virus actually spreads. Six months later, we should be smarter than that now.
• Confusing public messages – even when events are officially allowed, our media space is flooded with ”expert” advice, discouraging people to attend events. “Allowed, but not recommended” is a damaging concept. The result is a drop in public attendance as well as a lack of trust in our sector.

During the summer season, not a single case of Covid was registered at professionally organised events

What we discovered

• The human desire to physically meet and share physical space is strong. This longing for human connection will most probably increase in the coming autumn months.
• When communicated well, in a clear and calm manner, audiences are ready and willing to maintain social distances and follow health guidance.
• During the summer season, when events in Estonia of up to 2,000-capacity were allowed outdoors, and 1,500 indoors, not a single case of Covid was registered at professionally organised events.
• There is a lack of general trust in the professional capacity of our sector. We need to consciously upgrade this by strategic
  work and clear communication.
• There are competent private sector medical aid companies ready to offer tailor-made solutions. In collaboration with security companies, a new level of crowd-control expertise can emerge. These competences need to find a permanent role at the core of our event teams. Health and safety is a topic that needs our full attention both during industry conversations as well as at the top management levels of our companies.

Letting our governments base their decisions on venue capacity numbers alone will bankrupt the sector

Future considerations
The events and culture sector across Europe and the rest of the world should join forces to achieve the following:

• To find new solutions for the sector, we need direct collaboration links with scientists and health specialists – only then can we find new pathways. Letting our governments base their decisions on venue capacity numbers alone will bankrupt the sector and still not solve the health crisis.
• The psychological impact of reduced social interaction should be measured more seriously and the culture sector should play a bigger role in addressing this. The topic of health should not only consider physical but also mental health and wellbeing.
• There needs to be a much stronger lobby at EU level to balance travel restrictions. Freedom of movement is one of the core functional aspects of the EU and Schengen area. International collaboration can only temporarily progress with digital-only meet-ups.
• We need to pay closer attention to how our basic freedoms are being compromised. We should confidently stand against any moral judgement upon our sector, constantly striving for better and smarter professional solutions. We need to turn the situation around and lead the conversation, with pride and with the knowledge that we now have.

TMW 2021 will take place 6–9 May. Passes via: www.tmw.ee

Helen Sildna is founder of Tallinn Music Week.

Estonia ended its state of emergency on Sunday evening (17 May), signalling a gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions in the countries, with live events of up to 1,000 people set to return in July.

“The reasonable and responsible behaviour of our people makes it possible to end the emergency situation in Estonia this week. Our joint effort has allowed us to return to a more regular life,” says prime minister Jüri Ratas.

As part of the government’s lockdown easing plan, public drive-in events were allowed to resume from Friday (15 May), with sports events permitted to take place behind closed doors – a format now being tested by some in the live music world – from Monday.

Open-air events of up to 1,000 people will make a return in July, along with indoor shows of up to 500 attendees in venues operating at 50% of full capacity. No public events are permitted to take place in May and June.

The measures are similar to those recently revealed in Italy, where outdoor concerts of 1,000 people and covered shows of 200 will be permitted from mid-June.

“It’s essential to inject optimism to artists, the whole sector and our audience”

The regulations mean that showcase festival and industry conference Tallinn Music Week (TMW) can go ahead from 26 to 30 August. The event had previously been scheduled for the end of March but, like many other industry conferences worldwide, was forced to change its plans due to the coronavirus outbreak.

According to TMW director Helen Sildna, the festival programme can be “conveniently adjusted” to fit the regulations.

“This season will give the entire cultural and events sector an opportunity to be smart and responsible, and to prove that we are able to provide value and new quality even in challenging circumstances,” says Sildna. “It’s essential to inject optimism to artists, the whole sector and our audience.”

Tickets for TMW festival and conference are available here.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.