Culture Minister Heidy Purga has allocated an extraordinary €500,000 for this year, meaning that about 30 percent of students in Estonia will have the opportunity to take at least one free cultural education field trip as part of their school curriculum.
With the help of the one-time extraordinary grant, 34 institutions within the administrative area of the Ministry of Culture, all with extensive experience in education, will be able to offer free cultural education field trips to more than 54,000 students in grades 1 through 12 across Estonia, the ministry announced.
The free visits are primarily intended for schools and classes that would not normally be able to visit state cultural institutions, whether due to their location or students’ special needs. However, if space is available, schools located closer to the institutions are also welcome to participate.
The programs take place in cultural and sports institutions and cover a wide range of artistic and cultural fields, including visual art, music, media, performing arts, museums, sports and literature.
When using the free tickets, schools can seek support to cover transportation costs through the Culture Backpacks grant measure or, for example, from their local municipality.
All recipients of the funding will collect anonymous feedback from teachers who have participated in the program. Based on this feedback, the Ministry of Culture will compile a summary at the beginning of 2027 to help assess the impact of cultural education programs and identify opportunities for further development.
From April of this year until December 31, 34 state cultural institutions will offer educational field trips with free tickets, providing a total of 239 cultural education programs.
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