News from Estonia

Marju Kõivupuu. In a recent radio interview on Vikerraadio's "Vikerhommik," cultural historian and folklorist Marju Kõivupuu acknowledged that keeping Estonian culture and identity alive abroad demands motivation and determination. Kõivupuu said she has a lot of respect for those who keep the Estonian language and culture alive living beyond Estonia's...

Restoration of Independence Day (Taasiseseisvumispäev) is marked on August 20 each year to celebrate the date in 1991 when Estonia regained the freedom it had lost to the Soviet Union more than five decades earlier. ERR News briefly explains the day's significance and the following chain of events. On August...

On June 11, the Estonian Biobank, part of the University of Tartu (TÜ), launched its long-awaited online biobank participant portal. With a current Biobank cohort size of more than 200,000 individuals, around 20 percent of Estonia's adult population can now log in to the globally unique portal and read about...

(For immediate release, July 2, 2024) The Estonian American National Council (EANC) - Eesti Rahvuskomitee Ühendriikides (ERKÜ) is pleased to announce the recipients of a new EANC grant in the form of a travel stipend for attendance at the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory’s (EIHM - Eesti Mälu Instituut) Summer...

The seventh annual Baltic Advocacy Days took place with three days of virtual meetings and two days of in-person meetings in the United States Congress from April 8-12, 2024, with some additional meetings scheduled in the week that followed. The Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) first organized the advocacy...

Twenty years ago on March 29, 2004, Estonia, along with Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This was the biggest single NATO expansion in the history of the alliance founded 75 years ago on April 4, 1949, to provide security against threats...

A few weeks ago, the University of Tartu once again appealed to the Estonian diaspora to support Ukrainian refugee students attending the University, who continue their studies under difficult circumstances. There are 300 Ukrainian refugee students studying at the University of Tartu. The university made a commitment to these students...

Finally, after five years in the making,  the documentary “The Paradox of Seabrook Farms” is finished and will have a sneak preview at the Boston Baltic Film Festival on March 3 at the Emerson Paramount Center.  The World Premiere is slated for Millville, NJ on March 16 at the Levoy...

I am once again asking for your help in support of Ukrainian refugee students at the University of Tartu. Their situation continues to be difficult. Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated by the University.  Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine continues. Ukrainians who fled their homeland continue to...

The Arkaader English VOD platform is now live, inviting cinephiles, estophiles and the Estonian diaspora worldwide to discover and rediscover the Estonian film legacy at www.arkaader.ee. Arkaader.ee, a video-­on-demand platform dedicated to showcasing Estonian film heritage, celebrated its first year with the opening of an English version of the platform...