On Monday 25 February the Integration Foundation opened a round of applications for organisations and companies interested in arranging sporting and cultural events in Ida-Viru County that attract participants and audiences from all over Estonia.
The launch and development of sports and cultural events in the county that are attractive to people around the country form part of the Ida-Viru County programme being implemented as part of the state’s regional development strategy, which is being enacted by the Integration Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of Finance.
Irene Käosaar, the director of the Integration Foundation, says that relocating the head office of the foundation to Narva has created an excellent opportunity to support broader initiatives that foster local life in addition to Estonian language studies and for the foundation to serve as a local partner to other public sector agencies. “Increasing the competitiveness of Ida-Viru County and developing its enterprise environment are very important for successful integration,” she remarked. “Having a decent job and a nice living environment are what give people a sense of security about the future. I’m sure there are people out there with ambitious plans for sports and cultural projects that can be brought to life in Ida-Viru County, and we’ll be here to support them every step of the way.”
The aims of the open application round are to give a boost to entrepreneurship and economic development in Estonia’s north-easternmost county, as well as to make its living environment more attractive, to stem the flow of young people leaving the region and, through preferential development, to address its falling behind other parts of the country. Supporting sports and cultural events is also designed to help improve the cohesion of other regions in Estonia with Ida-Viru County and to promote tourism in the county by diversifying its sporting and cultural life.
The budget for the application round is 157,500 euros, with the minimum amount of support being 10,000 euros and the maximum being 25,000 euros per application. Support will be granted primarily to large-scale events involving at least 1000 people. Käosaar says that the Integration Foundation plans to launch the next competition for support for sporting and cultural events as early as this autumn.
It is important that the person submitting the application or their partner is an organisation or entrepreneur based in Ida-Viru County. The organisers of the application round hope that the number of events taking place in the county grows as a result of the projects and that more than 30,000 people in total take part in the events. This in turn will boost tourism revenue in the region and increase the visibility of Ida-Viru County among the public and in the Estonian media.
The deadline for applications is 21 March 2019.
Information sessions regarding the application round will be held at the Tallinn office of the Integration Foundation (Rävala 5, 6th floor) at 10:00 on 4 March; at the Narva office (Kerese 3, 2nd floor) at 13:00 on 5 March (in Russian); and in the offices of the Union of Ida-Viru County Local Governments in Jõhvi (Keskväljak 1) at 16:00 on 5 March.
To register for one of the sessions, e-mail marina.fanfora@integratsioon.ee
