‘Thought’ festival starts

Estonia’s first opinions festival ‘Arvamusfestival 2013’ opened on Aug. 16 in the central Estonian town of Paide, bringing together 170 speakers for 45 discussions and offering 20 different venues for exchanging opinions, where topics related to Estonia’s present and future are being discussed, reports Public Broadcasting.

The initiative behind the festival, Kristi Liiva explains, is the wish of the organizers to bring people together to discuss matters that usually are discussed at closed meetings in an official atmosphere, only for the invited.
Nearly 170 speakers from different spheres of life will speak at the festival, including, for example, Alar Kolk, Andrei Korobeinik, Helen Sildna and Heldur Meerits Finnish Education Minister Krista Kiuru has also promised to attend.
Besides discussions, the two-day festival offers workshops, a open microphone, open creative stage, venues for children, a book exchange, cafes and concerts.

The endeavor aims to create an open and inclusive festival tradition that would promote an opinion culture and civic education and be free from political ambitions. The festival is free for all.
The endeavor is inspired by the socio-political festival Almedals Vecan, held in Sweden for the 45th year in a row this year, and other similar events in Finland and Denmark.