Cultural Envoy: Estonian Performers Proudly Represent Their Homeland on Every Stage

Merit Kopli, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Postimees, has spent the last ten years living and working in Germany as Estonia's cultural representative. She will return to Estonia in mid-August, noting that ten years abroad is a long time and Estonia remains the best place to be.

Working as a diplomat gave her an outsider's perspective on Estonia, allowing her to appreciate its strengths: clean nature, digitalization, and high-quality culture. She emphasizes that Estonian creative individuals are extremely reliable and professional, making cultural promotion easier.

A distinctive trait is that Estonian performers always state they are from Estonia when taking the stage, unlike many artists from other countries. Kopli believes every cultural figure is an ambassador, and soft diplomacy contributes to national security—if people know Estonia, they won't abandon it.

Challenges include the country's small size and limited literary translation capacity—only two translators work from Estonian into German. However, music is the strongest field, with figures like Arvo Pärt, Paavo Järvi, Tommy Cash, and folk musicians Kadri Voorand, Tuulikki Bartosik, Mari Kalkun, and Puuluup being well-known and easy to promote.

Key achievements include last year's Dresden art exhibition "Spiegel im Spiegel" and the Estonian Film Days in Berlin, now in their tenth year. Kopli stresses the importance of festivals for reaching audiences and gaining media coverage.

She also notes that bringing German cultural figures to Estonia is highly effective—they fall in love with the country at the airport, and after visiting a sauna, a bog, and the Arvo Pärt Center, they become lifelong friends.