The salary of cultural workers will increase by 7.5% next year. Experts say this is too small.
Kaarel Tarand, editor-in-chief of Sirp, says that cultural funding is bad. He says that cultural funding in the state budget has decreased over 15 or 20 years.
Tarand says that 7.5 million euros is not enough. He says that institutions have to pay a third of this amount to the health insurance and pension fund.
Gert Raudsep, head of the Estonian Theater Union, says that the salary of cultural workers should be the same as the Estonian average salary. The average salary will be 2065 euros next year.
Raudsep says that the number of cultural workers has decreased. He says that the number of actors has decreased by one and a half theaters.
Sirje Helme, director of the Estonian Art Museum, says that the 7.5% salary increase will help, but it is small. She says that employees receive little money.
Helme says that fewer employees mean a higher salary, but it also means a heavy workload.
Raudsep says that the funding for theaters has decreased by 2.1 million euros. He says that ticket prices will rise and fewer people will be able to experience culture.
Tarand says that earning from own income is bad. He says that the state takes a large part of this money.