Hailing from Nõo Parish in Tartu County, Jaan Ulst is an experienced choreographer-stage director and cultural manager. As of January 1 2021, he works at the Tartu 2024 foundation as a Programme Line Manager. What will be his first steps in his new position? What do the “Arts of Survival” mean to him? How does he assess the current Southern Estonian cultural landscape? Read more for the first interview with the new Tartu with Humanity Programme Line Manager Jaan Ulst.

During the last week of January, 19 Southern Estonian municipalities signed a cooperation agreement for preparing and implementing the European Capital of Culture.

My name is William Lagache. Coming from Southwestern France, I arrived in Tartu last summer for one year to work as a European Solidarity Corps volunteer at Tartu 2024 Foundation. One of my long-term tasks is to help our European Capital of Culture preparations by giving a visitor's view on the places and hospitality a culture tourist experiences in Tartu and Southern Estonia. So far, my task has taken me to nine museums in Tartu, as well as the city's different neighbourhoods and four localities in Southern Estonia.

November has been a key month for culture managers involved in Tartu 2024. The fourth seminar of the ongoing development process, titled Kellega? (“With Whom?”, 13 November) was followed by the international forum Kultuurikompass: How to Address Europe? (26 November). These two events helped the Tartu 2024 project developers get new ideas and methods to expand the international scope of their planned events.

On 26 November, European cultural managers gathered online at the “Kultuurikompass: How to Address Europe?” forum to explain the opportunities for strengthening ties between cultural operators across Europe and discuss the growth of Estonia's international prominence. The forum brought together over 600 participants from 18 different countries, and speakers from Estonia, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Serbia and three previous European Capitals of Culture.