The last discussion of the festival has already started, on the stage are speaking up the heads of the parliamentary parties. During the two days of the festival there were over 4000 visitors, the discussions were passionate and the topics of the discussions were wall-to-wall. The next Festival of Opinion Culture will take place in August 2015. Many organisations have already booked a thematic stage for themselves.

“The Festival of Opinion Culture showed this year that the discussions, taking place in a free aura, are necessary for our society,” said Kristi Liiva, the point person of The Festival of Opinion Culture.
“Estonian people care about the idea of the festival. In the festival there were visitors from all over Estonia who seemed to feel themselves very comfortably on the area of the discussions. People came along with their friends or family and nobody wasn’t disturbed by the rain.”

The Festival of Opinion Culture was organised by 160 volunteers and over 80 organisations that brought their stages and discussions to the event. Many of the organisations have already said that next year they will take part as well.

Besides volunteers and the organizers of the thematic stages the festival was also supported by the town of Paide and Järvamaa self-government with its people and enterprises. The second biggest supporter was Open Estonia Foundation. We also got finances from National Foundation of Civil Society, The Foundation Estonian Cooperation Assembly, good people in Hooandja and other several enterprises such as Eesti Energia, Baltika, Baltic News Service, Cramo, Viking Windows and lots of others.

The Festival of Opinion Culture is finished by Kinoteater with a skit called Manifest 4 at 9 pm on a Lowland Stage.

Thank you for everyone and see you next year!

“Open Estonia Foundation (AEF) supports The Festival of Opinion Culture because this festival is important for evolving opinion culture. The rock of words is a enjoyable familial event with a friendly and tractable atmosphere. Its aura is like a folk festival – at its best meaning,” believes the head of Open Estonia Foundation Mall Hellam.

“We wish that the discussions and debates among people could be copius and thoroguh. In our society there should be more direct and immediate debating and exchange of opinions not anonymous and non-constructive discussions. Good disputation is where everything is discussed with a open heart relying on facts and knowledge and people are being broad-mined in reference to different approaches, postures, and ideas,” said Hellam.

“This year I’m participating in the panel of one discussion. Also I’m the moderator of one discussion. I’m looking forward to the same kind of good spiritual and intellectual charge that I got last year. I’m sure that every person felt the same way as I did. Although the opinions were radically different.”

Hellam’s recommendation for the visitors of the festival is kind of practical: “All of the discussions that has been analysed by the organizers before are certainly interesting, but I still advise for people to delve into everything that is on the table. Choose the topics that are near to your heart and don’t only listen but try to speak up as well.”

“The Festival of Opinion Culture is just like the summer days of Estonia where the burden is diversity of opinions and merry vacationers are people who want to have copious exchange of views,” says the mayor of Paide Priit Värk.

“Second year in a row hundreds of Estonians are discussing about our past, present and future on the hillside of Vallimägi Hill. Among these people are writers, entrepreneurs, civil-activists, opinion leaders, and regular citizens who are above-average agile.”

Priit Värk is convinced of the importance of The Festival of Opinion Culture: “I remember that in yester-year when The Festival of Opinion Culture was about to end I had this bizarre feeling inside of me. It was a mixture of hope anticipation that perhaps civil-community has stepped big step forward becoming more mature. As if there had been very Estonian-like “silent revolution”. This year this chosen path needs to be continued so that these summer days could be our tradition.”

Värk wishes that by-and-by The Festival of Opinion Culture will achieve the same kind of role and the multiplicity of the participants that Finland, Sweden and Denmark already has. There are dozens of thousands of visitors in Scandinavia where the similar events are held. “Yet the impact of the festival cannot be measured only by tourists and consumers because that effect is notably deeper. With a support of The Festival of Opinion Culture the hope in Paide has reawaken: we could become an attraction centre, not only for habitants of Järvamaa but for the rest of Estonia as well,” said Värk enthusiastically.