This week (July 10 – 16), the fifth "Aigu om!" festival, which focuses on slowing down and being close to nature, gets underway in Viitina, Võru County. In the current economic climate, however, there is noticeably less money in the cultural sector, meaning this year's festival has largely been funded thanks to support from the local community.

"This year it has been a bit difficult to find funding for the festival, so we are relying more on the community than usual. So this year we have actually put together the whole program in a way that everyone who lives in the area is offering something by opening up the doors of their farm or barn," said musician Mari Kalkun, who is also the organizer of the "Aigu om!" festival.

On Friday (July 11), the 15th Ostrova Festival begins in in Setomaa. Over the course of two days, performers from both the traditional Seto cultural space and Estonia's top artists will all take to the stage. This year, the festival has proved more difficult to organize than usual, as the organizers have had to contend with fickle weather conditions and a general rise in prices.

"The ground has just been so wet. Even though you can see from the Song Festival that people are prepared for the rain, the sticks are there, the rubber boots are on, we also have to bring the stage and other equipment here in trucks. It was very, very difficult to get to access to the site. Of course, we will also be hauling hay here if necessary to keep the ground dry but that comes at an extra cost," said Ostrova Festival organizer Evelin Tulp.

However, musician Jalmar Vabarna, who organizes a series of summer concerts as well as the Treski festival in Setomaa, said that rather than the weather, it is the sheer number of events packed into the Estonian summer that has a bigger impact on the events he puts on. Last year showed that there are simply not enough people to go to everything,

"We probably have the absolute record number of events in Estonia this year. This is affecting all cultural organizers. This year, however, a conscious decision was made not to take excessive risks and to remain a bit lighter on events, so to speak, in other words to organize fewer events. Ion top of that, while in the past we have still done 4 or 5 events in Treski during the summer, this year we will limit ourselves to just the festival," Vabarna said.

Another concern for event organizers is the increase in the cost of living.

"After all, the costs are rising every year, but people's incomes are not. We haven't raised our ticket prices very significantly so that everyone who has been coming here for 15 years can still attend," Tulp said.

"The approach we've chosen is to keep all events accessible and maintain low ticket prices. We also have a lot of free events just because of the community's involvement," Aigu Om! organizer Mari Kalkun added.

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