The Festival of Opinion Culture kickstarted their crowd-funding campaign last week to encourage people to support arranging better conditions for the volunteers of the festival and also for a more comfortable environment to accommodate the discussions at the festival in August.

The crowd-funding campaign hopes to cover the lodging and catering costs of more than 150 volunteers during the festival. Some of the funds will be spent on making Vallimägi Hill cosier by offering more seating and covered areas. This should all contribute towards making the festival area accommodating for many inclusive discussion formats and also weatherproof.

“We shall commission as many works as possible from the locals – from the makers of quilts, festival area builders and others,” said the festival’s head of marketing Anu Melioranski. “We do have a dream – to build a weatherproof shelter that would fit in the picturesque natural surroundings of the Hill together with the students and professors and engineers of the Estonian Academy of Arts.”

The reusable shelter would be modern, easy to assemble and dismantle and would offer protection from the wind and the rain despite its airiness and open layout,” added Melioranski.

However, it is possible that the ambitious and labour-intensive shelter project may not be completed prior to the festival in 2016.

As is customary, the festival presents small tokens of appreciation to all kickstarters. The presents include the festival’s ear-rings, Stella Soomlais’ leather wristbands made exclusively for the festival, student enterprise Sikikikilips’ bow-ties and the festival’s T-shirts designed by Reet Aus.

The festival’s supporters include the Open Estonia Foundation, the city of Paide, the local municipalities of Järvamaa, the National Foundation of Civil Society, Swedbank and Eesti Energia. The Festival of Opinion Culture will be held on August 14th and 15th at the Vallimägi Hill in Paide. The Festival will provide ample opportunities for engaging in inspiring discussions and debates, for finding supporters for one’s ideas and projects and for seeking new and exciting connections.

“The festival is organised and supported by those who believe that the Festival of Opinion Culture is a possibility to do something themselves to make life in Estonia better,” said Melioranski. The crowd-funding campaign will remain active unti July 7th at the following link – hooandja.ee/projekt/arvamusfestival-2015.