Meelis Pai, former director of the Estonian Puppet Theater who recently joined the Center Party, started work as an adviser to Tallinn's Mayor and Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar on Monday.
Former theater director Meelis Pai starts work as adviser to Tallinn mayor
Pai's job is to advise Tallinn's management in culture matters and to coordinate the work and cooperation of the city's cultural institutions, as well as organization of bigger citywide events and reception of visiting collectives, spokespeople for the Tallinn city government told BNS.
The mayor said he values highly Pai's long-time experience as a leader in the area of culture. «Men like Pai should not just be thrown overboard and we wish to use his experience the best way we can in the interests of Tallinn,» Savisaar said.
Pai who headed the Estonian Puppet and Youth Theater for 13 years but was fired due to disagreements with the Ministry of Culture, joined the Center Party at the end of June.
Pai graduated from Tallinn Pedagogical University in 1996 and headed the Estonian Puppet and Youth Theater in 2000-2013. He has the Class Four Order of the White Star, given to him by the president for the advancement of cultural life in 2011.
Pai handed in a letter of resignation at the beginning of April which under valid rules would have taken effect in three months, but the supervisory board decided to fire the director at once. The veteran stage director Kalju Komissarov, who was elected chairman of the supervisory board, told BNS Pai was sacked because of loss of trust.