Editorial: words of wisdom, for fresh culture minister

Photo: Toomas Huik / Postimees

What would Postimees offer, as a word of wisdom, to Urve Tiidus – the newly appointed Minister of Culture? How ought she to conduct herself, in the wake of the tempestuous departure by forerunner?

First things first: be willing to work hard. Meaning: set your heart to negotiate, to be a good listener, to explain your decisions thoroughly, to open up the reasons behind. Doing that so plain and easy as to be understood not by creative community alone – but by journalists. For the last culture minister, being largely misunderstood proved fatal.

The field of culture is hard to manage: any step may trigger accusations of wilful destruction of it, in Estonia. Indeed, culture needs to develop independently; a minister, expecting to succeed, needs to see herself as an administrator, mainly. Politicians may feel tempted to provoke, to spout elegant utterances – newspaper headlines will abound. Nevertheless, one usually ends up upsetting some vital target group, hampering progress for weeks.

To those «doing» the culture: never forget that a dialogue only happens between two. The creative party, thereat, needing to remember that any political initiative must not be immediately trampled underfoot, with no deeper thought given to it – as, the minister not writing-painting-playing-acting etc, would presumably never pass an adequate decision anyway.

The topmost task at hand, for the minister: make truce. No need to think this will prove too much for Urve Tiidus after the Kender/Sirp turmoil – would the native Reformers only have the wits to let her quietly do her business. Meanwhile, the culture minister will be faced with many a reform already in the works, needing cooperation: culture being an area where orders «from the top down» tend to equal demolition. Even so, no reform, no matter how well and widely explained, cannot be performed while those it touches are resisting for reasons basically selfish. Well... things can be pulled off, but that is the wrecking ball style. 

Also: not all ideas hatched today may be usable tomorrow – some take time to ripen (another nugget for the minister). And, finally: how sweet, after any fight, the tender moments of making up...