Tenth Tallinn Music Week proved itself as a forward-looking city festival. At the centre of various programme parts, discussions and activities of TMW’s jubilee festival were smart and sustainable human-centered cities and entrepreneurialism that brings to a pedestrian-friendly festival oasis as part of an unprecedented public space experiment.
The festival was presented by Telia Estonia with Nordic Hotel Forum, Eesti Meedia, Enterprise Estonia and Telliskivi Creative City as the main partners. The Main Street public space experiment was supported by Viru Keskus.
TMW that took place already for the tenth time on 2-8 April drew a total of 34 170 visitors, including 1330 festival delegates who attended the TMW Creative Impact Conference. In addition to the diverse music programme and conference, the festival also offered new experiences in film, arts and cuisine.
The TMW Creative Impact Conference that took place on 6 and 7 April in Tallinn Creative Hub’s seven rooms, hosted 146 visionaries and specialists from different fields, out of which 76 were women and 70 men. Thus, the TMW conference was the first international conference in Estonia to reach a gender balance among speakers. The main topics of the conference were creativity as the generator of the new economy, the future of music, human-friendly public space and design thinking. Important keywords throughout the conference were future skills, gender equality, civil activism and sustainable development.
Discussions and activities around human-centered public space, future of Tallinn and the European Capital of Culture were visible throughout the festival programme. The second half of the festival week drew attention to the fact that the city centre of Tallinn will be transformed in coming years as the main street is being reconstructed. One of the most memorable events, as part of the activities mapping the possibilities of a human-friendly public space, took place on Saturday, 7 April, when rapper Arop, author of the best Estonian song last year, held a secret gig at Viru Square on the rooftop of a mirrored glass design house built by ÖÖD, which also served as a studio for MyHits radio during the festival week.
The concerts and club nights of the TMW 2018 three-day music programme took place at almost 20 venues all across the city, from Telliskivi to the Russian Cultural Centre, from Rotermann underground parking lot to the Swedish St Michael’s Church and legendary artists hub KuKu club. There were 262 artists from around the world performing in different genres – from jazz to metal, from folk to contemporary classical music, and from pop to adventurous future sounds. The music programme was opened on Thursday, 5 April, at the Russian Cultural Centre with a concert by Absolute Club, a project by Kristjan Järvi and the Sunbeam Productions, dedicated to the centenary of Estonia and the jubilee of the TMW.
The TMW jubilee festival also presented an art programme curated by the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, movie screenings at Kino Sõprus, creative workshops for children, a restaurant programme TMW Tastes and a spring-time Design Market.
The winners of the TMW 2018 Artist Award, presented by Telia and Telliskivi Creative City, was decided by both the public vote as well as on the feedback of the festival delegates of music specialists. Avant-pop producer and singer Mart Avi, who received the most nominations and a 2000 Euro prize, was praised for the originality and innovation of his music and artistic image. The runner-up with 1500 Euro prize fund is folk musician Mari Kalkun, who charmed the music experts with her technical proficiency and spiritual power. Holy Motors who achieved the third place with 1000 Euro prize money were praised for their stylish blend of dream pop and Americana
TMW is founded and run by Shiftworks, previously known as Musiccase. The new name of the company traces the collective actions of reinvention, turning creative, cultural and communication tools into effective soft power engine.
Tallinn Music Week 2018 in numbers:
262 artists from 31 countries
34 170 festival visitors
1330 delegates, incl. 870 foreigners
150 foreign journalists
83 festival venues
TMW 2018 was presented by Telia.
TMW 2018 was powered by Nordic Hotel Forum, Eesti Meedia, Enterprise Estonia and Telliskivi Creative City.
TMW 2018 partners were the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Luminor, Viru Keskus, Music Estonia, Solaris, Tallink, Taxify, Moe Vodka, La Muu.
TMW 2018 was supported by Go Travel, ERR, R2, Rada7, RGB, The Estonian Design Centre, Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, Estonian Academy of Arts, Festivality, Kokomo, The Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation, Cinema Sõprus, The Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tallinn City Enterprise Department, European Regional Development Fund, Tallinn Department of Culture, The European Commission, Ministry of the Environment, Interreg Europe.
TMW 2018 international partners were: Ebba Lindqvist PR, Chimes, Radio Helsinki, British Council, Embassy of Sweden in Tallinn, Finest Sounds, ETEP – European Talent Exchange Propgramme, Keychange.
Festival’s website was created by Velvet and Festivality, visual identity by AKU.
