RUA Festival
RUA Festival

MISSION

 

RUA festival’s mission is to bring visual art to Estonian small towns and rural areas. 

RUA stands for Rural Urban Art - the two opposite words - rural and urban - mark the possibility of an urbanistic form of art finding its place in a rural area or small town. RUA is a nomadic festival which means our location is different every year. Our mission is to brighten up the everyday living environment in Estonian small towns and rural areas with paintings by local and international artists. 

The festival has taken place annually since 2018. During the last editions, over 70 walls have been painted in six Estonian regions: Põlva, Jõgeva, Viljandi, Ida-Viru, Võru and Tartu county. The exact locations of the paintings can be seen on the map on the home page.

HOW IT STARTED

 

Salme and Ita met in 2015 during a street art youth exchange that Ita was organizing. The following year Ita invited Salme to co-organize a street art festival in Tallinn, the 6th edition of JJ-Street Baltic Session: Street Art Jam. Around that time, they started noticing the lack of visual art in the public space of Estonian small towns and they thought, hey, why not create a street art festival that focuses solely on small towns and villages? Mõeldud, tehtud, as they say in Estonia (meaning something like “thought and done”).

In 2018 the first edition of RUA festival set out on the road to Põlvamaa. Since then, every short Estonian summer, about ten artists from near and far spend one artsy week in some Estonian region to create wall paintings in the local public space.

 

On the photo Salme & Ita in Kolga-Jaani in 2023

RUA Festival

INCLUDING SOCIAL FACILITIES

 

One of our goals is to bring art to social facilities within the festival. Over the years we've included schools, care centers for disabled youth and the elderly and one orphanage. The facilities do not have any expenses regarding the creation process of the artworks. We believe everyone should have the possibility to have art in their everyday environment, especially in Estonia where the climate is rather grayish and many people suffer from seasonal depression.

If there are one or two painted walls that are located indoors, it does not break in any way the concept of the festival as the purpose stays the same - to bring art to people's lives. Considering that people who live within the walls of an institution and do not have the possibility to walk freely on the street, it might even be a bigger necessity for them to have some visual stimulation in their everyday living environment.

Since 2018, six care centers for the elderly (Vahtra Hooldemaja, Kaarepere Pansionaat, Võisiku Hooldekodu, Lõuna-Eesti Hooldekeskuse Põltsamaa Kodu, Kolga-Jaani Hooldekodu, Rõngu Hooldekodu), a care center for mentally disabled youth (Järve kodu) and one orphanage (Tudulinna laste turvakodu) have received a painting.

 

RUA Festival
RUA Festival
RUA Festival
RUA Festival
RUA Festival
RUA Festival
RUA Festival
RUA Festival

MISSION

 

RUA festival’s mission is to bring visual art to Estonian small towns and rural areas. 

RUA stands for Rural Urban Art - the two opposite words - rural and urban - mark the possibility of an urbanistic form of art finding its place in a rural area or small town. RUA is a nomadic festival which means our location is different every year. Our mission is to brighten up the everyday living environment in Estonian small towns and rural areas with paintings by local and international artists. 

The festival has taken place annually since 2018. During the last editions, over 70 walls have been painted in six Estonian regions: Põlva, Jõgeva, Viljandi, Ida-Viru, Võru and Tartu county. The exact locations of the paintings can be seen on the map on the home page.

HOW IT STARTED

 

Salme and Ita met in 2015 during a street art youth exchange that Ita was organizing. The following year Ita invited Salme to co-organize a street art festival in Tallinn, the 6th edition of JJ-Street Baltic Session: Street Art Jam. Around that time, they started noticing the lack of visual art in the public space of Estonian small towns and they thought, hey, why not create a street art festival that focuses solely on small towns and villages? Mõeldud, tehtud, as they say in Estonia (meaning something like “thought and done”).

In 2018 the first edition of RUA festival set out on the road to Põlvamaa. Since then, every short Estonian summer, about ten artists from near and far spend one artsy week in some Estonian region to create wall paintings in the local public space.

 

On the photo Salme & Ita in Kolga-Jaani in 2023

RUA Festival