Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2022 Will Be Announced at the World Congress in Tartu

Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples (MAFUN) and URALIC Centre today announced the start of the competition for the title of Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2022. Thematic focus of the competition is provided by the upcoming International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032. Winner of the competition will be announced on June 18, 2021, in Tartu (Estonia), during the final day of the 8^th World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples.

Established in 2013, the programme of Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture is a flagship initiative of MAFUN and URALIC Centre that aims to raise awareness of Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic peoples as well as Uralic languages, to strengthen collective Finno-Ugric identity and to stimulate sustainable local development in different corners of the Finno-Ugric world. 

To date, the title of Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture has been awarded to eight villages or cities: Udmurtian village Bygy (2014), Seto village Obinitsa (2015), Hungarian village Iszkaszentgyörgy and City of Veszprém (2016), Karelian village Vuokkiniemi (2017), Mari village Shorunzha (2019), Mari-speaking village Mishkan in Bashkortostan (2020) and Abja-Paluojain Mulgimaa region of Estonia. 

The title of Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture has helped raise the profile of the title-holder both domestically and internationally, including via cultural tourism. Even more importantly, the status of a Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture has strengthened local communities and provided new opportunities for development.

For the competition of Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2022, villages, towns and cities from any Finno-Ugric country or region are welcome to apply, except national capitals (in the case of Estonia, Finland and Hungary) or regional capitals in the Russian Federation. The only region that is excluded from the current competition is Estonia, given that Abja-Paluoja is the current title-holder.

The special theme of the competition for 2022 title is the upcoming International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032. Hence, applicants are encouraged to place preservation and revitalization of Indigenous Finno-Ugric languages at the centre of their programmes. 

Application materials of the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2022 competition are available on the programme’s website www.uralic.org/projects/capitals/downloads. The deadline for written applications is April 30, 2021, the winner of the competition will be selected on June 16 in Tartu (Estonia) and publicly announced on June 18 during the 8^th World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples.