Tallinn’s Cultural Cauldron aims to create an innovative and international creative industries centre that is open to the general public by redeveloping a former power station to provide public space, space for creative industries, a platform for networks and knowledge for creative activities. The innovative approach came from, and has been led by, the creative community itself. A wider goal is to reposition the strategic location by the sea, now mostly occupied by old industrial sites or undeveloped areas, as a new hub of creative action.

Executive summary

The Cultural Cauldron is a former power plant complex of about 10 000 m² strategically located near the sea front between the port of Tallinn and its medieval old town. The Cultural Cauldron project is a creative combination of a physical facility and a platform for networks and knowledge. The innovative approach came from, and has been led by, the creative community itself.

The project is supported by the ERDF through the 'Development of Living Environment' and 'Development of Economic Environment' operational programmes.  On the ‘hard’ side, the old buildings will be renovated into a modern cultural centre. The 10 000 m² space will combine a number of studios, black boxes, galleries, an architecture centre, rooms with future development capabilities and public attractions such as restaurants, shops and a tourist centre. Learning from the experiences of building cultural factories where the public has only a passive role as visitors, and the tenants also tend to ‘stay in their own rooms’, this project aims to keep the space open to the general public. One-third of the Cauldron will be public space and the architecture is designed to encourage active sharing and cooperation by the tenants. The wider public will also be able to take part in creative activities.

On the ‘smart’ side, the Cauldron will create a platform to stimulate partnerships, knowledge transfer, good contacts and a broad European network for creating synergy between various cultural trends and organisations as well as creative industries and businesses. It will develop an experienced team which can function as co-producers for creative industry partners.

The Cauldron has already won a place in Tallinn’s cultural life. Its activities have become known for their distinct, strong and non-standard quality. A wider goal of the project is to reposition the strategic location by the sea, now mostly occupied by old industrial sites or undeveloped areas, as a new hub of creative action.

Download the case studyDownload the analytical fiche

Technical information

Tweet