Visuals and values
XXVIII Song Celebrations and XXI Dance Celebrations | ‘Kinship’ 3-6 July 2025
At the time of the very first Estonian song festival in 1869, the country was in the midst of an age of awakening: a coming together as one nation formerly divided by dialects but now united by a standard written language. Then, as now, the song festival brought Estonians together in their love for both their language and their country. Over the years, we have collectively maintained and passed on the tradition of celebrating that love through song and dance. At the same time, we are all individuals; we are all distinct from one another in our own way. Alike, but different.
It was people and their humanity (in every sense) that inspired the creative team behind the 2025 festivities, in the course of which we will be celebrating both the language that unites us and the dialects that distinguish us. This time, singers and dancers from every corner of the country will be bringing their own forms of expression to the party: a million notes, a million steps, a million people. Together, they will form one voice and one nation, united in kinship.
The artistic director of the XXVIII Song Celebrations is Heli Jürgenson.
The lead choreographer of the XXI Dance Celebrations is Helena Mariana Reimann.
The creative director of the Folk Music Celebrations is Helin Pihlap.
XXVIII Song and Dance Celebrations: ‘Kinship’ | Design concept: ‘Differences united’
We’re all different, but together – those taking part in the Song and Dance Celebrations and those attending them – we form a very special whole. The visuals for the festival were born from this combination of individuality and unity, which I refer to as the ‘blossom of united differences’. The graphic elements of the logo were inspired by widely known plants that grow in Estonia’s fields and forests, while the logomark itself was construed by merging a variety of elements. The modernist treatment given to the logo is all-embracing and designed to bring together people from different communities, age groups and social backgrounds.
In a number of formats, backdrops utilising freestyle geometry have also been added to the logo, generating the sense of emotional diversity characteristic of this particular festival while at the same time enabling the specific needs of the Song Celebrations, Dance Celebrations and Folk Music Celebrations to be functionally distinguished from one another via the designated colour system. The colour model in general is marked out by its summery positivity.
Marko Kekishev, designer
