Estonia's minister of culture to visit California

TALLINN - Estonia's Minister of Culture Heidy Purga is on a visit to San Francisco until March 20, meeting with members of the Estonian diaspora and local cultural representatives, visiting Stanford University, and participating in a conference with a delegation from the gaming industry.

"California is one of the world's leading regions in both technology and the creative industries, so there is great potential for collaboration for Estonian cultural creators and the gaming industry here. During my visit, I will open doors for our music, gaming, film, and design sectors and meet with the Estonian diaspora," the minister said in a press release.

In addition, the minister's agenda in San Francisco includes a visit to the American Bookbinding Museum and a meeting with its director Anita Engles, as well as meetings with dancer and choreographer Tiit Helimets and enterprising Estonian women in California.

The minister will also visit Stanford University, where she will meet with Michael Keller and Anh Ly, representatives of the university's libraries, and Liisi Esse, the curator of Estonian and Baltic studies at Stanford. There will also be meetings with Quinn Dombrowski and Laura Wittman, members of the AI in Literature, Cultures and Languages research group, and computer scientist Ge Wang, with whom music and AI will be discussed.

Meetings have also been scheduled with Grace Munene and Patrick Laboon from the Stanford Internship Program and Andrew Joseph Milne from the Stanford School of Design.

Furthermore, the minister will give a speech at the Nordic Business Breakfast networking event, visit the Davies Symphony Hall and have a working lunch with the Estonian honorary consul in San Francisco, Christine Morgan, and local film industry representatives Manijeh Fata and Villy Wang.