Signe Kivi

Biography

In the summer of 2002 Signe Kivi wrote her letter of resignation as Minister of Culture, and on 23 August Prime Minister Siim Kallas accepted it. The occasion was an embezzlement at the state Cultural Endowment (Kultuurkapital) and a criminal case against its head, Avo Viiol. Kivi herself did not figure in the case.

She was born on 24 February 1957 in Tallinn, into the family of Urve Buschmann, who worked at the Estonian Folklore Archives; the surname Kivi came after her marriage. In 1975 she finished Tallinn Secondary School No. 46 in the Pelgulinn district, where she went in for swimming, athletics, gymnastics and folk dancing. She then entered the Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (later the Estonian Academy of Arts) and graduated in 1984 in the design and modelling of textile and light-industry products; the degree she received corresponds to a master's. She began working while still a student. From 1980 to 1985 she was an artist at Kodu, an association of folk crafts, and from 1985 to 1991 at the Tallinn ARS combine of the art fund of the Estonian SSR. From 1988 she taught at her own institute. In 1997 she became a professor, from 1999 she headed the textile department, and later she was a visiting professor. She took part in exhibitions in Estonia and abroad; I have managed to find out little about her own textile work, and it is hard to judge her artistic manner from that. Professional organisations came alongside teaching: from 1987 Kivi was a member of the Estonian Artists' Union, from 1995 to 1998 its vice-president, and then its president until 1999.

She came to politics at a turning point in the country's history. From 1990 to 1992 she was a member of the Congress of Estonia, an alternative representative body set up during the restoration of independence, and she belonged to the initiative group for reviving the Union of Estonian Women. In 1996 she was elected to the Tallinn City Council and sat there until her appointment as minister. In 1999 she joined the government of Mart Laar as Minister of Culture, and after his resignation she kept the post in the cabinet of Siim Kallas. At the same time she chaired the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Estonian Sports Council. From 1998 to 2006 she was a member of the Estonian Reform Party.

In 2003 Kivi was elected to the tenth Riigikogu, where she was deputy chair of the culture committee. Two years later she left parliament: she had been appointed rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her term as rector lasted ten years, until 2015. In 2008 she published an article in the newspaper Postimees arguing that the academy needed a new building. In 2009 she was Estonia's ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.

From 26 June 2017 Kivi directed the Tartu Art Museum. She left the post in 2019, when the parliamentary elections gave her a seat in the fourteenth Riigikogu for the Tartu constituency. Since 2014 she has again been a member of the Reform Party, she serves on the parliamentary culture committee, and since 2019 she has sat on the council of the National Library of Estonia. In 2023 she was elected to the Riigikogu again, on a compensation mandate.

Honours: Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland (2001), Order of the White Star, fourth class (2004), Portuguese Order of Merit, Commander (2006), Belgian Order of the Crown, Commander (2008).