Tallinn will be the second capital city of the Baltic states designated as European Capital of Culture — Vilnius was this year and Riga will be in 2014.

TALLINN — Tallinn seems to be following Vilnius’ handling of the European Capital of Culture — cutting the funding.

The Estonian state and Tallinn city government both intended to allocate 50 million krooni (€3.19 million) for Tallinn’s European Capital of Culture 2011 project, but both now plan to scale back their funding, local media reported. Tallinn City is now planning to allocate 20 million krooni (€1.2 million) and the state 10 million krooni (€639,170).

The program includes around 175 events, but up to half these will be cut, the organizing body expects.

Culture Minister Laine Jänes pointed out that the city will finance other cultural events outside of the European Capital of Culture budget, such as the traditional song and dance festival.

Lithuania’s big year as culture capital yielded no immediate gains in tourism after budget cuts forced the cancellation of many exciting events. Many artists are also waiting to be paid for their work. This coupled with the lack of a national airline made it close to impossible for visitors to reach the country.