Picture includes (from left) Craig Karner, Jaani Tassa (mens winner) and Juri Tassa (senior winner).

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Published: August 14 2016

Lonnie Cline

EANC will honor Portland’s Lonnie Cline with the 2016 Friend of Estonian Americans Award. And, the Estonian League of the West Coast (EOLL) has been awarded the 2016 Outstanding Organization Award. Both these awards will be presented at EANC’s 2016 awards gala on November 5 in San Francisco.

This is the first time that the EANC has presented an award for outstanding contributions by a Friend of Estonian Americans.

The award is intended to honor non-Estonians who have made tremendous contributions to Estonian American community.

This first “Estophile” award recognizes Lonnie Cline, who has for over 20 years instilled thousands of singers with the beauty and joy of Estonian choral music.

Cline, then choral director at Oregon’s Clackamas Community College, heard Estonian choral music for the first time in the early 1990’s, and instantly fell in love with it. In 1996 he founded the now internationally recognized Unistus chamber choir, forging lasting ties between Oregon and Estonia, and spreading Estonia’s Singing Revolution story to ever broader audiences.

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Published: August 14 2016

The Estonian American National Council (EANC) is pleased to announce Arne Kalm as its 2016 Outstanding Contributions to EANC Award recipient.  Mr. Kalm will be honored at EANC’s awards gala on Saturday, November 5 at the San Francisco Marriott Union Square in San Francisco, California.

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Published: August 06 2016

EANC, JBANC and State Department representatives from left:  Karl Altau, Krista Viksnins, Raits Iglitis, Karin Shuey, Stan Backaitis, Marju Rink-Abel, Henry Gaidis, Nathaniel Dean, Ausma Tomsevics, Peter Blumberg, Karoline Kelder, Elizabeth Jackson, Tomas Sadauskas.  Photo courtesy of JBANC

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Published: August 06 2016

Lehti Merilo                                                                                    Liina Teose

The Estonian American National Council has chosen the mother-daughter team of Lehti Merilo and Liina Merilo Teose as recipients of its 2016 Outstanding Achievement award.  Lehti Merilo and Liina Teose will be honored at the EANC’s awards gala on Saturday, November 5, at the Marriott Union Square in San Francisco, California.

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Published: August 06 2016

The traveling exhibit commemorating the 70th anniversary of the exodus of refugees from the Baltic Republic continues its North American tour.

It will be on display at the United Nations from August 15 to 27, 2016 and then will move to the Science, Industry and Business Library (public library) in New York, October 7 to December 31, 2016. After its opening in Chicago the exhibit has traveled to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Ontario and several places in Lithuania.

 
The objective of the exhibit is to communicate the tragic history of the Baltic Republics directly from the eye witnesses before they are lost to history. Since the mass exodus from the Baltics occurred more than 70 years ago, this may be the last opportunity to systematically document the circumstances that forced so many families to flee.

Each month there are fewer people left that can personally tell the fascinating details of life during those times. It is essential that we preserve this information to (1) a large audience in the United States and Canada, (2) to our own offspring who only vaguely understand what took place and (3) to people in Estonia. 

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Published: August 06 2016

July 21, 2016 - JBANC

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Published: July 31 2016

TALLINNA MUUSIKAKESKKOOLI NOORTEKOOR (The Youth Choir of Tallinn Music High School) will be participating in America Cantat VIII in the Bahamas August 21-25, 2016. We invite you to enjoy their pre-festival (August 18 and 20)  and post-festival (August 27 and 28) performances along the US east coast. Admission is free.

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Published: July 31 2016