Since starting out in 2018, the Rural Urban Art (RUA) Festival has been bringing positivity and color to the gray walls of Estonia's small towns, one county at a time. This year, the nomadic street art festival is heading off the Estonian mainland for the first time to tackle the island of Saaremaa.

"I believe the street art festival will provide a truly unique experience for the communities of Saaremaa," said Reta Lall, the municipal artist who invited RUA to the island. "The artists will bring color and life to our villages and towns, and hopefully the positive impact of the event will stay with us for a long time to come."

Local connections

This year's festival will see new works created by artists from 11 different countries. In what has become a RUA tradition, among them will be one local and one artist from Ukraine.

Last year, Viktoria Berezina from Kherson gave new life to a Soviet-era bus stop in Valguta using traditional Ukrainian Petrykivka painting. This time round, painter, illustrator and author Hanna Davydova from Kyiv will create her first ever mural –also on a on a bus stop – near the beach in Mändjala.

While each artist has their own unique style, the paintings they create over the course of the next week will all have one thing in common – a connection, whether direct or hidden, to the local traditions and culture of Saaremaa.

"We ask the artists to consider the location, or the area or the history of the place," RUA Festival head organizer Salme Kulmar told ERR News in 2022. "So, every mural that you see has some connection. Even if it's not so obvious, it's there somewhere."

In 2023, Italian artist Luogo Comune took inspiration from Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg for his RUA mural on an apartment block Tänassilma, a small village in Viljandi County. Last year, Lily Brick's "Welcome Spring" mural transformed a wall in Annikoru, Elva Municipality with a design featuring women in traditional Estonian costumes and monarch butterflies.

Locals even thanked the Catalan artist by performing a traditional folk dance as she completed her work.

Art for everyone

One of RUA's goals is to bring art to people who may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience it. Over the years, schools, care centers for disabled youth and the elderly as well as an orphanage have all been included in the festival.

In 2023, inspired Hans Christian Anderson's tale of "The Ugly Duckling," Danish artist Peter Skensved created a mural of a beautiful swan opposite an orphanage in Viljandi County. A year later, Lauri Taht and Viktor Gurov from Estonian street art crew Multi Stab revamped the fence outside a care home for the elderly in the village of Rõngu – thanks in no small part to some help from local youngsters.

"We believe everyone should have the possibility to have art in their everyday environment," RUA's website says. "Especially in Estonia where the climate is rather grayish and many people suffer from seasonal depression."

New kind of emotion

According to Reta Lall, too, "street art creates a new kind of emotion in urban space, making people think and debate with its provocative content. But large, well-done murals are also simply beautiful to look at because they add color to public spaces."

Lall is also sure that the new murals created during this year's RUA festival will give people even more reason to visit Estonia's largest island in the future.

"Street art tourism is a rising trend, and as many of the works are created in rural areas, it encourages our visitors to discover places all over Saaremaa," she said. "After all, this is art that is accessible to everyone – at any time and without a ticket."

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The artists creating new works on Saaremaa during the 2025 Rural Urban Art (RUA) Festival are: Francisco Fonseca (Portugal), Ed Hicks (U.K.), Jens Stentoft (Denmark), Maria Björklund (Finland), Kirsi-Maria Raunio (Finland), Pidžin (Lithuania), Hanna Davydova (Ukraine), Williann (France), Uneg (Mexico), Izak One (Chile), Riivo Suave (Estonia), Fophkin (Estonia) and Kadi Grass (Estonia).

A street art camp for local and Ukrainian youngsters led by Finnish artist Kirsi-Maria Raunio is also taking place from May 21-24 in Valjala.

The festival culminates on Saturday, May 24, when the completed works will all be unveiled during aa tour with the artists. The tour begins at 3 p.m. in the parking lot on A.Kitzbergi tänav in Kuressaare and will be held in both Estonian and English. Those wishing to participate in the tour will need to have their own vehicle in order to travel between the works at different spots around the island.

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More information about the tour is available here.

A map of all the works created during the RUA festival since 2018 can be accessed here.

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