Liepāja 2027 International Conference “Cultural Renovation” Programme is Announced

The two-day international conference “Cultural Renovation,” organized by the foundation “Liepāja 2027,” has released its full program. Set to take place on November 6-7 at the Great Amber Concert Hall, the event will include a series of lectures, discussions, and interactive sessions in different settings led by a number of cultural experts from Latvia and abroad.

The central theme of the conference spins around three crucial aspects of cultural renovation: Content Renovation: How can cultural content be developed to reflect contemporary social processes? Relational Renovation: How can cultural initiatives reach diverse audiences, respond to urgent social demands, and involve the public more effectively? Funding Renovation: How can event organizers diversify their funding strategies to ensure independence and sustainability to each and every of their events?

The conference kicks off with an inspiring keynote by Michael De Cock, Artistic Director of the Royal Flemish Theatre (Belgium), who will share his experiences using the arts as a lens to explore and influence societal change. This will be followed by a panel discussion on creative approaches to transforming content to reflect social challenges. The next expert, Oleksandra Kushchenko, a journalist and founder of ArtLvivOnline, will discuss the role and challenges of art in times of crisis, while Kaspars Vanags, director of the Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine, curator and art critic, will explain how content can be reshaped during pivotal moments in history.

The conversation will also extend to Henrik Sand Dagfinrud, Programme Director of the Bodø2024 (Norway) – the European Capital of Culture, who will focus on how to engage with different communities and build public understanding of modern cultural trends. While Vlad Yaremchuk, Programme Director of Ukraine’s largest music Atlas Festival, will explain the significance of music as part of the resilience movement in war-torn regions. Lība Bērziņa, a cultural advocate for people with disabilities, will share insights into how Latvian culture can become more inclusive.  

The subject of funding will be addressed by Elena Lutz, Associate Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, who will offer practical tips on diversifying revenue streams in the creative sector. Egita Prāma, Administrative Director and Lawyer at the Open Society Foundation “DOTS,” will reveal the steps the "LAMPA" Conversation Festival took to achieve financial and content-based sustainability.

Dr. oec. Ieva Zemīte, Director of the joint Master’s degree programme “Creative Industries and Growth Management” at both the Latvian Academy of Culture and Rīga Technical University who is not only managing academic programmes but is also actively involved in policy-making, during her presentation on “Funding Renovation,” will shed light on innovative approaches to funding in Latvia's creative sector.

The conference will be moderated by Rita Ruduša, an experienced media expert, editor, and translator.

The programme of the Conference "Cultural renovation" is available: here.

The registration for the conference is closed.

This conference is part of the CreArt project, co-funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme and will bring together partners from project member states, former, current, and future European Capitals of Culture, as well as local and national experts. The official conference partner is the largest bus transportation company in the Baltic region, "Lux Express."

The Valladolid Municipality of Spain has undertaken the lead role in the project, backed up by the partners from the Municipality of Aveiro, Portugal, the Municipality of Lublin, Poland, the Croatian Association of Fine Artists “HDLU-Zagreba”, the Municipality of Skopje, Northern Macedonia, the Lithuanian Gallery “Artkomas-Kaunas”,  the French municipalities of Rouen and Clermont-Ferrand, the Italian municipality of Venice, the Czech public foundation “Češke Budejovice”, the Finnish municipality of Oulu, the German municipality of Regensburg and the Foundation “Liepāja 2027”.

The conference is organised by Liepāja 2027, co-financed by Liepāja City Municipality, South Kurzeme Region Municipality, Kuldīga Region Municipality, Ministry of Culture of Latvia, project “CreArt”.

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