This year, 1680 collectives / day are involved in the Song and Dance Celebration process

According to Dace Vizule, public relations specialist of the Ministry of Culture (KM), representatives of the KM, LNKC and the Society Integration Fund (SIF) met on Thursday in the annual talks of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (LPS) and KM. The meeting discussed the essential issues of cultural policy, cultural education, social cohesion and media policy, as well as cooperation between state and municipalities in their implementation.

Pujāte introduced a recent study by researchers at the Latvian Academy of Culture and researchers at the Riga Technical University on the economic impact of the Song and Dance Celebration in the context of the state budget. Conclusions show that investing 1 euro in the organization of the festival, the economy is back to 1.67 euros. As a result, the total contribution of the national economy exceeds EUR 11 million.

The earmarked grant for the leaders of the artistic collectives in 2025 is EUR 2.3 million, including EUR 2.05 million for municipalities. The LNKC said that the events of the upcoming Song and Dance Celebration in 2028 are planned for the five -year cycle in cooperation with the municipalities, and will continue to work on coordinating and updating the events of 2026 events.

Representatives of LNKC also informed that applications are being submitted to the Latvian intangible cultural heritage list. The creation of the lists of Latvian historical lands and cultural space values ​​is also taking place. It is planned that in September the proposals will be evaluated by experts in the field, but on November 18 there will be a presentation of historical land values ​​in Riga. Until 2027, the installation of signs on the roads in Latgalian and the Liv language continues. The State Culture Capital Foundation « Latvian Historical Land Development Program » has been allocated for the implementation of EUR 669,180 for 252 projects.

Representatives of LNKC and KM reported on current developments in the field of cultural education, stressing that the introduction of the country’s vocational education standard in the field of arts has begun, which continues to continue in the next year. The LNKC will continue to support municipalities in this area, including organizing seminars and professional development courses.

Methodological support provided by the Latvian School Bag cultural education program « Latvian School Bag » has been discussed so far, including the Professional Competence Program for Teachers’ Professional Competence Developed by Education Development Center, « Cultural Verifications as Learning Resources », which has been acquired by 212 teachers from all over Latvia. Key people are coordinators of the program « Latvian School Bag » in municipalities and schools, so the capacity and status of the coordinators will continue.

The representatives of the CM informed the meeting of the conditions laid down in the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) in the context of public funding for public advertising and supply or service agreements. The provisions of the Regulation shall apply from August 8. They determine the requirements of transparency, objectivity, proportionality and non -discrimination on public funding or other state resources to provide media service providers and online platform providers to finance public advertising or acquire from those of non -public advertising, such as audiovisual materials, market data and consultations.

Inese Kalvāne, Director of the SIF Secretariat, emphasized that cooperation with municipalities is essential and included in all strategic directions of SIF. Within the framework of the Action Directional « For Latvia for Strengthening », providing support for newcomers in Latvia, including Ukrainian residents, branches of one stop agency in Riga, Liepaja, Daugavpils, Valmiera and Jelgava cooperates with the municipal authorities.

The meeting concludes that the existing cooperation between the branches of the Agency and the municipal authorities will continue to be developed in ensuring support for newcomers, including expanding information on current services, jointly planning activities and promoting efficient communication. Particularly important is the coordinated circulation of information on Latvian language courses in order to improve the availability of teaching and achieve a broader target group.