Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

interested parties would be invited. Audience participation, engagementin talks and discussions about the theme under reviewand current events would be encouraged within the events.In the EUROCITIES cultural forum, where issues regarding theEuropean Capitals of Culture are in focus, the city of Riga leadsone of the four forum sub-groups with the title “Cultural Accessand Entitlement”. The group has representatives from Dublin,Krakow, Berlin, Vilnius, Leipzig, Goteborg, Warsaw, Lublin, Bergen,Nottingham, Birmingham, Geneva, Malmo, Edinburgh, Turku,Antwerp, Prague, Bordeaux, Dortmund, Helsinki and Tallinn.Riga is an active informal cultural network partner of the Parisinitiated European “White Nights”, together with Rome, Brussels,Madrid, Bucharest and Valletta. In autumn 2009, within the frameworkof the Riga “White Nights” programme, reacting to the currentsocial and economic situation, a pilot project for the conceptof Riga ECC 2014 project Force Majeure will take place. The aim ofthe “White Nights” cooperation network is to activate the participationof inhabitants in contemporary art activities and to promotean understanding of contemporary art in society.3 European projectsIn latter years, especially following the accession of Latvia to theEuropean Union, Riga’s involvement in projects co-financed byEuropean Union funds has been activated.“Creative Metropolis” project: public policy and tools forthe support of creative industriesThe city of Riga is the initiator for the project “Creative Metropolis:public policy and tools for the support of creative industry”, whichhas united 11 European cities – Riga, Helsinki, Oslo, Tallinn,Vilnius, Stockholm, Warsaw, Birmingham, Amsterdam, Barcelonaand Berlin. The main task of the “Creative Metropolis” project isfor the local governments of cities to create an effective long-termsupport policy for the creative industry sector and, at events forknowledge exchange, to learn the most successful tools for supportin promoting a creative economy.In the course of three years, 11 cities will implement a string ofscientific and experience exchange events for the achievement ofgoals. The cities involved in the project have a very varied amountof experience in the area of supporting creative industries – somecities demonstrate notable achievements and have developedtargeted strategies, for example Amsterdam, Barcelona andBirmingham, while others have only initiated talks in the last yearabout the significance of creative industries.Project implementation is envisaged over a period of three years –from October 2008 to September 2011, and 2.44M EUR has beenawarded for implementation from the “Interreg” programme financedby the European Commission. The implementation of the“Creative Metropolis” project also coincides with the EuropeanYear of Creativity and Innovation, whose aim is to promotesociety’s understanding about the importance of creativity andinnovation for personal, social and economic growth.“Music for everyone”, Riga, Tallinn, HelsinkiRiga is the initiator for the project “Music for everyone” supportedby “Interreg” IV A, whose aim is to promote the teaching of musicto handicapped children. The methods developed as a resultof the project will be summarised in a handbook that will helpother music schools and educational establishments to involvethese children in a full value process of learning music. It is alsoplanned to arrange a children’s camp in which children from differentEuropean countries will play music together.4 The hosting of large European forums in RigaThe city of Riga supports and organises representation and activeparticipation in the most significant international cultural events– art exhibitions, festivals, forums, annual markets and competitions.The organisation of significant international cultural eventsin the city of Riga is purposefully supported. In the preparationperiod for the European Capital of Culture year, the city of Riga willcontinue to support long-term and regular cooperation with thecultural institutions and professional cooperation partners of variouscountries and regions, to ensure the creation of high-qualitycultural products for the ECC programme in 2014. One of the possiblecooperation projects is the World Choir Olympics that couldtake place in Riga. Riga City Council and the Latvian Ministry ofCulture have officially confirmed their readiness to organise thisevent in Riga in 2014 to the World Choir Olympics organisationalcommittee.5 Friendship townsRiga has 29 friendship towns worldwide, and support for thecandidacy of Riga has been expressed by all the active cooperationpartnership towns, confirming the wish to cooperate in specificprojects. Similarly, Riga has received support from all citiesthat operate in the Riga-led working group in the cultural forumEUROCITIES.6 Culture in motion – artist mobility and cooperationbetween cultural institutionsThe cooperation principles of Latvian and European cultural institutionsare formed by general human and European values, aswell as national interests in the cultural sector. Based on these,international cooperation links are maintained both at internationallevel and between local governments and non-governmentalorganisations, as well as between private companies andcorporations.In the “Festival Mobility Project” partners from participatingcities in the international cooperation network “Baltic Metropolis”:Riga, Helsinki, Tallinn, Vilnius and Warsaw, will work together toimprove the creative and organisational field of festivals. The aimis to create a festival cooperation network, promote the internationalcooperation of various festivals, to support the internationalmovement of artists and producers and to improve the combinedunderstanding and knowledge of festival organisation.120 121