Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

applicationpreparationprocessWhen preparing Riga’s application forthe status of European Capital of Culture2014, the Department of Culture used anopen approach, with methods that providethe opportunity of integrating theopinions, interests and requirements ofplayers of various cultural fields into theapplication.Preparation of the application was entrustedto a task group formed especially for thispurpose, composed of professionals ableto analyse and take a general overview ofthe cultural field in the broadest sense ofthe word, in a narrow professional sense,and in connection with other fields, as envisagedby the principal conditions of theapplication.The first phase analysed surveys thatserved as one of the sources for the developmentof the application. In creatingthe application the following surveys weretaken into account; survey carried out bythe “Analytical Research and StrategicLaboratory Ltd” – “Lifestyle and values ofRiga inhabitants in 2015”; surveys requestedby the Ministry of Culture – “Researchand monitoring of Latvia’s creative diversityprocesses”; “Research and monitoringof the creative industry market”; “Culturalprocesses in the regions and their effecton development”; “The educational effectof culture and its effect on the developmentof a knowledge-based society in Latvia”;research centre SKDS surveys carried out for Riga Council on theopinions of Riga inhabitants regarding the field of culture, the overallconditions of the quality of life in Riga.During the course of preparing the application, interviews, interdisciplinaryand cultural expert focus groups were organised, as wellas other methods used. The opinions of focus group participantsare used in the content of the application as additional justificationfor the principles proposed in the concept.A serious and important preparatory phase involved informing andaddressing Riga’s international cooperation partners in case of furthercooperation developing, should Riga be chosen as EuropeanCapital of Culture 2014.As Riga has many partnership towns, they were informed of Riga’sinitiative and readiness to become a European Capital of Culture.The governors of many cities have expressed their support for Riga,as well as confirmed their keenness to cooperate and respond tovarious Riga initiatives.At the annual General Assembly of the Association of Capitals ofthe European Union in Dublin, October 13–15, 2008, the governingbody of Riga Council informed the Mayors of European Unioncapital cities about Riga’s conceptual proposal for the status ofEuropean Capital of Culture. Up to 1 st November of this year, Rigahas already received letters of support for Riga’s candidature from17 European capital cities.At the “EUROCITIES” cultural forum, where the issue of EuropeanCapitals of Culture is in focus, the city of Riga heads one of fourforum subgroups with the title “Cultural Access and Entitlement”.The group includes 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 has presented thebasic principles of its application and proposed launching the developmentof a common people to people project, to gather informationabout common and differing interests of the inhabitants ofparticipating cities, to promote city cooperation at the level of itsinhabitants.Riga has submitted information about nominating its candidatureand cooperation proposal to all international institutions, in whichRiga is represented, for example, informal cultural network partnersof the European “White Nights” (Paris, Rome, Brussels, Madrid,Bucharest, Valletta) and the network of world gastronomy citiesDelice.On the website www.kultrix.lv, which was created this year, everyresident of the city was called on to contribute their comments asto what kind of events they would like to see taking place in Rigain 2014.cooperationIn the elaboration of the application the working group engaged amaximum broad circle of cultural organisations, providers of culture-relatedservices and cultural workers who responsively cooperatedin generating ideas for events. The Cultural Department ofRiga City Council has launched a long-term cooperation strategy,both through holding contests of project ideas, through distributionof funds in open competitions and through applications for financingwithin the special-purpose-programme for festivals, ensuringthe possibility for all interested cultural bodies and individual culturalworkers on a voluntary basis to take part in the implementationof the strategic directions of culture that the city has set and inthe putting into practice of artistic concepts of events. The CulturalDepartment has adopted the approach of the de-centralisation ofculture, separating administration from the cultural process, in thisway abstaining from direct involvement in development processesand implementation of projects while providing a financial andadministrative support. Such approach has generated trust in theparticipants of the cultural process and made fruitful co-operationpossible.In the elaboration of Riga’s application the working group reposedon the key principles of Kult[rix], engaging representatives of differentfields and encouraging cooperation among cultural institutionsand other partners to assert the importance of creativity inthe facilitation of the development of any field. The role of theseinstitutions in the developing of projects that reveal the interactionof different fields cannot be overestimated. Such broad partnershipis a challenge to create a site for provoking creative solutions forthe programme of Riga as the Cultural Capital of Europe.By calling on NGOs to cooperate Riga aimed at encouraging andstrengthening their capacity and ability independently and in along-term perspective to carry out concrete cultural functions.Different academic institutions are regarded as the key cooperationpartners in the future when they will be engaged in the phaseof the preparation of the ECC year purposefully to ensure the monitoringand analysis of ongoing processes, provide research-basedforecasts and evaluate the results.178 179