Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate
Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate
Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate
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iga’s <strong>2014</strong> ecc projecttask groupDiāna Čivle, member <strong>of</strong> the task group, M. A. soc. sc., musicologist.She first studied cultural management at the Marcel HicterFoundation in Brussels, Belgium, completed a musicology studyprogramme at the Latvian Academy <strong>of</strong> Music and a public leadershipprogramme at the Faculty <strong>of</strong> Economics <strong>of</strong> the University<strong>of</strong> Latvia. She is currently continuing her doctoral studies at theFaculty <strong>of</strong> Economics and Management. She has previouslyworked as a press advisor for the mayor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Riga</strong>. From 1997 to2001, she was the deputy director <strong>of</strong> Aģentūra Rīga 800, which,over a four-year period, organized <strong>Riga</strong>’s immensely successful800 th anniversary celebrations in 2001. She has worked as the director<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Riga</strong> City Council’s Department <strong>of</strong> <strong>Culture</strong> since 2002and has led the preparation <strong>of</strong> several major event programmesin <strong>Riga</strong>, including Eurovision 2003, Europeade 2004, and the culturalprogramme during the World Ice Hockey Championship in2006. She also helped to organize Latvia’s song and dance festivalsin 2003 and 2008. She currently heads the artistic councilfor <strong>Riga</strong>’s annual city celebrations and was the artistic conceptauthor <strong>of</strong> the “Radiant <strong>Riga</strong>” (Staro Rīga) light festival. She alsoheads the <strong>Culture</strong> Accessibility and Entitlement task group <strong>of</strong> theEUROCITIES cultural forum.Gints Grūbe, member <strong>of</strong> the task group. M. A. pol. sc., publicist,political scientist, movie director. He studied philosophy andpolitical science at the University <strong>of</strong> Latvia and the University <strong>of</strong>Bonn in Germany, as well as communications sciences at theFree University <strong>of</strong> Berlin. He has more than 15 years <strong>of</strong> work experiencewith various mass media. At the beginning <strong>of</strong> the 1990s, heworked as an editor at the Latvian newspaper Atmoda and tookpart in the founding <strong>of</strong> another newspaper, Nakts. He has taughtPolitical culture and participation to social science students at theUniversity <strong>of</strong> Latvia. For eight years, he hosted an interview showentitled Vakara intervija on Latvia’s national television networkand has received several National Radio and Television Councilawards. In 2000, he founded his own film studio Mistrus Media.He has also directed and written the screenplays for several documentaryfilms. He regularly publishes articles in the Latvian dailynewspaper Diena, the Latvian magazine Rīgas Laiks, as well asthe Latvian internet portals Delfi and www.politika.lv. He is currentlyworking on documentary films about the Latvian-born philosopherIsaiah Berlin and the Latvian theatre director Alvis Hermanis.Solvita Krese, member <strong>of</strong> the task group. M. A. art., art critic andart exhibition curator with many years <strong>of</strong> international experience.After graduating from the art sciences department <strong>of</strong> the LatvianAcademy <strong>of</strong> Art, she studied cultural management at the MarcelHicter Foundation in Brussels, Belgium. She is currently writing herdoctoral thesis on art and its context and has been heading Latvia’sContemporary Arts Centre (Laikmetīgās mākslas centrs) since2000. As an art exhibition curator, she organized several largescaleinternational art projects, including Robežpārkāpēji (Illegalborder crossers), Re:public, Rea-litātes arheoloģija (Archaeology<strong>of</strong> reality), Urbanoloģika and Mobilais muzejs (Mobile museum).She has taken part in several study projects about the artprocesses <strong>of</strong> the 1980s and the non-conformist art scene. Herpr<strong>of</strong>essional interest fields include the relationship between artand the urban environment, art and its socio-political context,as well as gender issues. She has authored numerous articlesfor the Latvian art magazine Studija, the daily newspaper Dienaand various art exhibition and artists’ catalogues. She is also one<strong>of</strong> the initiators and founders <strong>of</strong> the Contemporary <strong>Culture</strong> NongovernmentalOrganization Association (Laikmetīgās kul-tūrasNevalstisko organizāciju asociācija). Currently she is working ona major international art project entitled “Survival Kit”, which willtake place in <strong>Riga</strong> this autumn.Egils Mednis, <strong>Riga</strong>’s ECC task group artist and the graphic designauthor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Riga</strong>’s ECC application. B. A. art., artist, owner <strong>of</strong>the company SIA Svešās tehnoloģijas (Foreign technologies, Ltd.).He specializes in various types <strong>of</strong> graphic design, as well as in thecreation <strong>of</strong> multimedia, machinima and computer games projects.He formerly taught at the visual communications department <strong>of</strong>the Latvian Academy <strong>of</strong> Art and was the artistic director at “FilmAngels Studio”. He was the artistic design and decoration authorat several <strong>Riga</strong> city festivals, including the <strong>Riga</strong> Light Festival. Hewas also involved in the creation <strong>of</strong> several publications connectedwith <strong>Riga</strong>’s 800 th anniversary celebrations in 2001, and otherevents. He has also worked on the design <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> films.He received the Jury Prize for the film Kuģis (the Ship, 2008) at theNext Generation Machinima Contest in California, USA, as well asthree other awards for best festival film, best independent film andbest direction at the Machinima Filmfestival in New York, USA.Aiva Rozenberga, project manager <strong>of</strong> <strong>Riga</strong>’s ECC application. M.A. hum. sc. During her studies at the University <strong>of</strong> Latvia, shespecialized in Russian literature and cultural history. She workedas a journalist at Latvian Radio, as a special radio correspondentin Estonia, and then in the administrative <strong>of</strong>fices <strong>of</strong> two Latvianpresidents. From 1999–2007, she worked as the press secretaryand communications service director for Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga,the former President <strong>of</strong> Latvia. She also worked in the organizinggroup <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Riga</strong> NATO summit in 2006, on Vīķe-Freiberga’scampaign for the <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> UN Secretary General that same year,as well as on the Latvian President’s campaign to inform the worldabout Latvia’s position regarding the commemoration <strong>of</strong> the 60 thanniversary <strong>of</strong> the end <strong>of</strong> the Second World War, which saw thethree Baltic countries lose their independence and the subjugation<strong>of</strong> Central and Eastern Europe to communist rule for severaldecades after 1945. In 2007 and 2008, she was the press secretary<strong>of</strong> the Latvian Song and Dance Celebration, which tookplace in 2008. She also served as a task group consultant for theRepublic <strong>of</strong> Latvia’s 90 th anniversary celebrations that same year.In 2007, she completed the Die Zeit Foundation’s Young WorldLeaders study cycle at the Bucerius Summer School on GlobalGovernance.Ieva Stare, project assistant <strong>of</strong> <strong>Riga</strong>’s ECC application. B. A. pol.sc. As part <strong>of</strong> her education, she engaged in international peaceand conflict studies at Uppsala University in Sweden within theframework <strong>of</strong> a University <strong>of</strong> Latvia study programme. In 2000, sheworked at the International Film Centre in <strong>Riga</strong> as the FIPRESCIjury secretary and was on the editorial board <strong>of</strong> the cataloguethat was issued for the Latvian film forum Arsenāls. From 2001 to2003, she worked as a journalist for the Baltic News Service, reportingon news events concerning Latvia’s foreign and defencepolicies and Latvia’s integration into the <strong>European</strong> Union. Since2003, her pr<strong>of</strong>essional activities have been connected with publicrelations. She worked as the press secretary for the pre-referendumleadership group, which had been formed by the Latviangovernment in preparation for Latvia’s accession to the EU; asproject manager at the public relations agency P.R.A.E. public relationsand at “PBN Company-Baltics”. She also worked as head<strong>of</strong> communications at the Latvian daughter company <strong>of</strong> the internationalconcern Ragn-Sells. In 2008, she helped to organize thework <strong>of</strong> the information and press centre for the Latvian Song andDance Celebration.183