Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

iga for all,riga for everyoneSince its foundation Riga has beenopen to representatives of various nations.The Road Map invites everyoneto head on a journey to a personallyundiscovered Riga – the Riga of otherRiga inhabitants, increasing his or herknowledge with the skills rooted in thetraditions of other people.The scenes of the lives of Riga’s nationalgroup inhabitants flow together ina unified whole and form a joint portraitcharacterised by its fascinating diversity.Performances by ethnic minority traditionalculture groups will take place in theriga – at the crossroadsof europeIs it possible to travel around Europein a couple of days? Of course it is!This time this time it will be the youngadults from Riga’s centres of interestrelatededucation who will take careof it, having carefully studied culturaltraditions, history and contemporarycurrent events of different Europeancountries, they will develop a uniqueinquiry-based creative programme.Each interest-related educational institutionselects its country or region, studies itscultural heritage, prepares performances,drawings or a photo exhibition etc. On thechosen day, Riga inhabitants and guestsare invited to visit the interest-related educationalinstitutions that are open throughoutthe day to offer a creative approachto the interpretation of Europe’s culture, ahistorical parts of Riga that are linked withthe histories of the largest ethnic communitiesand investment in the joint portrait ofRiga: in the Moscow quarter, Russian folkloregroups will demonstrate Whitsuntidetraditions, Polish groups will perform Polishsongs at the Polish Gate, but on the openair stage in Vērmanes Garden, a dancemarathon of ethnic minorities could takeplace, one after the other demonstratingthe variety of cultures.The ‘survival kit’ of today’s Riga inhabitant,alongside the purely pragmatic everydayskills, also includes emotions, attitude andknowledge about our ancestors who developedRiga as we see it today – varied,multicultural and unique. Every person’s‘travel bag’ contains more or less carefullypreserved traditions and a lifestyle takenjourney full of imagination and adventures.Any individual visiting a centre of interestrelatededucation, will for a couple of daysbe able to get to know or travel around‘Europe’.The aim of the project would be not justto promote the diversity of European cultureand motivate the young generation toinvestigate the cultural heritage of Europe,but also to promote interest-related educationalinstitutions in Riga.What: Open door day.Where: In 14 interest-related educationalinstitutions in Riga and the primary schoolRīdze.When: End of May–early JuneConcept authors and organisers: GuntaAndersone, Riga city in cooperation withinterest-related educational institutions.Cooperation partners: 14 interest-relatededucational institutions in Riga and theprimary school Rīdze, together with theircooperation partners from abroad.over from our ancestors, native language,lullabies, festivals and favourite places inthe city. This is the supplementation of theindividual ‘survival kit’ with the skills of othernations rooted in tradition.What: Ethnic minority festival Latvijasvainags in the open air.Where: Vērmanes Garden open-air stage,Polish Gate (Old Town), the Moscowquarter – Maskavas Street, the cornerof Mazā Kalna Street. This place ishistorically known as Krasnaja gorka.When: June 2014.Concept authors/organisers: Irina Viņņika,Aleksandrs Brandavs, Irina Žuravlova,Renāte Miseviča, Irina Vasiļjeva, Ethnicminority programme Zelta kamoliņš.literary walk“get to know your city”Literary excursion routes through severalparts of Riga allow the city to beseen through the eyes of book characters,to get a sense of different erasand situations.The excursion routes are based on quotesfrom works of fiction and literary descriptionsabout specific objects on the chosenroute or about historical events in Riga thatare linked to a specific excursion route.Literary excursions, seeking out the relevantworks, are led by a library employeefrom Riga Central Library or a professionaltour guide and during these, professionalactors are invited to quote the works andtheir fragments. The literary walks not onlyspot the monumentThe bicycle as a method of transportationand a sign of an alternative lifestyle,also becomes a kind of instrumentfor discovering the city’s history,this time looking for one of the mostvoluminous signs of collective memory– monuments.Monuments are significant witnesses tothe history of a city and its developmentand with changing times and priorities,the attitude towards them also changes.Often they are forgotten, but at the momentof their erection they were all verymeaningful.The aim of the “Spot the Monument”bicycle orienteering game is to draw attentionto long-forgotten monuments inthe city, created by different powers andintroduce Riga, but also provide a glimpseinto the literary heritage of Latvia and aninsight into Latvian fiction.Potential routes for these walks could bethrough the Old Town, Pārdaugava andGrīziņkalns. Connoisseurs of Latvian literaturemight find literary walks interestingthat are based on specific works, for example,“A Visit To The Vārna Street Republic”,“Along The Paths Of The “Green land”” (inPārdaugava) and others.Literary walks lasting 1–1 ½ hrs wouldbe planned for pedestrians (Old Town,Grīziņkalns), or as a tour by bus (Pārdaugava).By offering literary walks toforeign guests, the translation of literarywork fragments into English and Russianshould be anticipated, since relatively littleLatvian fiction has been translated into otherlanguages.times. The game will invite its participantsto find 11 Communards, Vilis Lācis, theSong Celebration colossus, 1905 monumentand others.The aim of the “Spot the Monument” bicycleorienteering game is also to promotethe bicycle as a method of transportationin the city. Compared with other Europeancities, transportation by bicycle in Riga isgaining popularity slowly. The infrastructure– bicycle paths, bicycle racks – hasonly recently begun to develop. However,an increasing interest about this mode oftransportation is observed.What: Bicycle routes.Where: Entire city territory.When: August.Concept authors: x-aģentūra.Cooperation partners: Riga’s Agency forthe Protection of Monuments, MonumentAgency.A small guidebook would be prepared forthe literary walk routes showing the routemap, indicating the included objects ofRiga, as well as a list of the literary worksand their fragments used during the literarywalks, and individual significant quotesabout Riga.Quotes from the literary works would beplaced around the city several city objects,announcing some intriguing informationabout the selected locations, aswell as quotations about historical eventsin Riga, associated with the specific partof the city.What: Literary excursions.Where: Riga urban environment.When: All year.Concept authors and organisers: RigaCentral Library (RCL).82 83