Participation in cultural life as an important indicator for the quality of life, has been discussed in the cultural policy guidelines Creative Latvia 2014-2020. The idea of a minimum standard of cultural services appropriate to a specific level of administrative territorial classification is raised.
The State Culture Capital Foundation Support distributes grants for the participation in cultural life through its project competitions and programmes. Several cities have membership cards or discount cards that offer discounts for cultural events.
Most of the museums have a free entrance day or hours each week. Museums do not require an entrance fee for children under 7 years old and for other disadvantaged groups of society (children from large families, disabled persons etc.). Since 2001, Latvian museums also participate in the international museum action Nuit des Musées. Each year, the number of participating museums, other cultural organisations and the audience increases.
The digitalisation of libraries has been a significant contribution to the accessibility of cultural services in regions.
During the last decades, the number of films produced in Latvia
increased. Recently, several projects have been developed in order to promote
distribution of national films throughout the country. The National Film Centre of Latvia organises
or financially supports
several film distribution projects, such as “Film Marathon”, “Films
for everyone and everywhere in Latvia” and “Cultural Spot”.
In collaboration with the
state agency “Cultural Information Systems”, the digital platform filmas.lv is developed. It provides a film catalogue, offering films to be watched at home or at public libraries
all over Latvia.
Moreover, a project “Film education at schools” has been developed to encourage teachers include Latvian films in learning process. There are long traditions of Art Days and Poetry Days in Latvia – these include series of public events throughout Latvia, which attract large audiences.
Comments are closed.