2025 promises to be particularly rich in cultural events in Cēsis, as Cēsis has declared itself the Latvian Capital of Culture 2025. It is planned that every month there will be nationwide events as well as several cultural events of local significance, Latvian Radio reports December 28.
Traditionally, Cēsis has been making a name for itself every year with various important national and local cultural events. The Cēsis Concert Hall offers the opportunity to meet world-class musicians at its concerts, while festivals take over the town in the summer season. The Deputy Chairman of the Regional Council, Atis Egliņš-Eglītis (New Unity), explained why it was important to raise the bar of cultural life even higher:
“When we lost the European Capital of Culture status to Liepāja, we thought what to do with all the work we had done, all the ideas we had. We quickly came up with the idea that we have to make this year happen, we have to make it happen within the Latvian framework, and we can see that people want to get involved more and more as we approach this year.”
The city of Cēsis and the whole region will be involved in the Latvian Capital of Culture, and preparations have started in Piebalga to live up to the title. Līva Grudule, head of the Piebalga Museum Association “Orisāre”, and Egita Zariņa, head of the Jaunpiebalga Culture House, talked about what has already been implemented:
“The theme of the Capital of Culture is “Culture in Heads, Castles, Farmsteads”, and Vecpiebalga, closing the 145th birthday year of writer Kārlis Skalbe, has already created an outdoor Christmas exhibition “The Castle and the Hut Shine” in the Skalbe Museum. So we have already started with the lights, with the theme of Skalbe and Christmas, and then all the successive events will take place. There is something in Jaunpiebalga too.”
“Yes, in Jaunpiebalga we have already started this series of events with the opening of the exhibition “Light”. The exhibition brings together a large group of people from Jaunpiebalga with their works, which multiply and bring light,” added Egita Zariņa, Head of the Jaunpiebalga Culture House.
Concerts dedicated to the composer Emīls Dārziņš will also take place all year: “[Emīls Dārziņš will turn 150 next year, and this is also one of the important highlights because Emīls Dārziņš is first of all from Pieabalga and only then the genius of all Latvians.”
There will be events in Cēsis throughout the year and, as Egliņš-Eglītis pointed out, the summer season will be particularly rich in cultural events:
“One of the biggest events we have created is the performance “Clay”, which involves our amateur dancers and singers. It will take place in Žagarkalns, where there will be a special stage. We have also just announced the Latvian Choir and Ensemble Competition and we invite choirs and ensembles to take part in this competition. We have not closed the planning phase, we see, as in other European Capitals of Culture, that planning is still going on all year round.”
But what about the financial side of such an ambitious commitment? This is not the easiest time for municipalities.
“We have divided the funding into several big blocks,” said Egliņš-Eglītis. “There is external funding. We are working on attracting project funding. There is the existing budget, which is municipal funding for culture. We are also working on attracting private funding, but we are very, very hopeful that we will be able to measure the cultural impact on the local economy that this cultural year has brought, because culture brings us tourists and tourists are happy to leave more money here. We hope that this is not only a cultural project, but also an economic project.”
Cēsis residents suggest that the designation of the Latvian Capital of Culture should become a tradition so that other municipalities can follow.
“In Latvia, we don’t have such a national level activity or initiative. There is Lithuania, where there are Lithuanian capitals of culture, but what we have discussed with the Ministry of Culture – we think it should be introduced in Latvia as well. We see that it motivates the local society, local communities, people to do something more. This cup should be passed on to other municipalities,” said Egliņš-Eglītis.
The opening of the Cēsis municipality year of culture will take place on January 18 with a concert in the concert hall “Cēsis”, a disco in Vienības Square and a dance night in Ģikši.
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