An international jury has announced six municipalities from the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) have been awarded the Cultural Pearls 2025 title, including Latvia’s decidedly pleasant city of Smiltene.
The six are Helsingborg (Sweden), Peipsiääre (Estonia), Alytus district (Lithuania), Płock (Poland), Kaskinen-Kaskö (Finland), and Smiltene (Latvia). The municipalities were selected from 14 candidates across the Baltic Sea Region, and “will now embark on a transformative journey to strengthen their communities” according to the organizers .
BSR Cultural Pearls is a project, co-funded by the EU’s Interreg Baltic Sea Region program , aims to strengthen social resilience in Baltic Sea Region municipalities by harnessing the potential of local assets of culture and creativity. The BSR Cultural Pearls title is being awarded for the second time.
Each candidate prepared a Culture and Resilience Action Plan aimed at enhancing community resilience through cultural initiatives. The most innovative and convincing action plans were selected by a jury of experts in social resilience, urban planning, arts, and culture, as well as representatives from pan-Baltic and European organisations and networks of cities.
“This year’s high number of applications and increasingly bold action plans highlight the growing importance of community resilience across our region. It is good for the people living there, good for the future of these cities and good for the resilience of our region,” said Felix Schartner Giertta, BSR Cultural Pearls project manager at the Baltic Sea States Secretariat. Smiltene and the other winners will now participate in a tailored Cultural Pearls program including mentorship and capacity-building with expert interventions; networking, international exchange; and a seed money initiative for establishing innovative collaborations with the local Culture and Creative Sector.
They also become part of a network, joining the BSR Cultural Pearls 2024: Svendborg (Denmark), Kiel (Germany), Jakobstad-Pietarsaari (Finland) and Rūjiena (Latvia). The application for BSR Cultural Pearls 2026 will be open in February 2025.
You can watch the annoucement of this year’s winners in the video below.
