DAUGAVPILS - CANDIDATE FOR THE TITLE OF EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2027
Daugavpils with its rich cultural heritage, dynamic development and active communities is determined to win the title of European Capital of Culture 2027!
The title “European Capital of Culture 2027” will help the city to increase its international recognition in Europe, to establish new cooperation links with various cities of Western and Eastern Europe, to promote cultural and creative tourism of Daugavpils and its surroundings, to implement bold and innovative ideas in culture and other fields, creating an attractive urban environment and strong communities, knowledgeable and critical society, active creative entrepreneurship.
In order to obtain the title of European Capital of Culture, Daugavpils participates in the competition announced by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, preparing its program proposal for 2027 with the support of local communities, which must be submitted for evaluation to the international jury on June 4, 2021. In the summer of 2021 the jury will select those Latvian candidate cities that are being nominated for participation in the second round of the competition, providing recommendations for improvement of applications. The results of the second round of the competition will be announced in 2022, providing an opportunity for the selected city to prepare in time for the implementation of the international program. A similar competition is taking place in parallel in Portugal, choosing the second European Capital of Culture 2027, which will further develop mutual cooperation with a partner city in Latvia.
The winning city receives the European Commission's Melina Mercury Prize in the amount of 1.5 million euros, cities are invited to use the opportunities to apply for projects in various EU support programs, as well as national co-financing is granted for the implementation of the annual program.
The European Capital of Culture has been one of the most successful initiatives in the European Union since 1985, following the initiative of the Greek Minister of Culture Melina Mercury, with relatively small cities also gaining international attention. Mobilization for a common goal, timely strategic planning ensures good results, taking a rapid step in the development of the city and allowing to return the made investment. Each year, two European Capitals of Culture are selected in certain countries of the European Union. In Latvia, the European Capital of Culture program was first implemented by Riga in 2014 in cooperation with Umeå in Sweden, creating significant events of international scale, as well as starting fostering of cultural activities in the vicinity of Riga.
The application process is a great opportunity to evaluate existing cultural resources, understand untapped opportunities, mobilize existing forces and build new collaborations to achieve a common goal. Therefore, together with the preparation of the application, a new Culture Development Program 2027 is being created in Daugavpils, in which the current achievements are evaluated and new goals and tasks for the local cultural sector are set.
A working group chaired by Jānis Dukšinskis, Deputy Chairman of Daugavpils City Council, has been established to prepare the Culture Development Program and the European Capital of Culture application.
It is important that local cultural organizations and various civic non-governmental organizations are actively involved in the preparation of the Culture Development Program and application. Therefore, Daugavpils City Council plans to organize various opinion polls, seminars and workshops, in which residents are kindly invited to participate, following the information on this website.
In case of any questions or ideas You are welcome to contact the coordinator of the working group - Acting Deputy Head of Daugavpils City Council Department of Culture Diāna Soldāne (phone +371 28378679, +371 65423601, e-mail diana.soldane@daugavpils.lv).
Useful information:
Information about the competition announced by the Ministry of Culture
Information on the main highlights of the European Capital of Culture application: Proceedings of seminars organized by Culturelab think tank in Latvia