Cultural policy guidelines 2014-2020 "Creative Latvia"
“Creative Latvia” aims to confirm the value of culture and define action directions for diverse and sustainable development of culture, which, by promoting State growth and competitiveness, builds higher quality of life for everyone, preserving and developing the cultural capital and creativity of inhabitants of Latvia. The task of the Guidelines – by strengthening the presence of culture as a value in the society, to create an environment favouring improvement of personality, public activities and growth of Latvia so that the vision would come to life in 2020: - Latvia is a state with a strong national and European identity, which preserves and cultivates its cultural heritage, promotes creative processes and develops diverse cultural environment, as well as fully incorporates and operates in the European and global cultural space; - the proportion of people who have developed and continue developing their creative potential, actively applying it for the creation of innovations in different fields – culture, economics, education, social, environmental cognitive and protection fields etc., increases in Latvia; - the contribution of culture and creative industries (CCI) to national economy of Latvia and export increases, the outstanding quality of culture of Latvia and CCI brands are in demand not only in Latvia, but also in international market; - a network of creative towns and territories develops and strengthens in Latvia, new work places are created, attractive living space is being created for inhabitants. Overarching objective of the Guidelines: Latvia – a land with rich and cultivated cultural heritage, vital and diverse cultural life, creative people, competitive CCI and upward quality of life for everyone. Priorities of “Creative Latvia” are: 1.Preservation and development of the cultural capital with participation of the society in cultural processes; 2.Creativity in lifelong education and cultural education oriented towards labour market; 3.Competitive CCI; 4.Access to creative territory and cultural services.
“Creative Latvia” is a medium-term policy planning document, which determines the State cultural policy objectives and priorities up to 2020 and promotes the achievement of the objectives brought forward in the long-term and medium-term State policy planning documents. All national financial investment and EU funding distribution for culture are planned and distributed according to the targets set in “Creative Latvia”. The planning period of “Creative Latvia” begun in 2014 when Riga was the European Capital of Culture, and continued in 2015 when Latvia was the presiding country in Council of the European Union. It also takes into account the importance of the year 2018 when the Republic of Latvia will celebrate its centenary. “Creative Latvia” was drawn up by a working group created by the Ministry of Culture. From methodological point of view, the content is created using both the top-down and the bottom-up approach to the policy planning management: on one hand, the policy objectives and tasks laid down in documents of higher hierarchical level (national level) are integrated in the Guidelines, and on the other hand – the priorities formulated in strategies for sectoral and cross-sectoral development in culture (15 strategies in total), which have been drawn up in co-operation with the sectoral councils of the MoC concurrently with the process of drawing up “Creative Latvia”, are taken into account. Sectoral strategies serve as a resource for detailed planning of implementation of the Guidelines. An innovative factor in preparation of the Guidelines is active participation of the cultural non-governmental sector – Alliance of Culture.
1) Legal and social protection of creative professionals ensured and remuneration system of cultural workers improved; preservation and availability of cultural monuments and heritage ensured; network of libraries ensures diverse cultural, educational and information services; active creation process in all fields of art ensured with the support of SCCF; cooperation between cultural institutions and their audience strengthened, attendance of cultural events and the number of participants in amateur movement increased; sustainability of the Song and Dance Celebration tradition ensured; active participation in international networks widespread; program of the centenary of the Republic of Latvia successfully implemented.
2) “Latvian rucksack” initiative and access to diverse cultural content in education in virtual environment ensured; modern cultural education competence centres established; cultural education programmes harmonised with the requirements of the labour market; higher education cultural and art institutions offer high-quality and competitive education and their scientific research centres deal with important research topics in the field of culture; further education opportunities for cultural workers provided.
3) A CCI centre in Riga established; number of CCI enterprises and their export increased; better awareness of design in the development of national economy and improving the quality of life; design is integrated in all economic, environmental and social processes; targeted CCI branding implemented on national scale.
4) Cultural monuments restored; new innovative cultural products and services created; museum expositions modernised; urban environment improved; Riga has obtained the necessary cultural infrastructure; interest of foreign tourists, creative professionals and investors increased; access to professional culture in regions and diversity of cultural services expanded.
The necessary financing for implementation of the guidelines is planned according to the optimistic scenario of the national economy development, therefore the implementation can in fact not happen in the planned level, but realistically based on the available allocated financing from State budget each year. The financial resources planned for implementation of the Guidelines is the State and local government budget, international financing, including EU Structural Funds, the financial instrument of the European Economic Area, as well as private capital to be attracted by successfully developing public-private partnership, as well as other solutions for attracting private capital. Financing from other sources, including financing of another foreign financial assistance, may also be attracted for financing the aid directions laid down in the Guidelines. According to the National Development Plan 2014-2020 EUR 304 550 000 are marked for implementation of the cultural policy. This estimate is provisional and may change according to available budget. Each ministry shall plan the budget for the development of cultural institutions under responsibility of other ministries and the increase in financing within the scope of its budget, taking into account the settings of the Guidelines as much as possible. In accordance with the Law On the State Budget for 2014 the budget expenses of year 2014 for implementation of the Guidelines was EUR 127 666 103. According to the Law On State Budget for 2015 the budget for the implementation of the guidelines was EUR 133 245 521 (exact budget spending- EUR 131 304 052), new policy initiatives supported in 2015 - EUR 5 712 535.According to the Law On State Budget for 2016 the budget for the implementation of the Guidelines is EUR 131 546 075.