A guide to the export and import of cultural goods between Russia ...

CHAPTER
Chapter 3: European Union Member States
Latvia
Cultural cooperation with the Russian Federation, aimed at promoting creative exchange,
intercultural dialogue and the mobility of culture operators, is very active and
ongoing in all fi elds of culture and arts and on all levels, both as direct cooperation
between institutions and as commercial activities. On March 21, 1995 ‘The Cooperation
Agreement between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the Ministry
of Culture of the Russian Federation’ was signed. Since March 14, 2002 the new,
amended version of the Agreement is in force. The cooperation programmes, which
are regularly drafted and approved for a 3 year period, act as the means of implementing
the Agreement.
As part of the cooperation programmes, also with substantial state financial support, numerous
Latvian – Russian culture projects have been implemented:
• Opera (e.g. in 2006 the ballet of the Latvian National Opera performed at the Moscow
Musical Theatre, named after Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko; a return visit,
which followed the tour of the Moscow Musical Theatre in Riga in 2004, as part of the
Riga Opera Festival)
• Theatre (e.g. Latvian audiences can watch the award-winning performances of Russian
Performing Arts Festival ‘The Golden Mask’; in 2006 the New Riga Theatre participated
in theatre festival ‘Baltijskij dom’)
• Libraries (e.g. the last two years have witnessed active participation of library experts
in joint conferences, as well as an exchange of specialists with the aim of continuous
education and sharing of experience)
• Archives (in 2003 a Agreement was concluded with Russian State Film & Photo Archive
on copying documents)
• Museums (important exhibitions from Latvian museum collections have been
held in the museums of Moscow and St. Petersburg; cooperation with Russian
museums allowed the works of Henri Matisse and French glass artists to be seen
in Latvia)
• Music (private concert agencies regularly invite outstanding Russian artists to perform
in Latvia)
• Visual arts (e.g. the Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the Russian State
Centre for the Contemporary and State Tretyakov Gallery, is planning an exhibition
‘The Art of the 20th Century’ at the exhibition hall Arsenāls of the National Art
Museum in Riga)
Intensive cooperation is also taking place at the municipal level – both as cross-border
cooperation and as part of twinning agreements, days of friendship are organised,
participation in international culture festivals, exchange tours of artistic groups and
exchange of exhibitions (e.g. the annual international competition of young performers
‘The New Wave’ in Jūrmala).
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