NY Times: Creating an Identity Through the Arts in Latvia

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting this New York Times article, "In Riga, Creating an Identity Through the Arts," on how arts and culture have served to invigorate and enrich the post-Soviet development of Riga, Latvia’s capital city.

Ann Midgett’s June 16, 2006, article points out how artistic expression is defining this Latvian city’s independence. From dancing in cafes to the Ring cycle of operas, the arts are central to the emerging Latvia.

The article states:

Opera, painting, classical music: these are all ways to reestablish a national identity. But there’s another, folksier side to Latvian culture. By day, the streets of Riga’s Old Town are crowded not with clubgoers but with the stalls of countrywomen selling traditional crafts: amber, linen, knitwear, beeswax products . . .

Midsummer, or Jani, is a huge celebration that empties out Riga as everyone goes to the country to join in song and much Latvian beer. Worried that such traditions might fade in a consumer-oriented society, the Latvian government recently instituted free workshops to teach or remind people how the festival is celebrated.

So what, in the new Latvia, should take priority: the All-Latvian Song and Dance Festival, a huge event drawing thousands of Latvian singers from around the world every five years (the next is in 2008), or the furtherance of a struggling classical music scene? . . . The answer will lie in the hands of whoever has the vision and energy to come up with a new set of rules . . . a stimulating challenge for a young Latvian helping to guide his country’s new direction. ‘The exciting thing about working here,’ Mr. Dalderis [of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra] said, ‘is that things can change so fast. If I went to play in a German orchestra, everything would be fixed for three years; there would be no surprises. Here, I feel I can really make a difference.’”

Read the entire article here.