This year’s Creativity Week radi!2018 emphasizes the potential in Latvia’s regions

Last week the eighth annual radi! Creativity Week began in Latvia, aimed at raising awareness and interest in the development and interaction of creative and cultural sectors, by active involvement of the residents of Latvia in various common creative, thoughtful and doing events. Honouring the 100^th anniversary of Latvia, a more interactive and more focused programme for radi!2018 is planned, since unlike previous years, Latvian regional centres have been chosen as the main venues for events.

This year, the radi!2018 events will particularly focus on the active engagement of the united regions of Latvia and their inhabitants, including young people, bearing in mind the message of the centennial and carefully adding to the calendar of cultural events. The basis for the creative activities of the week is the image of Latvia and the vision of a progressive future, through which on the way to the centenary of the state jointly demonstrate Latvia's creative ideas, past achievements, economic growth, creative education, innovative entrepreneurship and smart state governance. The main accent is planned on solutions for future challenges by applying the methods of design thinking. Focusing on every citizen of Latvia as part of the nation-building process and at the same time strengthening cooperation with other parallel projects and events complementing the ideas and messages of radi!2018, the related promotion of social entrepreneurship launched in our country will also be created.

In 2018, the Creativity Week is planned to be expanded to a body of seven events organized by the radi!2018 team, which all together form the week, the first of which will be the opening event in Riga, followed by the remaining common creativity and doing events implemented in various regions of Latvia, aimed at the surrounding largest cities and regional centres. Thus, several interactive inter-branch entrepreneurship promotion seminars, with the participation of experienced foreign experts, are expected to take place this summer within the radi!2018 programme, and every interested person is welcome. During these events, challenges important for the regions and their residents will be resolved by applying creative methods of design thinking, involving and uniting representatives of various industries, professions and institutions and generating solutions needed by the end users facing the challenges.

“radi! Creativity Week this year will also urge society to look at various processes through the prism of the application of creative industries and, especially, the design thinking method. Keeping pace with the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of Latvia we will highlight the creative and unique potential of the regions. Along with rapid global changes, we must be able to follow the news and use everything that provides added value to the promotion of well-being. Inter-disciplinary activities may also significantly promote economic growth in the regions, as well as the labour efficiency and welfare of residents. Therefore, four important radi! events will also take place in the regions this year,” comments Lilita Sparāne, Head of the Creative Industries Division, Cultural Policies Department, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.

The official opening ceremony of radi!2018 Creativity Week was held on 18 April, and the Latvian National Museum of Art, Cupola Hall has been chosen for this year’s event. It began with a dynamic performance by the sketch theatre Nerten on the topic “future skills”, followed by Dace Melbārde’s, Minister of Culture, official speech and an inspirational story on the role of design and creativity in our lives, delivered by Anna Whicher, Head of Design Policy of the International Centre for Design and Research at Cardiff Metropolitan University (United Kingdom). At the end of the event Līva Stūrmane, radi!2018 Project Manager introduced everyone present with this year’s Creativity Week events and opportunities to participate in the their implementation. The closing event of radi!2018 will be a look back at the common work of the past six months, which is expected at the end of August at the startup festival iNovuss.

You can follow the latest radi!2018 Creativity Week news on the website www.radilatvija.lv, as well as via social networks: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. #radilv. 

Creativity Week radi!2018 Concept

Goal of radi!2018 Creativity Week: to raise awareness and interest in various target audiences about the development of creative and cultural sectors and interaction thereof with other sectors, creativity-promoting education, innovative entrepreneurship and smart administration, to introduce the achievements of Latvia and the best foreign experience by active involvement of local residents.

Directions of radi!2018 Creativity Week are based on topics related to the 100^th anniversary of Latvia on the basis of the main topic of the celebration year 2018 – BIRTH, which symbolizes the foundation of the Republic of Latvia 100 years ago. Thus, this year’s communications include a great accent on the active involvement of residents of the Latvian regions in the upcoming events.

Inspiration for the strategy of this year’s radi!2018Creativity Week was found in the image of Latvia and Future Dimension, through which the achievements of Latvia and the increase of the potential of economic growth and human resources capital are demonstrated further, as well as entrepreneurial skills, and science and education support programmes are implemented. With the involvement of active young people (including young people representing minorities) and residents of the regions, radi!2018will resolve matters significant for Latvian regions, finding long-term solutions by applying methods of design thinking.

Consequently, the concept of Creative Activity Week 2018 is primarily implemented through this message, expressing the idea that every resident of Latvia is part of the nation-building process. Thus, the idea of co-participation is accentuated and the road of the message of initiative to a certain individual is personified. Communication sub-topics match the main message of the radi!2018 Creativity Week:

• Creative industry and inter-branch cooperation seeking new opportunities and solutions within the context of such future challenges as labour market and future skills, social welfare, life quality, development of cities, revival of degraded territories, knowledge economy, artificial intelligence, new technologies and development thereof, virtual and added reality, etc.;

• Changes and development of study approach, application of new methods for the needs of future generations, the growing importance of feedback in monitoring the quality of educational processes;

• Design values, methods of design thinking and inter-disciplinary approach to the management of public administration processes in the age of rapid change and development, initiating projects and adopting decisions focused on the needs of residents.

This year, Creativity Week is planned to be expanded as a body of seven events, the first and main of which will be the opening event in Riga, followed by the common creativity and doing events implemented in Latvian regional centres. Thus, radi!2018 will continue accentuation of regional dimensions, organizing special events in the spring including solutions of challenges important for the specific region by applying creative methods of design thinking and involving the end users and representatives of various industries, professions and institutions.

Partners:

Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the British Council in Latvia, Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (NDPC), UNESCO and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.