The contemporary art events that will take place in Riga this year – “Riga Art Week” and “Riga Music Week” – have the potential to attract not only local interested parties, but also foreign tourists, the organisers of the contemporary art events announced at a cultural breakfast held today.
From 26 May to 1 June, a new art festival will take place in Riga – Riga Art Week (RAW). The aim of this event is to promote cooperation between art institutions, galleries and industry representatives, highlighting the potential of the city of Riga on the European cultural events map. With its broad, diverse programme, RAW will appeal to both art professionals and other interested parties and provide a powerful platform for contemporary art, the development of cultural life, and public engagement, strengthening the image of Riga as a creative city.
Meanwhile, “Riga Music Week”, which will take place from 2 to 6 November, will feature concerts and screenings by young musicians, an industry conference, panel discussions and workshops, master classes, and the songwriting camp “Rigalive”. Music Week is aimed at promoting competition and international visibility in the music industry, and strengthening the Baltic music ecosystem.
“This is a new ambition from Riga, with which we want to help bring our music and contemporary art across borders. We have found very strong professionals, and they have found us to begin fulfilling an old dream of large and international events for Riga’s contemporary art and non-academic music, which, hopefully, in a few years will become entrenched as part of Riga’s identity. “It is also a story about cultural unity – how we are able to be united in our country and also in the Baltics, using culture as a bond,” emphasizes Dāvis Stalts, the Head of the Culture Commission of the Riga City Council.
“A diverse and attractive tourism offer is essential for Riga, and significant cultural events occupy a special place in it. “They not only enrich the city’s cultural life, but also attract tourists with a wide variety of interests, while simultaneously strengthening the local economy and creating Riga’s image as a vibrant and internationally recognisable destination,” admits Fredis Bikovs, the Director of the Investment and Tourism agency of Riga.
The goal of “Riga Art Week” is not only to strengthen the image of Riga as a significant cultural centre, but also to promote a more ambitious and assertive art environment in Latvia. Only if we ourselves appreciate and are proud of our creative community will we become interesting and significant on an international scale,” says Elīna Drāke, the Chairwoman of the Board of the Latvian Gallery Association and Executive Director of Riga Art Week.
“We are truly excited to see Riga become a vibrant meeting point for music professionals, city residents and guests in November – for the first time, “Riga Music Week” will be held, combining an industry conference and a diverse city festival.” “Work on the event is in full swing, and it is already clear that it promises to be a vibrant, internationally inspired and creatively saturated event, in which everyone will find something exciting, says Agnese Cimuška-Rekke, the Executive Director of “Music Latvia” and organiser of "Riga Music Week”.
Riga City Council has supported the event “Riga Art Week”. The organisers of the event are the association “Latvian Gallery Association”. The local government co-financing of EUR 75 000 constitutes 27.42 % of the total estimate for organising the event “Riga Art Week”.
The local government will also support the “Riga Music Week”, which is organized by the “Latvian Music Development Association/Latvian Music Export”, which will receive co-financing from the local government in the amount of EUR 75 000, which constitutes 22.09 % of the total estimate for organising the event.
Funding for these events has been allocated from the local government’s budget programme of 2025 “Measures promoting the competitiveness, economic growth and cultural recognition of the local government of Riga City”.
Every year, Riga hosts a series of contemporary art and cultural events that bring the name of the capital city and that of the country to the world. As usual, Riga City Council supports cultural festivals of various genres in the festival target program, which will also be announced this year for the period of 2026-2028.
Information was prepared by Ineta Miglāne, project coordinator, External Communication Division of the Communications Department of the Riga City Council, e-mail: ineta.miglane@riga.lv.
