International Folklore Festival “Baltica 2022”

With the motto “Come and Play!”, more than 250 folk groups and ethnographic bands will meet and interact in various concerts, events and activities in Alsunga, Dundaga, Inciems, Inčukalns, Jūdaži, Krimulda, Kuldīga, Lēdurga, Mālpils, Pope, Rīga, Sigulda, Skrunda, Talsi, Turaida and Ventspils.

Continuing its tradition, the festival will have a specific theme. In 2022, this theme is “Play”, highlighting the playful and joyful potential of the traditional culture. It can serve as a uniting factor for all those willing to play, sing, or dance together or to interact in other aspects of the traditional culture.

Māra Mellēna, the artistic manager of the festival, emphasizes: “The folklore festival  “Baltica” is a significant landmark in the Latvian cultural scene. Every three years, it brings together the keepers of traditional culture from near and far, every time showing once again that this heritage is still important in the modern context as an essential part of one’s identity, and, along with both close and distant neighbours, carrying on a dialogue with this heritage.”

Since 1987, the festival “Baltica” takes place every time in another Baltic country and is jointly organized by state and municipal institutions. This will be its 12th time in Latvia, and the festival will gather ethnographic bands, folk song and dance groups, traditional musicians, handicrafters, storytellers and other keepers of the living cultural heritage from all three Baltic countries. The organizers of the 2022 festival are the Latvian National Centre for Culture in cooperation with Riga City Council, the municipality of Kuldīga district, the Ethnographic Oper-air Museum of Latvia, the municipality of Sigulda district, the municipality of Talsi district, Turaida Museum Reserve, the municipality of Ventspils district, and Ventspils Culture Centre.