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In 2017–2021, Latvia celebrated its centenary with a wide-ranging cultural programme. The Centenary programme was announced as "the biggest event in the history of modern Latvia" providing 22.3 million euros over three years for more than 800 festive events "to strengthen the spirit of nationhood and a sense of belonging amongst the people of Latvia, and to promote collaboration and self-organization within the community" [Ministry of Culture 2020]. In this paper, we explore the ways in which this cultural policy initiative worked as a form of social solidarity building in the Latvian society, where there is a large Russian-speaking community. We are interested in examining the public's participation and perceptions of the Centenary cultural programme, focusing specifically on the differing patterns and effects in the Latvian and Russian-speaking communities. The analysis draws primarily on a representative survey, designed and conducted in the autumn of 2021 by the authors as part of a larger research project. The survey was designed to enable analysis of the perceptions of the Centenary programme, participation and consumption patterns among different social groups and cultural communities, and experiences and perceptions of social solidarity (or lack thereof) in the context of the Centenary programme. The survey has provided new data on the links between cultural and arts consumption practices in an ethnically diverse society, as well as on the perceptions of effects of arts consumption on social solidarity and sense of belonging. On the basis of quantitative analysis of the survey data, we study the patterns of cultural consumption and its social impact, given the ethnic diversity of the society in question. We explore, firstly, how cultural and arts consumption is influenced by ethnic belonging and, secondly, how the effects of this consumption differ among ethnic groups. Based on this empirical analysis, the paper contributes to the wider, ongoing interdisciplinary debates on cultural and arts consumption, societal diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, the paper offers a novel approach to exploring, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of cultural and arts consumption on social solidarity.

This article provides a comparative analysis of the initiative of cultural policy implemented in three countries of the European Union (the Netherlands, Denmark and Latvia) and the term "cultural canon" that is used to characterise it. As the substantiation, objectives, functions and results of the cultural canon as a state-financed programme of cultural policy essentially differ in all the above countries, there is a ground for discussions about the preconditions for the sustainable development of this programme. The main objective of this article is to reveal the significance of political and ideological factors of the cultural canon in the development of cultural policy and the choice of scenarios in the future. In order to reach this objective, the theoretical understanding of the notion "cultural canon" has been analysed and its link with the values of a certain political ideology. A comparative analysis and assessment of the development of cultural canons in theNetherlands, Denmark and Latvia have been carried out by applying data of empirical research that is based on qualitative methodology. The article explores the development scenarios for the cultural canon that would bemost appropriate for the political- ideological context of Latvia. The theoretical basis of this article lies in various investigations that evaluate the cultural canon as substantiation for ideological paradigms in the cultural policy by paying special attention to works of those authors who have analysed the expression of ideological doctrines of nationalism and multiculturalism in culture (Willem Frijhoff, Peter Duelund, Monique Kremer, Will Kymlicka). The conclusions of this article are based on the theoretical and empirical research; they serve as arguments andproof for the thesis that consistent political and ideological support for the initiatives of the cultural canon is considered to be the main factor that influences the development of the programme and sustainability.

Most researchers, focusing on the study of tradition, admit that the term tradition has several meanings that are open to different interpretations. Sociology, anthropology, and ethnology apply different approaches to the study of tradition; yet it has been often researched also interdisciplinary, using various theoretical and empirical tools. The choice of the empirical methods was largely determined by the theoretical approaches to the concept of tradition, especially ethnologist Simon J. Bronner's premise that all the explanations of tradition perceive it as a subjective phenomenon that does not easily yield to reflection and usually manifests itself as an intrinsic and intangible part of everyday life. The specific nature of tradition has encouraged the development of methods suitable to the analysis of symbolic practices which are difficult to read. The above considerations prompt to test the applicability of visual research methods hitherto seldom used in the study of tradition, choosing as the case study the everyday practices of the Song and Dance Celebration movement. The objective of the current research is to establish whether and in what ways the application of visual research methods to the study of tradition advances the understanding of tradition using as the example of tradition the arts groups' everyday practices during the Song and Dance Celebration interim in Latvia. We pose two central research questions: 1) what everyday practices are typical of the arts groups during the Song and Dance Celebration interim; 2) which aspects of tradition can be explored through visual research methods. The data lead to the conclusion that photo-elicitation is the best visual approach for encouraging reflection on the everyday practices and their motivation. It can be used as the only research method, while the visual data acquired by the researcher need supplementary methods, such as the in-depth interview. Visual data reveal the variety of everyday practices and assist in describing the aspects that are difficult to formulate, e. g., to illustrate emotions and feelings. It is concluded that visual research methods lead to novel and original results, reveal additional everyday practices upholding tradition and open new possibilities for interpreting their significance and symbolism.

A vibrant debate about the role and participation of museums in urbanisation, industrialisation, human rights protection, technological progress, climate change and other global challenges has persisted in the field of museums ever since the boom of theoretical museology, which coincided with the development of the sustainable development concept. However, often culture is considered a part of social sustainability pillar, covering manifestations such as equity, participation, social justice etc. (Murphy, 2012; Vallace et al., 2011; Cuthill, 2010) or ignoring cultural aspects altogether (Chiu, 2004). Many voices have called to promote culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development as a necessary foundation, condition or groundwork through which understandings of social, economic, and environmental sustainability may appear (Soini & Birkeland, 2014; Hawkes, 2001). Although the potential of cultural heritage institutions such as museums towards sustainable development is outlined in relevant literature, there has been no radical shift in museum practice (Ross, 2004; Simon, 2010; Nomikou, 2015). The paper aims to propose the first-ever critical review of sustainable development priorities in Latvia's most popular museums with a view to finding out their strategic priorities and using these findings to identify today's specific thematic development lines relevant to the museum sector within the sustainable development framework and to apply this bottom-up principle to propose potential ways to improve the general goal of Latvia's museum accreditation system – that of promoting sustainable museum practices – with specific pointers and thematic building blocks for the broad umbrella concept of sustainable development. Research objectives include (1) conducting a critical review of relevant literature to identify the role of cultural heritage within the evolution of the sustainable development concept (2) identifying the themes of sustainable development that have been communicated as strategic priorities to stakeholders by the country's nine most visited museums and (3) using research findings to illuminate and pinpoint a specific array of themes pursuant to the general goal of Latvia's museum accreditation system – that of promoting sustainable museum practices – for the system to serve as a more comprehensive and targeted tool for fostering sustainabledevelopment in the heritage sector and beyond. Qualitative content analysis has been chosen to analyse museum development strategies and their collection, research, and communication policies, that is, the museum strategic documents to be submitted by the museums seeking to receive state recognition. The study covers Latvia's nine most popular museums, whose joint annual share of visits amounts to 50% of the country's total rate (Latvian Academy of Culture, 2018). The study reveals substantial diversity in how Latvia's most popular museums approach sustainable development goals while also exposing a few significant downsides. According to the findings, museum priorities include (1) heritage preservation, efforts to strengthen national identity, and information and communication technology sustainability in the context of cultural sustainability, (2) financial sustainability as well as tourism- multiplication and image-building in the context of economic sustainability, (3) eco-cultural resilience and improvements in the infrastructure for better energy efficiency as well as a degree of progress towards more sustainable transportation solutions in the context of environmental sustainability and (4) physical, intellectual, socio-economic and emotional accessibility and a focus on boosting social capital in the context of social sustainability. Adjustment of accreditation requirements to meet the sustainable development priorities, at least identified within the study, should, in the long run, raise awareness within the field, enable museums to target their efforts at addressing their downsides and finding possibilities for growth in the context of sustainable development as well as foster sustainable development in the larger field of cultural heritage sites and institutions, which, unlike its kindred sector of museums, exists outside the scope of restrictions associated with accreditation. Such adjustments will help achieve a broader input from the heritage sector towards sustainable development goals.

Organisation of large scale or mega cultural events requires not only skilful managerial techniques, but also an integrated evaluation approach taking into account such aspects as the cultural, economic, social, political, and environmental context. Mega cultural events can be characterised by complex objectives, diverse funding sources (EU, public, private), a multilayer structure of planned results and effects. All that obviously encumbers evaluation of mega events. The initiative of the European Capital of Culture is one of major large scale European cultural cooperation projects, taking into consideration its budget and the diversity of its programme that exceeds the scope of any other cultural event. In 2014, Riga was chosen to be one of the European Capitals of Culture. Latvia had recently overcome an economic recession; in this context substantial public investment in culture required an additional focus on evaluating the economic impact of Riga 2014 programme. Research is based on the assumption that social network analysis has a great potential in evaluation of cultural impact, as culture incorporates the very idea of a network through which new ideas and creativity are channelled.

The study focuses on the question if and how it is possible to balance the freedom of developing artist's individual creative idea and the societal demand for art defined in a concrete political context. The theoretical basis for the article is formed by research approaches grounded on sociology of creativity and social psychology. The object of the case study is film directors who had obtained funding for the production and dissemination of their films within the funding program 'Latvian Films for Latvia's Centenary' (2016–2018). The experience of film directors (N 16) was examined by using in-depth interviews and transcriptions analysed in accordance with qualitative methodology. The study identified two contingent levels of creativity inspiration – the individual and the societal or collective level. The authors identify several development models of the film directors' creative ideas, three of which are dominant: the independent outsider who stresses individual, seed-incident based creativity factors independent of the Latvian Centenary program; the independent idealist who stresses both individual and collective factors, independent of the Latvian Centenary program; the conforming patriot who stresses collective creativity factors that stem from the Latvian Centenary program. The view represented in the film directors' interviews has in common the assumption that the Latvian Centenary call had a positive influence on the film ideas, allowing the development of the artistic vision and conceptualising the framework for the expression of their ideas. The directors emphasise that there was no intentional configuration of the film creative ideas by formally adjusting them to the demand, thus circumventing the barriers of social field's gatekeepers. In many cases the idea had been developed long before the film idea call. Most directors admitted that the goal of the Centenary call appeared important to them both in terms of the state, and on the social and personal level.