Published Article by Researchers of the LAC Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies on Youth Participation Project Examples in Latvian Museums
The article “The Participatory Engagement of Generation Z in Museums: A Case Study From Latvia” by researchers Elīna Vikmane, Baiba Tjarve, and Lote Katrīna Cērpa from the Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies of the Latvian Academy of Culture has been published in "Museum International", a journal indexed in Scopus (Q2), issued by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in cooperation with the publisher Taylor & Francis.
The editorial team of the journal issue “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities” (Aljas et al., 2025, viii–xiii) highlights in relation to the article that it “examines the needs and interests of Generation Z in order to promote their meaningful engagement in museums (..). The authors critically evaluate how young people perceive and value participation in museum initiatives, based on five diverse case studies. Cultural consumption research has long pointed to a decline in institutional cultural consumption among young people – cinemas and live concerts are increasingly being replaced by at-home streaming and digital access to content. These changes create a significant challenge – how can museums maintain their relevance and attractiveness to younger generations?”
The authors emphasize: “We thank all 38 young people and 11 museum professionals for the opportunity to explore their collaboration experiences, as well as our fellow researchers Laura Brutāne and Līga Vinogradova for their involvement in data collection. Thanks to the funding from the Latvian Council of Science, readers can access the research results free of charge.”
The article analyzes youth participation project examples from the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Rothko Museum, the Rainis and Aspazija Summer House, the Olaine Museum of History and Art, and the Eduards Veidenbaums Memorial Museum “Kalāči.”
The article is available in open access here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13500775.2025.2540200?scroll=top&needAccess=true#abstract
The aim of "Museum International" is to support museum professionals, researchers, and policymakers in addressing contemporary museological issues and to foster international dialogue. This issue of the journal aligns with the theme of the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM has around 60,000 members) General Conference, which is ICOM’s most important global event. The General Conference brings together thousands of members from all over the world once every three years.
The project “Striving Towards Participatory Engagement in Museums: Inquiry into Museum Education Practice in Latvia (MEET)” (No. lzp-2022/1-0379) is being implemented within the framework of the 2022 Fundamental and Applied Research Project open competition. Funded by the Latvian Council of Science.