The project CARD (Culture and Art – A Resource for Development) explores the arts and cultural values that are key for Latvia’s sustainable development and national identity; gauges their contributions to cultural capital. The project assesses the resources of the arts and cultural capital: the historical and current phenomena in architecture, film art, design, music, theatre and dance, and visual art; the present cultural ecosystem of Latvia, its operator group linkages and impacts; societal and cultural audience engagement; participation of cultural heritage, memory institutions and heritage communities, especially the practices of young people.

The project has a two-tier theoretical frame: the overarching level (cultural capital and cultural ecosystem theories), and the theories relevant to the goals of each research activity. Particular emphasis is given to research methodologies, including the measuring of socio-economic impacts, artistic research, and digital methods.

The project brings together five leading research, higher education and cultural heritage institutions in Latvia, which are highly experienced in their specialized fields: Latvian Academy of Culture; Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music; Art Academy of Latvia; National Library of Latvia, and Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia. The research quality, implementation and impact are based on the high capacity of the consortium of five research institutions, evidenced in their scholarly output, international reach, the synergy of research, academic and artistic activity, and close functional connections with policy-makers and arts/cultural practitioners. The research project proposes an in-depth and interdisciplinary view of the cultural and arts environment, creating extensive impacts for policy, cultural sector and education.

The goal of the proposed project: Create an interdisciplinary human capital and knowledge stock on the processes creating diversity and value of cultural capital, and on a supportive cultural sector ecosystem as a resource for sustainable development in Latvia.

Objectives:

1. analyse selected phenomena in the history of artistic production (in architecture, audiovisual and film art, music, performing arts, visual arts and design) and its role in cultural capital creation;
2. examine current cultural processes through mapping, typologisation and interaction analysis of cultural ecosystem actor groups, as well as cultural participation manifestations;
3. analyse the roles and transformations of specific kinds of cultural heritage in the cultural ecosystem, and the resources of memory institutions as a driver of diversity and value creation;
4. study the diversity of heritage communities and other active societal groups (especially young people) and the range of novel practices and roles in heritage management and communication;
5. explore and systematise methodological approaches to artistic and digital research in arts and cultural heritage studies and tertiary education;
6. develop methodologies and methods of measuring social and economic impact of cultural and creative sector activities and propose monitoring indicators workable in Latvia’s context;
7. develop research capacity of thematic researcher groups, increase integration of the work done in the five partner institutions;
8. transfer the relevant knowledge to policy-makers, practitioners and other stakeholder groups.

Execution of the project has been divided into seven work packages (WP) with particular tasks, deliverables, milestones and those responsible for implementation.

Work package 1: Research on the history of artistic productions and its results as a resource for the development of cultural capital.

The aim of the work package is to create new knowledge about the history of Latvian culture and art in order to 1) develop a successive, systematized and contextual system of scientific knowledge of the history of Latvian artistic productions, 2) assess the importance of this knowledge in the formation of cultural capital; 3) integrate new knowledge into the content of higher education programmes; 4) ensure the transfer of knowledge in the environment of creative professionals of different fields of art.

Work package 2: Ecosystem of current cultural processes and public participation as a resource for increasing cultural capital.

The aim of the work package is to supplement the cultural information system and generate new knowledge about current cultural processes: identify, map and typologize operator groups of Latvian cultural and creative sector ecosystem and their interactions, evaluate the role of these operators, as well as public and cultural audience participation in increasing cultural capital diversity.

Work package 3: The role of cultural heritage in the development of the cultural ecosystem. Memory institutions as a resource of cultural capital

The aim of the work package is to assess cultural heritage (tangible, intangible and documentary) as part of the cultural ecosystem in the context of modern technological, economic, social and environmental conditions; to argue its role in ensuring the diversity and value of cultural capital; to update, approbate, instrumentalize and communicate the applicability of the resources (collections, archives) of memory institutions in order to develop the knowledge base on the protection, preservation, transfer, communication and management of cultural heritage.

Work package 4: Public and heritage community participation practices. Heritage communities in the youth segment.

The aim of the work package is to typologize public involvement and heritage communities, as well as their participatory practices in heritage protection, safeguarding, transfer, communication and management, to assess the role of society and cultural heritage communities in the development of cultural ecosystem diversity and cultural production (tangible and intangible), with a special focus on youth cultural practices.

Work package 5: Specifics and development of research methodology of artistic productions and cultural heritage.

The aim of the work package is to develop a knowledge base and innovative methodological approaches to artistic production/artistic and cultural heritage research, focusing on innovative forms of interaction between art and research, as well as digital research methods for the collections of memory institutions.

Work package 6: Determining the impact and transfer effects of the cultural and creative sector

The aim of the work package is to develop research methodology and methods for the social and economic impact of artistic productions and cultural heritage; to identify sets of indicators for measuring and monitoring these phenomena; to identify the most appropriate evaluation study designs and roadmaps to determine the impact of artistic productions and cultural heritage on the sustainable development of the state, society and national economy and on national identity.

Work package 7: Project Management and Synergies Across the Consortium

The objectives of the work package are 1) To carry out the project within a set timeframe and financial framework; 2) to provide integration and synergies among partner’s research and academic activities.