Riga Jurmala Festival to stage conference on digital transformation in culture

Lucy Thraves
Monday, June 14, 2021

The conference will be held on 6 July, ahead of the start of the festival in mid-July.

The conference will explore digital transformation in the cultural sphere, and will be lead by professionals from international cultural organisations, festivals and orchestras. They will share their experiences on how digital tools can transform their ways of working.

The conference will be opened by Nauris Puntulis, the minister of culture of Latvia, and Ignazio Cassis, the Swiss foreign minister. Speakers will include David Burke, chief executive officer of the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Bettina Haggi, head of marketing at the Lucerne Festival; Michaela Braun, head of marketing at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and many more.

The event is being supported financially by the Swiss Embassy in Latvia and the Society Integration Foundation.

Zane Čulkstēna, executive director of the Rīga Jūrmala Music Festival, said: 'In many ways, the pandemic restrictions have sped up the growth of digital efforts this year and highlighted the need to appreciate the digital maturing of cultural organisations.

'During the conference, we will encourage the discussion of important issues impacting digital transformation in the cultural sector, offering the experience and viewpoints of international speakers on how Latvian and Baltic cultural organisations and projects can improve their digital experience.'

The event will be split into three sections: why is digitalisation in culture important; how digital tools can be used in content creation; and how administrative effectiveness in cultural organisations can be improved using digital tools.

Each section will feature three speakers, giving 15-minute presentations and concluding with a 30-minute discussion to foster discussion.  

The conference will be free to attend for anyone interested. Viewers can watch via the Rīga Jūrmala Facebook page as well as on DELFI.

More information is available here: https://riga-jurmala.com/conference/.

Viewers are invited to submit questions for the speakers and get involved in the discussions. Register here: https://bit.ly/RJ-conference-register