Challenges Faced by Latvian Cultural Sector: Municipalities’ Engagement in Commercial Activities

He also explained that at that time the industry initiative group also appealed to the Competition Council, with the help of which the price distortion was prevented.

LETA already announced that on October 16, the LTRK discussion “Legal, economic and practical aspects of involvement of public persons in commercial activities” was held.

In the discussion, Miller expressed that the situation in competition with municipalities in the cultural sector has worsened since Covid-19. “Many municipalities, both after the municipal reform and after covid, have delegated or ordered their cultural institutions – regardless of whether they were capital companies, or cultural administrations, or cultural centers – to directly engage in commercial activities,” explained Miller.

He expressed that in the current situation, municipalities control a number of resources, including event venues, cultural centers, which are charged very high rents. Although event producers are ready to ensure the availability of cultural processes provided for by law to the public, local governments are directly engaged in commercial activities instead of promoting cooperation with the private sector.

“This is catastrophic for the industry in the long term,” emphasized Miller, citing the example of the Šimkus concert organized by the municipality in Ventspils, whose tickets were sold for 1.5 euros, which the private sector cannot compete with.

Miller repeatedly pointed out that the situation dramatically worsened immediately after the pandemic. According to him, if during the Covid-19 period one could still understand the initiative of local governments to organize concerts below the cost price, because they had the resources at their disposal, then at the moment, when local governments start organizing cultural festivals on a commercial basis, continuing to sell tickets that do not cover, for example, the rental of premises, to the private sector there is nothing more to do in these areas.

“This will simply lead to the fact that Latvia’s cultural life will remain very poor in a couple of years,” said Miller.

The Latvian Producers’ Union was registered in 2020. The goals of the association are to unite the producers of Latvian events and audiovisual works, to defend the interests of the members, as well as to promote the implementation of tax regimes and social guarantees corresponding to the specifics of the activity of Latvian producers, which are equivalent to other categories of employees.

2023-10-31 13:14:48
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