In the 19th and early 20th century, it was a favourite place for sea-bathers and travellers, with the town boasting a fine park, many pretty gardens and a theatre Liepāja is however known throughout Latvia as "City where the wind is born", likely because of the constant sea breeze. Its reputation as the windiest city in Latvia was strengthened with the construction of the largest wind farm in the nation (33 Enercon wind turbines) nearby.

The coat of arms of Liepāja was adopted four days after the jurisdiction gained city rights on 18 March 1625. These are described as: "on a silver background, the lion of Courland with a divided tail, who leans upon a linden (Latvian: Liepa) tree with its forelegs". The flag of Liepāja has the coat of arms in the center, with red in the top half and green in the bottom.

One of the very few surviving films documenting the mass murder of Jews during the first stages of the Holocaust is a short film by a German soldier who witnessed the massacres of Liepāja Jews in July 1941 near the city's lighthouse.

To find out what will happen with Liepaja in 2027, EcocNews interviewed Inta Šoriņa, Board Chairperson of the Foundation “Liepāja 2027”.

Liepāja won the title of European Capital of Culture 2027 in May last year, since then what progress has it made?
We had quite an (un)rest -ful time since the winning of the title.  Ever since we found out that we had won it, we jumped into action to keep the process going – the city administration, cultural organisations, partners, the region all have been working on their parts of the process.  We established the foundation “Liepāja 2027 Foundation” and through open job vacancies got a team of dedicated staff to work on the initial phase. This initial process involves identifying resources, setting up the administrative framework, establishing basic partner relationships. As a team, we very much appreciate the support of all those involved.

We have begun to fine-tune the artistic programme, working meticulously on the details of each project so that in the early next year we can announce tenders, open calls, price surveys, etc. We are working on marketing and communication, public participation and fundraising strategies, a monitoring and evaluation action plan, a cooperation plan with the outer region. Our focus is on balancing the programme and making sure that it is able to engage and attract the maximum possible public participation.

The City of Liepāja will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2025, and the Foundation has been tasked with developing this programme and concept as well.

We have delivered a range of public participation and capacity building events, developing relationships with partners here in the city, region, and country, as well as in Europe. We joined a number of exchange programmes. Lots of interest from the community, professionals, diplomats. Whenever possible, we attend conferences, seminars, discussions on European values and the aims and objectives of the European Capital of Culture.

How do you maintain relations with other Capitals of Culture?
Today we have a close cooperation with the current European Capitals of Culture and candidate cities, we communicate and work closely on a daily basis, we consult each other on different issues, strive to adopt best practices, etc.

Back in April, together with the delegation of the President of Latvia, we took part in the official state visit to Portugal, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the two 2027 European Capitals of Culture – Liepāja and Évora. We are delighted to see both cities’ concepts have the same emphasis – the (un)rest of Liepāja and the Vagar of Évora will provide an opportunity to recognise the everyday paradoxes, to seek balance in different aspects of life, to realise the consequences of one’s actions and the place and role of each individual in society.

We very much appreciate that in a relatively short period of time both other Baltic States hold European Capitals of Culture – Kaunas2022 and Tartu2024, giving us a great privilege to benefit from experience, different practices of project implementation. We are very much alike mentally, we share a common geographical space, a common history, which helps to consolidate the European cultural space especially at a time when Ukraine is in the midst of a full-scale war provoked by Russia.

Having learnt a lot from Kaunas2022, we are forging closer cooperation with the Tartu2024 team, especially in promoting the programme’s content.

This is a very exciting time to be starting projects, developing our own programme on the one hand, but also carefully observing the progress of other capitals’ projects, the experience of cooperation with the public, entrepreneurs, the applied tools. We are deeply grateful for the close ECoC family relations and the willing commitment of those teams.

How will the Liepāja (un)rest engage the general public?
According to national studies, the percentage of public participation in Latvia is extremely low, which is why we have already masterminded the particular programme in our European Capital of Culture application – Task Force (Un)Rest – where we aim for broad public engagement events for everyone, not just for a small group of artists or cultural professionals.

This mission has three basic blocks of engagement, namely expanding audiences, cultural renovation based on synergy with cultural and NGO sectors, boosting their capacity, and changing public attitudes “From Hotel to Home”.

Since winning the title, we have been running monthly public participation and capacity building events, featuring them in the media and on the internet, with some events also being broadcast live on digital channels.

We addressed the local community at a discussion on the principles of designing and using sustainable clothing. We organised a Ukrainian cooking masterclass “Masterclass that warms the heart” in cooperation with Ukrainians living in Liepāja and Rīga to promote integration of refugees from war-torn Ukraine, to offer local Liepāja people an opportunity to learn about Ukrainian cooking traditions, and to bridge the gap between local residents and Ukrainians. The event was open to public, and anyone could attend it.

We have had several public meetings with all the organisers of culture life in Liepāja to discuss the most important events of the year in the city’s culture life, to outline the major challenges of the year and to sketch out our plans for the coming years.

We organised an informative seminar on participation opportunities for residents in cooperation with the Foundation for Public Participation in order to present participation activities and opportunities in Liepāja and Latvia in general. We also organised an educational seminar on attracting funding from various international and local funds, and together with the Liepāja Society for the Blind held an educational workshop on environmental accessibility issues. Furthermore, we did a training seminar on practical communication tips – do's and don’ts in cooperation with the media and the public, so that representatives of various organisations and the non-governmental sector in Liepāja could boost their capacities and acquire new knowledge.

We were also hands-on in the ongoing major Liepāja-run events, for example, together with the Patent Board, we created an interactive and educational stall to introduce Sea Festival guests to the importance of choosing authentic products and services. We also organised a Democracy Square in cooperation with Kurzeme NGO Centre – providing everyone with the opportunity to join in playing games about democratic processes and engage in discussions and talks on the principles of democracy and civil society.

We really see everyone who is ready to be a part of the (un)rest process as cornerstones in our artistic vision. We seek to bring different points of view, different areas of expertise, knowledge, experience, and willingness to work together.  We shall launch open calls for projects where everyone can contribute their ideas.

What are your main goals as Liepāja city to participate in the European Capital of Culture project?
With Liepāja’s (un)rest, we aspire to turn our fellow townspeople into navigators in the surging sea of daily topics, bringing a new cultural competence. We hope to strengthen Liepāja’s unique cultural and historical heritage, to encourage its revitalisation, to promote the preservation and cultivation of traditions, to introduce them not only to Europe, but also to ourselves. We are keen to encourage the emergence of an environment that is engaging and appealing, so that people can evolve from inert observers to active doers. We also aim to create meaningful and practical sectoral cooperation with various European partners, to teach the public to consume less, to stimulate people into taking a more hands-on role in shaping their environment.

Our intention also includes increasing the number of cross-sectoral and trans-generational cooperation projects, facilitating the exchange of new knowledge, and increasing the number of people equipped with new skills and knowledge.