RIGA - It's impossible to walk more than a few blocks in Riga these days without hearing something about French Spring. A massive advertising campaign has seen posters with the French Spring logo scattered around town, as well as zipping along on the sides of trolleybuses. The extensive advertising and rapid-fire events are doing their job well, and the French Spring's cultural undertakings are creating considerable buzz around the city.
French Spring is a three-month series of events aimed at promoting French culture in Latvia. Theater, classical dance, circus shows, choir concerts, cinema, paintings, literature seminars, photography, artist workshops, culinary workshops and economic cooperation seminars represent some of the hundreds of events on its schedule. The whole affair will culminate on June 17 at Rundale castle with a series of concerts, exhibition openings and a huge ceremony involving roses, which symbolizes the "bouquet of French culture" that has been planted in Latvia.
The scale is almost overwhelming 's this is the largest French culture festival ever to come to northern Europe. The organizers hope that the festival will not only help to improve ties between Latvia and France, but also raise interest in the other Baltic states and in Scandinavia.
France and Latvia have a rich history together. France was a large proponent of Latvia's independence in the interwar period, encouraging other western European states to recognize the newly formed nation. The two nations have enjoyed close cultural ties over the years, with cooperation between prominent theater and art schools. Moreover, a number of prominent Latvian artists spent time studying in France, including Vilhelms Purvitis, who was director of "L'Academie de Beaux-Arts" in Riga, and painter Karlis Huns.
The festival is a product not only of a historically close relationship between France and Latvia, but also of a strong relationship between Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and French President Jacques Chirac. "Mme. Vike-Freiberga and I have over the years had the opportunity to multiply the occasions of celebrating and consolidating our friendship," Chirac said in a speech about the French Spring. He went on to praise Vike-Freiberga's collection of "dienas" 's traditional folk songs which are the president's specialty 's that was published in France, as well as her mastery of the French language.
"The ideals of the great French Revolution 's liberte, egalite, fraternite 's have echoed in the Latvian mindset. The relationship between France and Latvia is in essence one of common values, mutual trust and mutual support. In between wars and also after the re-enactment of independence, Latvia has been able to come to rely on France's friendship," Vike-Freiberga said in a speech marking the French Spring.
The idea for season-long cross-cultural festivals was formed during Vike-Freiberga's state visit to Paris in 2003. During that visit, the two leaders worked out the first such event, "Etonnante Lettonie" (astonishing Latvia), which took place in the autumn of 2005. "The 2005 festival was a huge success that enabled an incalculable French audience to discover the exceptional creativity and the rich artistic patrimony of the Latvian nation, which had remained unknown for too much time in France," Chirac said. The success of the first festival in France was what to a large extent inspired the creation of a French Spring in Latvia two years on.
Daniel Schlosser and Vita Timmermane-Moore, the coordinators of the festival, noted that there are five basic goals to French Spring. The first is to deepen cultural ties between the countries by way of Latvian-French organizations such as CulturesFrance and the French Cultural Center in Riga. The coordinators' aim is to make the festival as widespread as possible, incorporating more than 20 cities in the events.
Another goal of the festival is to develop close city-to-city cooperation, particularly between sister cities Riga and Bordeaux, and between Jurmala and Cabourg. The festival is designed to be as comprehensive as possible, with at least a few events covering cultural, educational, scientific, and economic cooperation.
Lastly, the coordinators hope that the events will inspire significant artists from many disciplines to work together, focusing specifically on the "Le Cirque Desaccorde," a circus group who will tour Latvia for more than one month.
The events are sponsored by more than 50 Latvian and French companies and organizations.
Information about them is available in French and Latvian on the official website: http://www.francijaspavasaris.lv.
