Balvi Culture and Recreation Centre Director: A Culture House Is Not Just a Building, People Fill It

The regional news portal LaKuga has visited Balvi, a town in north-eastern Latvia, for its series of articles about culture houses in Latgale. Dita Nipere, director of the Balvi Culture and Recreation Centre (Balvi KAC), says the centre is multifunctional rather than simply a concert hall, and that its foundation is made up of amateur art groups. She has led the centre for three years; before that she worked as an event organiser at the Balvi youth centre.

What the centre does

Balvi KAC oversees nine smaller culture houses. The Viļaka culture house is separately responsible for the culture houses in the border area, except the Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre "Upīte". The centre also has a methodological role: it organises seminars and experience exchanges for all culture workers in the municipality. Nipere stresses that, in her view, a culture house is not just a building, because the people who fill it matter most.

Events and traditions

Calendar holidays are still celebrated in Balvi. This year the youth festival "Manifests" was held for the first time, with young people helping to organise it. Strong wind forced the cancellation of some activities, and few people came to the concert by the rap act "Latgalīšu reps". Nipere has noticed that balls are losing popularity. Most of the centre's events are paid.

Looking ahead

The director believes work in small parishes should be left to local communities, but that culture houses must not be closed entirely; merging them is possible. She says culture in border areas needs subsidies, and notes that the centre itself has an unfilled vacancy. Next year the town will mark its 99th anniversary, and a new culture and tourism strategy was recently drawn up.