NEW THEATRE INSTITUTE OF LATVIA

contemporary performing arts in Latvia and abroad

We are proud that Culture Exellence Award by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia in 2020 is given to Gundega Laiviņa, the long-term director of the New Theater Institute of Latvia and International Festival of Contemporary Theater Homo Novus.

Until the end of 2020, Gundega has led the NTIL and Homo Novus festival and has received the excellence award for her curatorial work on local and international level.

From 2010 to 2014, Gundega was a member of the artistic board of Riga – European Capital of Culture 2014, where she was responsible for city-specific initiatives and projects involving communities. As a curator, she has also worked on several Latvian national entries at the Prague Quadrennial and a Latvian national exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia 16th International Architecture Exhibition.

Since 2016 Gundega regularly gives lectures on curating and producing in contemporary theatre; she is a lecturer at the Art Academy of Latvia and at the Latvian Culture Academy. Gundega has studied music, culture, and social anthropology, and she has received several European level diplomas and certificates in cultural policy studies and arts management. Currently she studies Urban Placemaking at Pratt Institute Brooklyn, New York.

The Culture Excellence Award was established in 2014. In recent years, the award has been received by Aleksandrs Antoņenko, Jānis Nords, Žanas Lipke Memorial, Signe Baumane, Iveta Apkalna, Andris Freibergs, Turaida Museum Reserve, Rasa and Raitis Šmiti, Andris Nelsons, design office “H2E”, Gidons Krēmers and chamber choir “Kremerata Baltica”, Alvis Hermanis, Latvian National Museum of Art, Rolands Kalniņš, Nora Ikstena, Imants Lancmanis, Elīna Garanča and Anna Laudere.

The LJTI team cordially congratulates Gundega on receiving the award!

Photo by Andrejs Strokins

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