Securing continuation of AoP in Cēsis, Latvia

08 November 2024

Providing education and inspiration to cultural professionals in Cēsis Municipality

A main goal of the Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region project is to work for a continuation and institutionalization of the tested pilot programmes within and beyond the partner regions. Besides the support from political and administrative level and securing long-term frameworks to finance Arts on Prescription (AoP) or similar social prescribing programmes in partner regions, a community of practitioners both from the arts and culture as well as from the health sector is key. Creating such a community at local and regional level includes awareness raising, educating and consulting interested actors and organisations both private and public on organisational and administrative tasks of planning and implementing Arts on Prescription programmes. While proper guidance on such aspects will soon be provided with the project’s Arts on Prescription online guide, in-person contact and exchange on site and in the community form basis for sustainable cooperation on local and regional level.

While our project partners have been networking since project start to organise pilot programmes in their partner region, they continue and put even stronger effort now to widen these networks an invite more stakeholders to become part of a continuing community of practitioners both within and beyond their region.

So do Cēsis Municipality! On 21 October 2024, Inga Surgunte – coordinator of the AoP programme in Cēsis Municipality – and Baiba Roze – AoP link worker and working at the Eduards Veidenbaums Museum Kalāči – introduced the Arts on Prescription (AoP) programme and provided a train-the-trainer workshop to employees of the Cultural Centres of Cēsis municipality. Furthermore, they facilitated a Creative Writing activity as one example of diverse arts and cultural activities that can be part of AoP programmes. By providing education and inspiration to cultural professionals, Cēsis Municipality hopes that further actors and organisations join the programme in long term.