Conference program
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
27.11.25
Collection Building: Then and Now
Cinema Splendid Palace, Elizabetes Street 61, Riga.
9.00 – 10.00
Participant registration
10.00 – 10.15
Conference opening – addresses by representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music
10.15 – 11.00
Keynote speech
Léontine Meijer-van Mensch
Against the Wall Head First
Following Jānis Greste’s credo, museums can only find their future by daring to face obstacles head on, bruises included.
Léontine Meijer-van Mensch
Against the Wall Head First
Following Jānis Greste’s credo, museums can only find their future by daring to face obstacles head on, bruises included.
11.00 – 11.15
Evelīna Plostniece. The Riverbanks of the Song Festival Time Stream – Is it Possible to Contain Them? Challenges and Opportunities
11.15 – 11.30
Mg. art. Zanda Šumska . Transformation of Heritage: Challenges of the Digital Age in Museum Collection Development
11.30 – 12.00
Discussion: Challenges and Opportunities for Museum Collection Development in Future.
Participants: composer Andris Dzenītis, writer Ilze Jansone, leading art experts from the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music Inese Žune and Ingus Barovskis. Discussion moderated by Laima Jansone.
Participants: composer Andris Dzenītis, writer Ilze Jansone, leading art experts from the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music Inese Žune and Ingus Barovskis. Discussion moderated by Laima Jansone.
12.00 – 13.00
Lunch break
13.00 – 13.15
Ph.D. Kristīne Beķere, Kuldīga District Museum. Museum Collection Development in the Late 1930s: The Example of Kuldīga District Museum.
13.15 – 13.30
Mg.hist. Ronalds Mālmeisters, Talsi District Museum. Collection Building Trends at Talsi District Museum.
13.30 – 13.45
Mg.hist. Gundega Skagale, Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum. An Iron on the Museum Shelf – A Cultural-Historical Testimony or a Burden for the Collection?
13.45 – 14.00
Discussion, questions
14.00 – 14.30
Coffee break
14.30 – 14.45
Ph.D. cand., M.A., Mg.Sc.soc. Anna Žabicka, Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine. Collection Choices as Cultural Policy: An Analysis of the Museum’s Collection Content.
14.45 – 15.00
Mg.hist., Dr.med. Maija Pozemkovska, Riga School Museum. The School Museum Created by Jānis Greste – Lost and Vanishing.
15.00 – 15.15
Ph.D. Ilona Miezīte, Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music. Lost Treasures: How the Museum’s Predecessors Lost Part of Their Collection Materials.
15.15 – 15.30
Discussion, questions
16.00 Premiere of the film Grestomātija
28.11.25
Visionary thinking and the adaptation of historical narratives for future purposes
Epilogue of the LNMLM exhibition “Procrastination and Creation” (mansard), Mārstaļu Street 6, Riga.
9.00 – 10.00
Participant registration
10.00 – 10.15
Opening remarks
10.15 – 11.00
Keynote speech Agnes Aljas
Visions and Frictions: Museums and Youth Engagement.
Visions and Frictions: Museums and Youth Engagement.
11.00 – 11.15
Ph.D. cand. Kristina Petrauskė, Vytautas the Great War Museum. From Spectators to Citizens: Empowering Participation in Museums.
11.15 – 11.30
Mg.hist. Barba Ekmane, Latvian War Museum. Can the Past and its Stories Influence the Future? Looking at the Period of Latvia’s Restoration of Independence, One Could Say Yes
11.30 – 11.45
Mg. theol. Laima Jansone, Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music. Those Crazy Years… Evidence of the Use of the Latvian National Anthem Between 1940 and 1950.
11.45 – 12.00
Discussion, questions
12.00 – 13.00
Lunch break at the restaurant “Niklāvs”, Mārstaļu Street 1
13.00 – 13.15
Mg. art. Džūlija Rodenkirhena, Latvian Museum of Photography. The Strenči Photo Studio Collection and the Diversity of Its Interpretations: A Place Created in the Archive.
13.15 – 13.30
Mag. hist., Mag. teol. Anete Jenča Turaida Museum Reserve (State Protected Cultural Monument). The Narrative of the Third Awakening and the Church in the Museum: How the Exhibition We Believed – We Exist Reconstructs the Role of the Church in History.
13.30 – 13.45
Mg.sc.soc., Ph.D. cand. Ināra Mukāne, Daugavpils University (Doctoral Programme “History and Archaeology”), Augšdaugava District Municipality (Cultural Heritage Expert). Interaction Between Personalities and Places in the Development of the Berķenele Cultural Environment.
13.45 – 14.00
Mg. philol. Dace Micāne-Zālīte, Association of Memorial Museums, Ojārs Vācietis Museum. Letters from Berta Alvīne Vāciete to Her Son Ojārs: The Epistolary and Emotional Code of the Era in the Research “Letters from Līzespasts”.
14.00 – 14.30
Discussion, questions
14.30 – 15.00
Coffee break
15.00 – 15.15
Mg. art., Dr. artium student Kristīne Želve, curator and director. Between Research and Creation: Notes on the Making of the Interdisciplinary Exhibition The Times of the Land Surveyors. An Unfinished Script for the Third Film Adaptation.
15.15 – 15.30
Mg. art. Dace Vosa, Association of Memorial Museums, Janis Rozentāls and Rūdolfs Blaumanis Museum. Rūdolfs Blaumanis’ Room.
15.30 – 15.45
Mg. philol., Mg.paed. Deimantė Cibulskienė, Maironio lietuvių literatūros muziejus The Versatility of a Literature Museum: What Will Interest Future Visitors?
15.45 – 16.00
Mg.art. Kaspars Vanags un Mg.art. Kristīne Liniņa, Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine. Beyond Regime Narratives: Transforming a Soviet-Era Medicine History Museum for the Biopolitical Age.
16.00 – 16.30
Discussion, questions
16.30 – 17.00
Coffee break
17.00 – 17.15
Mg. art., Mg. philol. Inga Surgunte, Project Manager for Sustainable Development, Latvian Museum Association. Working Strategically with Sustainable Development Goals: The Experience of Four Latvian Museums in the Project TOWCHED.
17.15 – 17.30
Mg.art. Līga Bērziņa, Latvian Autism Association. Autism-Friendly Museums in Latvia.
17.30 – 17.45
Mg.philol. Iveta Ruskule, Director of the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music. Creative Participation as a Future Strategy for Museums: Experience, Compromises and Added Value.
17.45 – 18.00
Discussion, questions
18.15 Launch of the conference proceedings “Acts. Facts. Artefacts”
19.00 Conference closing and free time in the exhibition “Procrastination and Creation”
29.11.25
Excursion day
Excursions to the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music.
10.00 – 14.00
Excursion to the exhibition “The Song Festival Space”, Lūcijas Garūtas Street 8, Riga, and to the Museum Repository, Pulka Street 8, Riga.
Special guests
Deimantė Cibulskienė
Deimantė Cibulskienė holds two Master’s degrees: one in Lithuanian Philology (Contemporary Lithuanian Literary Studies) from Vytautas Magnus University and another in Educational Sciences (Education System Management) from Kaunas University of Technology.
Museum is a smart, ever-evolving and adaptable institution, full of creativity and inspiration.
Agnes Aljas
Agnes Aljas is the Research Secretary at the Estonian National Museum. With an academic background in history, ethnology, and communication from the University of Tartu (Estonia), the University of Turku (Finland), and the University of Aix-en-Provence (France).
Vision is what keeps us moving: it’s about daring to imagine and shape new ways of working, rooted in knowledge, empathy, and awareness of the world.
Léontine Meijer-van Mensch
Léontine Meijer-van Mensch is director of Museum Rotterdam. She previously worked in Germany as programme director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, deputy director of the Museum of European Cultures (Berlin), and director of the State Ethnographical Collections of Saxony (Dresden).
Vision is not a slogan but the courage to look beyond what is safe or convenient, to imagine futures not yet visible, and to act on them.
Conference program
Day 1
27.11.25
Collection Building: Then and Now
Cinema Splendid Palace, Elizabetes Street 61, Riga.
Day 2
28.11.25
Visionary thinking and the adaptation of historical narratives for future purposes
Epilogue of the LNMLM exhibition “Procrastination and Creation” (mansard), Mārstaļu Street 6, Riga.
Day 3
29.11.25
Excursion day
Excursions to the Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music.
