In the summer of 2025, Riga will be smoking and sounding - the XIII Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival. Latvia's largest celebration of culture and art for children and young people will bring together thousands of singers from choirs and vocal ensembles, folk and contemporary dancers, musicians from brass bands and symphony orchestras, folklore groups and folk music ensembles, accordionists, kokle players, young artists, actors - members of various artistic collectives from Latvia and the diaspora.
According to the Song and Dance Festival Law, the Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival is held every five years between the Latvian Song and Dance Festivals. It is a creative and joyful event for the whole of Latvia, where children and young people sing, dance and make music, creating a feast for themselves and for everyone who attends the Festival.
On 7 November 2003, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation declared the tradition, symbolism and uniqueness of the Song and Dance Festival in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival has been part of this heritage for 50 years.
programme
During the festival, events will take place in various venues in Riga - Mezaparks Grand Stage, Daugava National Stadium, Arena Riga, Kipsala International Exhibition Centre, Daile Theatre, VEF Culture Palace, Riga Dome Church, Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, Freedom Square, Vermane Garden and in other locations.
