Italian Embassy in Latvia invites to Caffè Young Italy

Since August this year, the Embassy of Italy in Latvia, together with a number of Latvian cultural institutions and festivals, has been offering an exciting series of events in which young people from Latvia and Italy have held conversations to find shared interests and explore each other’s cultural diversity. The Caffè Young Italy project will run until December this year, with a total of 10 different events.

The series of events Caffè Young Italy includes Italian and Latvian creative industry representatives and professionals who are active in these fields. According to the Embassy of Italy in Latvia, the project aims to give young people from both countries a place and opportunity to talk about the challenges and opportunities they share in their professional life, regardless of their different backgrounds. The project involves 10 public talks between young Italian artists and professionals and their Latvian counterparts active in the same sector.

“Both in Italy and Latvia, young people are not only the heirs of rich traditions: they are true protagonists of contemporary culture. The purpose of our Caffè Young Italy event series is to create new connections between the youth of our countries and lay the foundations for new forms of collaboration,” says Alessandro Monti, Ambassador of Italy in Latvia.

The first two events have already taken place at Caffè Young Italy: on August 31st, in cooperation with the International New Theatre Festival Homo Novus, a conversation on performance arts was organised with the participation of Artūrs Čukurs, Beāte Poikāne and Katrīna Dūka from Latvia, as well as dancers Agata and Teodora Castellucci from Italy’s Dewey Dell collective. In the days leading up to the event, Dewey Dell was a real protagonist of Homo Novus with two sold-out shows of the collective’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” at Hanzas Perons and the performance “I’ll do, I’ll do, I’ll do” given on stage just before the conversation.

On September 6th, Italian-Tunisian artist Monia Ben Hamouda and Latvian artist Līga Spunde talked about art at the international festival Survival Kit organised by the Latvian Contemporary Art Centre. The conversation was moderated by Survival Kit’s artistic director, Jussi Koitela. Two artworks by Ben Hamouda were also featured in the festival’s main exhibition, “Measurements”.

Each conversation, with both participants and moderators on the stage, takes place in English and lasts around 40 minutes. After each conversation, audience members are welcomed to enjoy a coffee-aperitif. For the first two events, coffee was provided by the Italian brand Lavazza.

The project is supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as part of its initiative “Capitals of Italian Creativity Abroad / Festival of Italy”.

The next three upcoming events in October will focus on information, literature, and fashion. On October 16, as part of the "Riga Conference", there will be a discussion on information featuring Silvia Boccardi from Italy and Tomass Pildegovičs from Latvia. The literature-themed discussion on 18 October at the Latvian Academy of Culture’s Tabakas Fabrika will feature young Latvian writer Gusts Ābele and Italian author and screenwriter Alice Urciuolo. On 30 October, during the Riga Fashion Week, Caffè Young Italy will offer a conversation between Italian fashion historian Matteo Augello and Latvian designer Laima Jurča at the Art Academy of Latvia.

The programme of events is announced on a monthly basis on caffeyoungitaly.it and Instagram @caffeyoungitaly. Information can also be found on the homepage and social media of the Embassy of Italy in Latvia. Caffè Young Italy events are free of charge, but advance registration is required at caffeyoungitaly.it.