An international jury has announced the winners of the Baltic Sea Region Cultural Pearls (BSR Cultural Pearls) title for 2024. Chosen from candidates across 12 Baltic Sea countries are Svendborg (Denmark), Kiel (Germany), Jakobstad (Finland), and Rūjiena (Latvia). These cities were selected for their outstanding cultural and social‑resilience action plans, aiming to strengthen and unite their communities through culture and creativity.
The jury included experts in social resilience, urban planning, arts, and culture, with representatives from Baltic and European organizations and city networks.
The BSR Cultural Pearls title offers award-winning municipalities access to a program that supports their planned activities—helping them leverage culture to bolster community cohesion, improve quality of life, foster a sense of belonging, and build trust—making them stronger and better prepared for future challenges.
Rūjiena’s action plan received special praise for addressing critical issues such as the outmigration of young people and rapid population decline—especially in smaller towns farther from Riga. These challenges intensified after the 2021 administrative reform that merged Rūjiena into Valmiera municipality, which also impacted cultural governance. In a 2023 survey, Rūjiena was the only town in the Valmiera region expressing dissatisfaction with its cultural development. The new action plan aims to reverse this by fostering an open, democratic, and civically engaged social community, starting with small-scale initiatives—from getting neighbors to meet, to cross-border cooperation with Estonia. Local residents hope to establish a community centre—a hub born of the community, not just an institutional space—and emphasize empowering people to create, not just consume.
“The received title will give Rūjiena an excellent opportunity to create a more favorable environment for community activities…interdisciplinary collaboration, a new network of foreign cooperation partners, and improved cooperation with Estonia in culture,” says Madara Seile, cultural project manager for Valmiera region.
The four cities—Svendborg, Kiel, Jakobstad, and Rūjiena—are now participating in a year-long BSR Cultural Pearls programme. This includes mentoring, capacity-building with expert support, networking, and international experience-sharing to help implement their action plans.
“We were positively surprised by the dedication each city showed in the competition. Their creative and inclusive approaches to strengthening social resilience have exceeded our expectations,” said Felix Schartner Giertta, BSR Cultural Pearls Project Manager representing the Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat. “The foundation of these initiatives is culture and its ability to engage people around shared ideas and goals, enhance residents’ sense of belonging to the city and region… We are glad that the action plans involve active participation from residents in implementing ideas.”
Notable jury members included cultural leaders from Eurocities (Belgium), Finland’s Cultural Heritage Agency, the European Commission, Riga Urban Institute, Seismonaut (Denmark), cultural managers from Poland, Norway’s BSSSC, and Malta’s Culture Venture.
The project is co-financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021–2027, and the next call for proposals for the Cultural Pearl title will open in April 2024.
