Building on its commitment to elevate the visibility of Latvian performing arts and facilitate new collaborations across Europe, Dailes Theatre is hosting two major regional events between 5 and 9 November 2025 – STAGES Forum and the European Theatre Convention (ETC) International Theatre Conference. Over five days, local and international theatre professionals will have the opportunity to attend discussions, keynote lectures and workshops and see 20 Latvian productions as part of the Latvian Theatre Showcase. Participation in both the forum and the conference is free of charge; registration is available via this online form before 30 September 2025.
The core concept of the conference is “Stage for Truth. Which Truth?”, emphasising the reality of hybrid warfare and post-truth reality confronting the cultural sector in Latvia, across Europe and beyond. The conference comes as global politics slides towards hostility and conflict, and on a national level cuts to culture budgets are proposed to increase spending on defense. Terms like "nationalism" and "duty" have re-entered public debate, while demagogue leaders dismiss plans for inclusion and equality as "divisive" and "political"’.
In 2022, Dailes Theatre became a full member of the European Theatre Convention, a network representing over 60 public theatres from 30 European countries – including renowned institutions such as Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Volkstheater Vienna, Graz National Theatre and others. Founded in 1988, ETC is the largest public theatre network in Europe. Its programmes and scholarships foster international exchanges, professional development and artistic collaboration among members. The Convention positions theatre as a cornerstone of European art in the 21st century, and operates with support from the European Union.
Meanwhile, STAGES (Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift) is a theatre experiment to challenge how the cultural sector interacts with the concept of sustainability. 14 influential theatre organisations, including a leading European theatre network, a theatre partner from Asia and partners in academia, have joined together with director Katie Mitchell and choreographer Jérôme Bel – two artists that are renowned for embedding sustainability in their work – to test radical solutions to the biggest challenges posed by the climate crisis. In this alliance Latvia is represented by Riga Technical University, partnered with Dailes Theatre in organising the STAGES Forum.
Given that both events are taking place only approximately 250 kilometres from the border with the aggressor state of Russia, Dailes Theatre underscores its commitment to demonstrating the engagement and potential of Latvian theatre at a European and even broader level. STAGES Forum and the ETC International Theatre Conference will welcome around 250 local and international theatre professionals.
Please find the registration form here, and the programme for both the STAGES Forum and the European Theatre Convention conference – here.