Thank you, Elizabete.  I certainly don’t have the genetic background to have made that comment, but I second the thought.  :-)

I was never under the impression that Vasks has succeeded through dint of Latvian support alone.  As unified as the Latvian community may be around the world, his success has been far greater than that and has certainly reached far outside that community.

I do have to ask, because I’ve heard comments like this before.  What is it about the Latvian communities outside of Latvia that make them so doubtful/so unaware of the international recognied “quality” of Latvian artists?  or maybe it’s the suggestion that these communities are somehow giving international credence to these artists that they couldn’t otherwise earn?  Vasks, Rigas Jaunais Teatris, and others have international creds unrelated to this kind of support.  I’m not sure exactly why it feels like Ambersun is suggesting that Vasks succeeded in his California premier solely because the local Latvian community rallied to his support.

Sveika, Susanna! : )

You wrote:

“What is it about the Latvian communities outside of Latvia that make them so doubtful/so unaware of the international recognied “quality” of Latvian artists?  or maybe it’s the suggestion that these communities are somehow giving international credence to these artists that they couldn’t otherwise earn?  Vasks, Rigas Jaunais Teatris, and others have international creds unrelated to this kind of support.  I’m not sure exactly why it feels like Ambersun is suggesting that Vasks succeeded in his California premier solely because the local Latvian community rallied to his support. “

Despite the mis-information disseminated on this forum, Vasks’ “California premiere” occurred in the spring of 1997 when the Kronos quartet chose to perform his 3rd string quartet in both a private concert in the East Bay and a public one in Stanford.  My understanding was that they hoped by doing so that they might gain the right to commission his 4th string quartet.  Their plan succeeded!  And the result was that Vasks’ 4th string quartet, commissioned by Kronos and subsequently recorded as Kronos’ first ‘single’ CD, was nominated for a Grammy.  This also led to Kronos commissioning Vasks’ 5th string quartet.

Susanna, as for the rest of your questions (all of which are quite to the point, as always) - perhaps someone closer to the emigre community, could answer them.  I will, however, say that Ambersuns’ notion that Vasks needed the support of the emigre community to succeed is, well, ludicrous.

Visu to labāko! : )

Elizabete

What is it about the Latvian communities outside of Latvia that make them so doubtful/so unaware of the international recognied “quality” of Latvian artists? Without any fear of our tautas-terped ambersun, I’ll venture a guess that it’s the notorious inferior complex that makes them such. One certainly can explain the complex - largely due to the history of the occupation by other nations. Latvia the country is still rather timid on the international arena and there’s this whole mindset of dubious contribution to the world music history.

Don’t mean to shift the gears, but placing Riga on the monopoly board is part of that same complex. We want to be recognized but we don’t want to do anything about it. An Irish friend of mine said, “Invent Guinness. That’ll put you on the map.” But we don’t want to be put on the map as a country that invents, discovers or creates. We want to be put on the map because people voted for our city to be part of the Parker Brothers board game.

But take Estonia, for example. It became the first country to hold the e-election. It became the home of Skype software. It advanced technologically. It stood up to Russia during the last year’s riots. And Estonians have a stronger sense of identity and consequently, a lesser victim or inferior complex.

And the question to all, what are Latvians (that’s latvijas iedzivotaji) good at? PC suggested whining to be a national sport. But are we good at anything else around which we can build our national identity to make the whole world say, “Oh, Latvians, they’re good at –”

Once again, sorry to ramble out of turn.

Not rambling, thanks for your 2 cents.

Elizabete, while I am no expert, I am a big fan of more avant garde music/groups...I LOVE Kronos and have seen and collected their work for more than 20 years.  In fact, I was lucky enough to see them twice in Riga.  I am fully aware that they have long ties with Vasks, and saw them premier one of his pieces at a concert in Riga.  I think it says something about the level of “education” of the audience for music in Riga that Kronos is able to perform there with such good reception.  They are definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.

That said, I guess I think the above comment is a “nice” way of looking at the situation I am asking.  I at times/from some in the US Latvian community (for example) have gotten the distinct impression that they think that other than for their enlightened interest and support some of these artists would perish.  I frankly don’t get the idea that it’s completely from the standpoint of self doubt, as much as perhaps a sense that they are doing the poor cousins a favor.  That should get me expelled from the club...if I ever was a member.  And I’m sorry if that’s hard to hear.  But I’ve been shocked, when we have been so sad to have missed some of the travelling theater for example, to hear those lucky enough to see it disparage the performances as “so soviet.” RJT performs to sold out crowds, uniformly, in Riga.  We had to fight to get tickets to performances of Revidents (The Inspector General)...a performance that won awards in various theater festivals around the world.  And yes, it had plenty of soviet references...but “soviet” in character, in quality?  Not.

Pretty much everything we’ve seen of Latvian theater is so superior in quality to what you will get in much of the world...including in a lot of the US...that it’s impossible to compare.  Perhaps it is because we’ve seen theater in a LOT of places, perhaps it is the lack of ingrained self-doubt.  But then would I be happy to proffer my personal opinion that theater in DC is generally abysmal...while theater in Chicago generally is not.  Or do Americans not have ingrained self doubt...I think we certainly do with regard to what you might call “high” culture.

My 2 cents… I certainly am no proponent of the theary that the mere fact of being from Latvia makes something of high quality.  But with experience I have come to expect a level of quality, intensity, unusual personal angle from Latvian artists.  As I mentioned, for years, my husband and I have theorized that the quality of the audience in Latvia may be a strong indicator for the general quality of the arts.  I mean where else in the world would you see a checker at a small neighborhood grocery, on the midnight shift no less, reading Master and Margarita (in Latvian, mind you).  And certainly the acceptance of and accolades for more unusual musical forms (like that which is performed by Kronos) is another indicator.

That’s it...my 2 cents.. Now you can slay me.

Aleksej- I think that you are setting up an unfair/nonexistent dichotomy. It is not either “Monopoly or invention"- I want both, thank you very much. We have more than enough energy to do both and acknowledge the relative value and merit of each kind of effort.

I know lots of folks here who work creatively and diligently at invention, discovery and innovation. Hit the big conferences such as Baltic Innovation (held in Riga every three years) or talk to Janis Jānis Stabulnieks at the Latvian Technology Centre (http://www.innovation.lv). When Krišjānis Kariņš was Minister of Economics he pushed at the science and technology side of academia. I remember sitting in his office and being surprised at how much he knew about the research going on in basic sciences in LU. 

I agree that we (just for today I am Latvian) tend to socially undervalue anything that is not “cultural” but that should not be made to mean that we don’t have anything going on.

Tom...don’t know why you’d be surprised that Krisjanis would make a point of knowing what’s going on at LU and in academic circles!?  Latvia can be a pretty small world, and K is a smart, involved guy.

In any case, you appear to state that you are not Latvian.  So, from the another non-Latvian on the forum, I was just wondering what was your connection/interest?

Tom,

Yes, you can have both - Monopoly and innovation. I maybe too critical to suggest that there has to be a reason why the Monopoly voting had taken off in Riga and not so much in other Baltic capitals. That reason in my view is a perceived lack of recognition, or rather a national sense of inferiority, that has to do with the country’s history.

From its budget, Latvia spends considerably less on R&D;, compared to that same Estonia, for example.

Latvia – which promoted itself as the Land that Sings (unlike Scandinavian Estonians) – doesn’t appear to tailor its economy toward its strengths—whatever they may be—at all. Mr. Shelsers touts Latvia as a transportation corridor between the East and the West, which is a nice idea, but I don’t think it will raise the standard of living. Perhaps, it’s because I lived in Indiana which dubbed itself as the Crossroads of America…

The current account deficit shot through the roof, meaning we import more than we export, which is another reason why our economy is so bad. If Estonians decided or chose to focus their attention on computer sciences, or cutting the red tape for small businesses, or developing entrepreneurship, Latvians didn’t do anything. Comparatively, Lithuanians decided that agriculture was important for their country and now we have Maximas and Rimi on every corner largely because of that. 

So, the question arises what gives? I don’t mind voting for Riga to be on the Monopoly game, but I don’t see myself identifying my home town with a Monopoly square. I’d rather see this country find its self-identification in a skill, an innovation, a development of some kind that would wow the world. In a way, we need another Minox. But even that was invented by a German.

Thank you for the link, Tom. I’ll browse through the extensive site.

Update: I found this page which paints the sad situation on the innovative front for Latvia. 19 per cent of businesses are innovative (compared to 45 per cent EU average), investment in innovation and sciences is at .57 per cent of GDP (again, the EU aims for 2 or 3 per cent). Only 0.8 per cent of labor force is employed in research and development, with the vast majority (60 per cent) of them working in education and only 14 per cent in the private sector. And so on. Sad, really. Because I believe through investing in research and development, we can develop a healthy national identity after years of submission to foreign powers.

Elizabeta,

Congratulations! You are the unchallenged winner of the LOL spelling bee!

Your prize: exclusive rights to correct all my addle-brained, mispelled words and my ticket to Vasks’ recent concert.

For extra honors:
What is the correct spelling of Gidon as in Gidon Kremer (see McTalzeme, #7)?
Should lederhosen be capitalized (see Peteris, #9)?
How does one spell pedant?

ped·ant (ped′’nt)

noun

a person who puts unnecessary stress on minor or trivial points of learning, displaying a scholarship lacking in judgment or sense of proportion
a narrow-minded teacher who insists on exact adherence to a set of arbitrary rules
Obsolete a schoolmaster

Sincerely

I thought “sincerely” would be followed by a name. Boy, was I disappointed to have read through a sarcasm-drenched post…

I also found a 2003 study which suggests the following for the Latvian government. Remember, it was on the eve of joining the EU, the study recommended how the government could spend the influx of EU cash. It also suggested:

“… the agenda for the Latvian government should be relatively simple. It is to promote export-oriented activities and to strengthen the capacity of local firms to become suppliers of multinational companies. Within this vision, most of the recommendations improving the business environment remain relevant...”

It’s interesting that our export sector doesn’t develop as fast. We still export less than we import, as I’ve suggested earlier.

The other suggestion was opening labor market to foreign skilled workers (beyond managerial positions). I’m sure some have come here, but opening labor market to third-country workers will remain the hot potato as far as the government is concerned.

But it appears to me the government spent money on the scientific study that it didn’t use when implementing any of fiscal or economic policy. It threw the study in a bin....

McTalzeme- I think that I have mentioned my connection elsewhere. I have lived here for near-on-to 7 years (since late 2001). I have the enormous pleasure of being married to a stereotypically beautiful, intelligent and wonderful LV woman, and father (step-father) to one challenged and challenging 11 year old boy. I teach at Riga Business School and elsewhere and occasionally stick my nose into other people’s business as a consultant. My wife and I also have an NGO called Pro Futuro that fights the fun IZM about dyslexia and helping those with dyslexia. More about that at http://www.disleksija.lv .And our organization and my wife are featured on the website of those horrid Sorosieši at http://www.politika.lv .

Aleksej- current account deficit is concerning but not surprising giving the amount of manufacturing. It is far from a death knell though. If it were, the USA would have sunk a long time ago. The innovation numbers that you cite show up on a regular basis in any number of (bad) business plans and (good) projects (EEA and ESF money).

Probably more important are the numbers of people who take the easy way out and study in the soft-sciences or humanities in university in LV. Kariņš is someone who I miss being in power because he recognized the incredible danger of having such an over representation in the social sciences. I
forget the exact numbers (I have used them of course) but the fraction of students in the social sciences in LV is something around 2x the EU average. It is probably unsustainable.

One curious thing that I learned recently is that it seems that there is lots of venture money available (EU and other sources) but not enough projects (new businesses) to fund. It is not that there aren’t enough good ideas, but just not enough of the human infrastructure needed to breath international life into the businesses. One conclusion is that we need to encourage the people to get BS or BA in engineering or any one of the sciences and then Masters in business or creativity or whatever, but only after some time working and generating. Unfortunately, there is still too much of a disconnect between academics and reality and the students seem more interested in getting the diploma than in doing the work. BUT.... there are lots of smart and committed people working on these issues. Specifically, RISEBA has developed some really interesting new Masters programs using good teaching methods and that are directly relevant to “real life”. Also, my place has some interesting new MBA course work in e-business and uses experienced local entrepreneurs (Jānis Bergs and others) in teaching what they have been successful at.

I love the numbers but the comparisons can be irrelevant. I would never say that LV does not follow the rules of normal economics (as so many on Morton Hansen’s blog comments do), but it is more important to me that we define what we want for LV independent of what the rest of the world does and then work toward it. I love when people set goals like- “we will have per capita GDP that is X% of EU average”. That average is a shifting number- the higher our per capita GDP the higher that average is! I prefer that we set goals that reflect what we want for ourselves not as how we compare with others.

Yep, it can be frustrating sometimes, but mostly the world is bright. And, believe me, sometimes it takes a lot for me to say that!!

Ambersun...sorry i included a typo...Gidon it is.  I don’t think Elizabete and I were nitpicking you...but it is germane, is it not, to point out that the example you are using doesn’t seem to fit the box you are trying to squeeze it into.  We appear to disagree with you.  That’s all.  Nothing personal.

Tom...very interesting the subject of the # of students studying social vs. applied sciences in Latvia.  And, another Morton Hansen-ite.  Hmmm… I don’t know how to compare and contrast this kind of data between Estonians and Latvians...perhaps it’s the Finnish influence.  But from friends and acquaintances I would probably characterize this interest in the social sciences as a result of a much needed re-education in those fields after 50 years of sovietization.  I’m assuming that you are talking about the numbers studying public administration, economics, political science, law, etc.  I know when I was there spots in those programs were hard sought and fought for.  A re-education, mind you, that was heavily supported by grants and academic exchanges and heavily promoted and subsidized among in-coming students for a good number of years.  In fact, Dr. Hansen was originally in Latvia with Eurofaculty support, I believe.  I think the effect of that kind of promotion/support doesn’t end quickly, and the support for and existence of the Eurofaculty program only ended a couple of years ago. 

Second, I wonder whether the contrast with Estonia has something to do with the location of the academic center of Estonia, vs. the location of the business center.  Tartu is definitely the academic center of the country, while Tallinn is the business center.  Government being located with more access to business than to academia might logically result in a strong government/business partnership and thus more codified support for that sector.  In contrast, although Riga rajons is certainly a business center, arguably Ventspils and Liepaja are strong counterweights geographically, while Latvia’s main academic center is certainly Riga.

And, as opposed to social sciences, the quality of business education in Latvia has been pretty low and wasn’t improving quickly.  During my time at AmCham Latvia they ran a contest for students involving presentation of plans for new business.  Usually teams were composed of students from the varying universities, business schools.  Aside from Swedish School, the teams were fairly unimpressive.  We did start to see some quality work coming out of Senor Lemberg’s Ventspils University, but then that school was modeled in some ways after SS, so perhaps to be expected.  I assume things have improved, and would be interested to hear how.

A very novice opinion, but thoughts?