The association “Latvian Folk Art Union” has been founded in 2002. Its goal is to preserve and develop the Latvian folk applied arts. In the beginning the activity of the Union was insignificant, but in 2008 after an invitation from the chairman of the Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union Liivi Soova the Union joined the European Folk Art and Craft Federation (EFACF). In 2009 a reelection took place in the Union and the new board has started new activities. One of the largest projects of the new board was the creation of a “Street of Craftsmen” in Riga in the Rats Passage in 2010. It is a small closed street in the old town of Riga where trade of folk applied art craftsmen works and demonstrations of traditional crafts take place.
In 2011:
The Union organized a conference named “Folk Applied Art in Riga” in cooperation with the Riga city council. The goal of the conference was to update the relevant problems of folk applied art sector and to mark the basic principles of the further development, and there was a folk applied art craftsmen work exhibition in the Riga town hall for one month.
During the summer the Union:
1) organized a fair of applied arts products, demonstrations of craft skill and a wide program of traditional culture within the framework of Riga 810 festivities;
2) represented Latvia in the 25th folk art festival in Budapest, Hungary. This year craft masters from the three Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – were invited as special guests.
In October within the framework of Riga Days in St. Petersburg in cooperation with the Riga city council the Union arranged an exhibition of folk applied art in the Russian Ethnographic museum.
During the Christmas holidays workshops will take place on the “Street of Craftsmen” in the Riga Rats passage, where it will be possible to make small self made gifts and a Christmas tree will be lit.