News

The First Peipsiääre Municipality Hackathon Brought Together Young People from Across the Parish

On October 16–17, the first Peipsiääre Municipality youth hackhathon ’How to Become (Culturally) Rich in Your Hometown?’ took place at Kadrina Manor. Five teams with 14 young participants from Alatskivi, Kolkja, Pala, and Vara schools took part. Over two days, the youngsters developed and tested their ideas. The youth hackhathon for 12–25-year-olds is part of…

BSR Cultural Pearls project hosts Dialogue on Culture, Social Resilience and Regional Cooperation in Brussels

The event ‘A Dialogue on Culture, Social Resilience and Regional Cooperation’, held on 3 December 2025 at the Hanse-Office in Brussels, brought together regional and local stakeholders, particularly from the BSSSC network, to explore the role of culture in strengthening community resilience. In this follow-up event to the strategic roundtable hosted during the Macro-regional and…

Culture for Resilience Forum 2025 shows strong demand to continue the Cultural Pearls initiative

From 26–27 November the Culture for Resilience Forum 2025 took place in Varde, Denmark, bringing together municipalities, cultural leaders, researchers, and practitioners from across the Baltic Sea Region to exchange knowledge on how culture strengthens social resilience in smaller and medium-sized cities.  The forum featured a remarkable group of speakers and facilitators, including the Director…

First Wooden House Fair in Kaskinen-Kaskö celebrating Cultural Heritage and Community exceeds Expectations

BSR Cultural Pearl 2025 Kaskinen-Kaskö is Finland’s smallest town in Finland and famous for its old and beautiful wooden houses, which it honoured with the first edition of its own Wooden House Fair on August 17th in the framing of its Culture and Resilience Action Plan (CuReAP). The idea for the event was born out…

Announcement Day: 4 Awarded Cultural Pearls title holders to begin their actions in 2026

After an intense journey that started in February of this year, the selection of the 2026 Cultural Pearls has been announced: Municipalities Glücksburg (GER), Kristinestad-Kristiinankaupunki (FIN), Krosno (POL) and Schleswig (GER) will continue their path toward strengthening social resilience through culture as BSR Cultural Pearls 2026. In total, 11 highly motivated candidates reached the final…

The Soft Core of Hard Security: PA Culture and PA Secure Joint Session at the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2025 related to Social Resilience

At the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2025 in Sopot, the Policy Areas Culture and Secure joined forces to highlight how community cohesion, trust and civic engagement form the “soft core” of “hard security” in building resilient societies. On October 30, 2025, the session “The Soft Core of Hard Security: Community Cohesion and Agency in Times of…

Project partners showcase Culture for Resilience on European level at EU Regions Week in Brussels

The BSR Cultural Pearls project was granted the great opportunity of presenting its work at the European Week of Regions and Cities from October 13-15, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. The stand at the event’s fair first and foremost featured the towns and municipalities across the Baltic Sea Region awarded the BSR Cultural Pearls title and…

11 Culture and Resilience Action Plans received for 2026

We as the BSR Cultural Pearls project partnership are proud to share that 11 candidates have taken the final step on the pathway towards becoming BSR Cultural Pearls 2026 title holders by submitting their Culture and Resilience Action Plans (CuReAPs): Estonia: VormsiFinland: Kristinestad – KristiinankaupunkiGermany: Glücksburg, SchleswigLatvia: Cesvaine, RēzekneLithuania: Neringa, Pakruojis, VisaginasPoland: Krosno, Zagórz We commend…

Smiltene Youth Collaboration with Artist fostering Pride and Local Identity at the Heart of the Community

Over the course of a week in August, young people from Smiltene, together with artist Viktorija Zeme, engaged in a creative project at Smiltene Active Recreation Park ‘Smiltiņš’, painting a park hut as part of a collaborative effort to shape the town’s new community space. The hut project is part of Smiltene’s broader activities during…