KURTUVE is the former boiler house of Valmiera city. Built in the 1970s and located in the very centre of Valmiera, it is being transformed into an interdisciplinary art space of international significance. At the end of 2022, the building was adapted as a temporary home for the Valmiera Theater (designed by Architecture Bureau “Sudraba Arhitektūra”).
Currently KURTUVE is shaping into a space that nurtures a new cultural ecosystem for Valmiera and the surrounding region. Its ongoing transformation responds to the acute challenge of regional access to contemporary art in Latvia. Its primary task is to offer a space for connection between people, fostering encounters that invite new ideas and collaborations.
The idea for KURTUVE was developed during Valmiera’s candidacy for the “European Capital of Culture 2027” competition. As part of the bid, the decision was made to transform the city’s former boiler house into a new cultural venue, and the architecture bureau Sudraba Arhitektūra was invited to collaborate. Their reconstruction concept envisages the addition of a spacious entrance hall, allowing the existing venue to be used in full capacity. The new lobby integrates the nearly 50-metre-high brick chimney, the building’s main architectural landmark. The project pays respect to the traces of industrial heritage, preserving the brick, concrete block and reinforced concrete structures and layers.
Although the city did not win the title, it remained committed to ensuring the continuity of the developed program, identifying three priorities: accessibility of contemporary, international and co-creative culture in the region. Shortly after the competition ended, when the reconstruction of Valmiera Theatre delayed, KURTUVE was adapted to the theatre’s needs with the support of the municipality and funding from the Ministry of Culture. A reconstruction project was carried out, creating a theatre hall and the necessary auxiliary spaces — this industrial heritage adaptation project earned the authors special recognition from the international jury of the Latvian Architecture Award 2023 as a successful architectural process.
In 2025, KURTUVE was the only project from Latvia to become the finalist of the New European Bauhaus Prize 2025 in the category Regaining a sense of belonging, confirming that architecture and co-creation with communities can play a vital role in advancing cultural development in the regions.
Currently KURTUVE fulfils its main task and serves as one of the performance venues for Valmiera Theatre, simultaneously hosting cultural events of various scales. In the long term, KURTUVE’s transformation will continue, with the space being adapted to its new functions and program.
Curated by the Latvian Dance Information Centre (LDIC), Dance House at KURTUVE highlights and addresses the acute need for a professional contemporary dance space in Latvia. The programme includes contemporary dance events both at KURTUVE and in other locations across Valmiera region — guest performances, workshops, discussions, dance residencies, as well as a public programme, all on international scale.
Second season of the interactive art object for families with children created by artist Linda Vigdorčika. The object received jury recognition of the Latvian Design Avard 2025 in the category Environmental Design.
Exhibition at KURTUVE is the final stage of the Latvian Academy of Culture project Graffito — contexts of youth well-being in street art. The exhibition offers a multi-layered interpretation of graffiti as an essential element of contemporary urban culture. It is accompanied by a range of public activities in Valmiera and the surrounding region, aimed at spreading awareness of the role of art in the urban environment.
The Orbita Group will host various contemporary art plein-airs and masterclasses in Strenči throughout the summer. The programme is free to attend for everyone.
The Manor Network concept is based on the initiative of enthusiasts, owners and active residents of Valmiera county manors and heritage sites to collaborate in developing new uses for the historical buildings. It functions as a cooperation platform for diverse ideas and challenges related to the development and maintenance of cultural heritage.
Interactive art object for families with children created by artist Linda Vigdorčika.
The Festival centre, open daily during the festival, will be a meeting and information point for festival visitors and participants.
The Summer School is dedicated to the creative synergy of art, design, architecture - it develops as an urban laboratory, temporarily transforming certain places for the duration of the theatre festival, revealing the potential of using new urban spaces.
The Orbita Group will host various contemporary art plein-airs and masterclasses in Strenči, as well as a mail-art exhibition throughout the summer.
The theme of this year's Summer School “Social and Political Contexts of Language” will focus on language to explore our shared living space. The Summer School will offer a number of public lectures.
For a week, a unique environmental object will be on display in Valmiera's central park, accompanied by a programme of workshops on analogue photography.
In cooperation with Riga Circus, the circus duo "Felix & Philo" will perform their "Red pants" performance. In between the performances, children and young people will have access to circus school activities.
In 2025, the third edition of the festival will take place, providing a high-quality and educational programme of multimedia artworks in the urban environment of Valmiera.
KURTUVE has acted as a festival centre at different stages of the space's development.
Opera "Vēsā" received the "Latvian Grand Music Award 2022” in the nomination "Production of the Year". Conductor Artūrs Gailis, director Klāvs Mellis, author Katrīna Neiburga
A conceptual exhibition that highlighted and framed special artefacts and historical layers in the industrial spaces of the building.
The exhibition was created as a large-scale urban experiment, the central axis of which is the work of Māris Bišofs. A mural by the artist is also currently on display on the outer wall of KURTUVE.
The world's largest people photography project, in which 386 portraits of the county's residents were placed on the chimney of KURTUVE. In parallel, in cooperation with the film studio "VFS Films", a continuation of the project was made－5 documentary shorts “People. Portraits. Inside Out”.
The programme highlighted ecological issues through the lens of our region's present and recent past heritage, linking them to global developments, including the processes of decolonisation.
The project was funded by the US Embassy Small Grants Programme in collaboration with the Contemporary Dance Arts Programme of the Latvian Academy of Culture.
Performances by the winners of the Performing and audiovisual arts festival "The Autumn of the Patriarch 2021”.
The exhibition brings together 20 photographic stories about people with mental disabilities, as well as their insights into life, thus reducing stereotypes and promoting an inclusive society.
