About the Festival “Baltica”

International Folklore Festival BALTICA is one of the most significant of its kind in the Baltic States. Every year, since 1987, in accordance with interstate agreement, it has been held in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in turn. In 2021 the event will take place in Lithuania. The festival is included in the official list of events of CIOFF©.

BALTICA gathers about 2000 participants of 10–12 guest folklore groups from different parts of the world and of Lithuania regions.

The aim of the festival is to promote cultural contacts and friendship with various nations, to preserve, to revive and to develop intangible cultural heritage, national and local traditions.

BALTICA incorporates a wide variety of cultural aspects: traditional songs, dances, instrumental music, customs, unique arts and crafts, handmade articles and traditional cuisine. For that purpose, the Lithuanian organizers build a small Festival Town with a stage for the performances of folk groups, areas for demonstration of traditional crafts and foods fair. Each country is assigned time slots to present their culture.

The festival consists of different types of events: gala and chamber concerts, creative workshops, parades, short performances, video presentations, etc. Festival activities take place both in cities (concert halls, open–air stages in parks, streets) and in countryside.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the international folklore festival “Baltica” cannot be held as usual – as a live event in 2021, therefore, the organizers have chosen a different implementation form for it, which is a forum “Baltica-Web“. It is dedicated to a deeper dive into the traditional cultural phenomena, the historical and the cultural interrelations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which are the organizers of the festival “Baltica”.

History of the festival “Baltica” 1987–2019.