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On Wednesday, September 16, the Liepāja Music, Art, and Design Secondary School (LMMDV) will host its annual creative symposium, “ART.MUSIC.PĒTERTIRGUS,” at the Pētertirgus complex in Liepāja. This year’s symposium takes on special significance, as it will take place as part of the Liepāja Art School’s centennial celebrations, bringing together the school’s history, today’s creative processes, and young artists’ perspectives on Liepāja’s urban environment.

Pētertirgus will become an open creative space where visual art, music, and the city’s everyday life will come together throughout the day. Students will create new works of art and musical performances in various locations throughout the market, drawing inspiration from Pētertirgus’s surroundings, people, movement, architecture, sounds, and unique atmosphere.

This will be the sixth year of the symposium, and its venue is chosen each year with the aim of providing students with a new creative experience and allowing them to explore Liepāja from a different perspective. In previous years, the symposium has taken place at various locations throughout Liepāja’s urban landscape—on the grounds of the former “Liepājas metalurgs” site, at the “KURSA” fish processing plant, at the “Liepājas enerģija” facility, in a park, at Pētertirgus, and elsewhere. Each of these locations, with its own character, history, architecture, people, and atmosphere, has become a source of inspiration for young artists and has offered them the opportunity to see the city in a new light.

Students from the LMMDV will participate in the symposium, where they will hone their skills in various master classes under the guidance of professional educators and artists.

The art master classes will be led by: Dace Jegorova-Strazdiņa, Egons Peršēvics, Ilze Egle, Sofija Bumbule, Linda Vilka, Toms Vītols, Agnese Kaupere, Artis Bute, and Alise Bulevica.

Meanwhile, the music masterclasses will be led by Kārlis Auziņš and Andris Buiķis, who, together with the students, will focus on composition and improvisation, drawing creative inspiration from the soundscape of Pētertirgus itself, as well as its people, emotions, movement, and aesthetics. The musicians will also use field recordings, which they will process and transform into compositional material. In this way, the everyday sounds of the market will become part of the creative process, allowing students not only to observe the urban environment but also to listen to it and transform what they hear into a musical experience.

A key part of the symposium will be the opportunity to observe the creative processes of art and music firsthand. Pētertirgus will become an open creative space where young artists will not only create their works and music but also interact with city residents, market visitors, and the everyday rhythm of the urban environment.

At the end of the day, around 4:00 p.m., a one-day exhibition in the form of an open-air gallery will be set up on the Pētertirgus grounds, where visitors will be able to view the works created during the symposium and experience the results of the creative process in a unified exhibition. This will be complemented by a musical program created during the symposium, allowing visitors to experience the Pētertirgus space both visually and aurally.

“This year’s symposium is special to us because it is taking place as part of the Liepāja Art School’s centennial celebration. The centennial is an opportunity to look back on what has been achieved, while also thinking about the future and the young artists who are shaping the next chapter of Liepāja’s art story today. Pētertirgus is a very lively and multifaceted place where people, stories, colors, sounds, and the city’s daily life come together. It is precisely this environment that can serve as a powerful catalyst for creativity,” says Iveta Heinacka, creative director of the LMMDV’s art department.