SOCINTEGRA has received support through a competition organized by the Riga City Municipality Education, Culture and Sports Department to implement a project that will make the “Staro Rīga” festival, taking place in November 2026, more accessible to all groups of society, including people with visual impairments.

This will be one of the first projects of its scale in Latvia aimed at ensuring that a light festival can not only be seen, but also fully experienced by people with different accessibility needs, including people with visual impairments.

SOCINTEGRA Chairwoman Marija Kožarina emphasizes: "“Staro Rīga” is one of Latvia’s most recognizable cultural events, and until now people with visual impairments have had very limited opportunities to fully experience this type of event. Therefore, we are delighted that the implementation of this project will represent an important step forward in the development of an accessible cultural environment in Latvia and will set a unique precedent at the national level."

A number of specialists were involved in the preparation of the project, and we would like to express our special thanks to Jevgenija Šafraneka for her support.

As part of the project, dedicated accessibility solutions will be developed to help people with visual impairments experience the festival’s installations and stories in a completely new way.