Statutes

Approved by
Māra Lāce
Director of the Latvian National Museum of Art

The Purvīša Balva Prize Statutes

1. General provisions
1.1. The Purvīša Balva Art Prize (in English – Purvītis Prize, henceforth, ‘The Prize’) shall be a biannual professional art prize awarded to an artist or a group of artists representing Latvian art in Latvia or elsewhere in the world, with an outstanding work of art that is evocative of its time, and demonstrates a continuum between the life and spiritual ideals of that era as well as absolute values.
1.2. The prize shall be awarded in recognition of the most outstanding achievements in the professional visual arts in Latvia, to foster the intensity of the artistic process in Latvia and to promote the creative achievements of Latvian artists.
1.3. The Prize shall be called PURVĪŠA BALVA.
1.4. The Prize shall be awarded bi-annually.
1.5. The Prize shall be awarded to an individual artist or to a group of artists for the most outstanding achievement in a professional visual art form within the preceding two years.
1.6. An individual artist or a group of artists can be nominated for The Prize for several works.
1.7. Only a work by an individual artist or a group of artists that has been created and exhibited within the past two years can be nominated for the Prize.
1.8. Candidates for the Prize can only be nominated by the members of the working group of experts.
1.9. The Prize shall be awarded by the Latvian National Museum of Art (henceforth, LNMM) together with the Patron of the Latvian National Museum of Art (henceforth, Museum Patron). The LNMM and Museum Patron shall be responsible for managing the entire process of awarding The Prize.
1.10. The Prize and all expenses related to its presentation shall be provided by the Museum Patron.
1.11. The winner of The Prize shall receive a cash award to the value of 28 500 (twentyeight thousand five hundred) eiro (including the applicable taxes as set out in the law of the Republic of Latvia) and a commemorative sculpture.
1.12. In co-operation with the Museum Patron, the LNMM shall convene a Prize Committee that shall organize the process of selecting the candidates and awarding The Prize.

2. The Prize Committee
2.1. The Prize Committee shall carry out all the tasks associated with the presentation of The Prize by:
2.1.1. elaborating the Statutes of The Prize;
2.1.2. developing and carrying out a planned programme of promotional activities to publicise The Prize;
2.1.3. co-ordinating all the tasks associated with the presentation of The Prize between the working group of experts, partners and media sponsors;
2.1.4. servicing all the technical requirements for the work of the working group of experts and the jury;
2.1.5. making the relevant decisions and providing for their implementation;
2.1.6. arranging the exhibition associated with The Prize;
2.1.7. communicating with the candidates for the Prize;
2.1.8. organising the awarding of the prize.

3. Conducting The Prize competition and evaluation of candidates
3.1. The selection and evaluation of candidates shall take place in several rounds:
3.1.1. Four times a year, the working group of experts shall select and nominate candidates for The Prize, and explain their choice (also in written form);
3.1.2. At the end of the period, the working group of experts shall nominate no more than eight candidates; for evaluation by the jury and participation in the exhibition;
3.1.3. An international jury shall evaluate the exhibited works and shall determine the winner of The Prize by taking an open vote in a closed meeting.
3.2. The schedule of events for The Prize 2019 will take place in the following stages:
3.2.1. Evaluation of candidates shall take place from 8 December 2017 till 10 January 2019;
3.2.2. The exhibition of works by the candidates of The Prize shall take place from 22 March till 3 June 2019;
3.2.3. The meeting of the jury shall take place in 11 April 2019;
3.2.4. The awarding of the Prize shall take place in 12 April 2019.

4. The selection of candidates for The Prize
4.1. To ensure an independent and professional selection of candidates for The Prize, the LNMM in co-operation with the Museum Patron shall form an independent working group of art experts (henceforth, working group of experts) consisting of seven members.
4.2. The work of the working group of experts shall be regulated by separate statutes.
4.3. Any member of the working group of experts can only serve a maximum of 2 (two) consecutive terms.
4.4. The composition of the group of experts shall be reviewed in December of every second year, starting in December 2010.

5. Determining the winner of the Prize
5.1. To select a winner from among the candidates chosen by the working group of experts, the LNNM, in co-operation with the Museum Patron shall form a jury consisting of up to nine members.
5.2. The composition of the jury shall be approved by a decree of the Director of the LNMM.
5.3. The Director of the LNMM shall be the chairperson of the jury, and a representative of the Museum Patron shall be co-chairperson.
5.4. At least five internationally recognized art professionals shall be invited to join the jury.
5.5. After evaluating the selection of candidates made by the working group of experts and the works selected for The Prize exhibition, the jury will select the winner of The Prize.
5.6. The Prize jury shall meet behind closed doors.
5.7. The Prize jury shall take its decisions after discussion by open, simple majority vote. The vote of chair of the Jury (the Director of the LNMA) is the deciding one if the overall number of votes shares equally.
5.8. Minutes of The Prize jury meetings shall be taken by a representative of The Prize committee. The minutes shall be signed by all jury members present, attesting that the decision shall not be revealed in any way before the presentation of The Prize ceremony, thereby ensuring the confidentiality of the jury’s decision.
5.9. The meetings of the jury shall be chaired by the chairperson of the jury.
5.10. The composition of the jury shall be reviewed biannually.
5.11. The decision of the jury with regard to the winner of The Prize shall be first made public at the Prize awarding ceremony in 12 April 2019.

6. Prize exhibition
6.1. The LNMM will invite the candidates nominated for the Prize to participate in a common exhibition of the works nominated for The Prize.
6.2. The Prize exhibition shall be held in March every second year at the LNMM exhibition hall.
6.3. The Prize committee shall appoint a curator for the exhibition.

7. The awarding of the Prize
7.1. The Prize shall be awarded once every two years, at an award presentation ceremony to be held at the Main Building of the LNMM;
7.2. The awarding of the Prize shall be organized by the LNMM, the Museum Patron and The Prize committee.

8. Payment of the cash prize
8.1. A contract between the winner of The Prize and the Director of the LNMM will be signed within ten working days of the award ceremony,
8.2. The cash prize shall be paid to the winner by the LNMM;
8.3. The cash prize shall be paid in a single lump sum within 30 days of the official award ceremony (in accordance with the contract signed by The Prize winner and LNMM).

9. Final provisions
9.1. The general public shall have access to the statutes of The Prize on the LNMM website www.lnmm.lv under the heading Purvīša balva.
9.2. Amendments to the statutes of The Prize can be made by a decision of The Prize committee.
9.3. Any amendments made shall be published on the LNMM website www.lnmm.lv under the heading Purvīša balva.