Jury

To ensure the evaluation of grant applications and the selection of nominees, a jury of five experts has been established. The jury consists of one representative from the Latvian National Museum of Art and four invited experts in the field of Latvian contemporary art.

After reviewing the grant applications, the jury selects five candidates, from whom the Vija Celmins Foundation chooses one grant recipient.

After two years, a new expert panel, approved by the LNMA director, will be formed.

Jury for 2025–2026

Dr. art. Elita Ansone

Head of the Collections and Scientific Research Department ARSENĀLS (2nd Half of the 20th Century – Nowdays) at the Latvian National Museum of Art. 
Her research focuses on the contextual art history of the second half of the 20th century and the 21st century. She has studied issues in the interpretation of Socialist Realism in art, as well as artistic styles and movements in Latvia, including hyperrealism, linguistic conceptualism, and feminist art. Elita Ansone has curated major conceptual exhibitions, compiled anthologies, and created exhibition catalogs. She has also curated exhibitions of many significant Latvian artists, including Ilmārs Blumbergs, Vija Celmins, Daina Dagnija, Miķelis Fišers, Raimonds Staprāns, Imants Tillers, Aija Zariņa, and others.

Zane Čulkstēna

Founder of Kim? Contemporary Art Center and the employer consulting company ERDA, as well as a member of the Council of the Latvian Academy of Art. Previous experience includes working with leading Baltic companies as a strategic director at the advertising agencies DDB and TBWA. She graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and holds a master’s degree from the University of Sussex and Columbia University in the City of New York.

Kaspars Groševs

Since 2014 he has been the co-founder and curator of the artist-run gallery “427”. Active in both Latvian and international exhibitions, performances, and cultural events since 2006, he is an artist interested in exploring the processual nature of art, curatorial, and sound practices, blurring their boundaries while navigating between various creative communities. Engaged in experimental electronic music since the late 1990s, Groševs often incorporates sound as a complement to visual methods in his exhibitions, where painting also plays a significant role. He was nominated for the Purvītis Prize in 2020 and 2022.

Maija Kurševa

She earned a bachelor’s degree (2006) and a master’s degree (2008) from the Department of Audiovisual Media Arts at the Art Academy of Latvia. Maija Kurševa works with a wide range of media and has been participating in exhibitions since 2004. In 2022, her works were published in the Phaidon anthology “Vitamin D3: Today’s Best in Contemporary Drawing”. An active member of Latvia’s contemporary art professional community, she teaches composition and risograph printing to students in the "Motion. Image. Sound." subprogramme at the Art Academy of Latvia. In 2017 she founded the non-commercial gallery “LOW” and curated its exhibition program (2017–2019). She also founded the Riga Zine Festival, serving as its exhibition curator (2016, 2018). Alongside fellow artists, she co-founded the artist collective “Popper Publishing” and led its projects (2012–2018).

Inga Meldere

Lives and works in Helsinki. She studied at the University of Latvia, the Art Academy of Latvia, and the University of the Arts Helsinki, further expanding her knowledge at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Her art is characterized by a meticulous approach to source materials, skillfully weaving together fragments of personal experience and collective memory, references to art history, and imagery borrowed from everyday life. Recent projects include the solo exhibition “Breathwork” at Pech Gallery in Vienna (2024), “Bluetooth (Sister N)” at Temnikova & Kasela Gallery in Tallinn (2022), participation in the group exhibition “Don’t Cry! Feminist Perspectives in Latvian Art: 1965–2023” at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga (2023), the Vītols Collection group exhibition “Archaeologists of Memory” at Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn (2022), and the Helsinki Biennial “The Same Sea” on Vallisaari Island (2021), among others. She is also involved in leading various workshops related to natural dye extraction methods and technologies.