Voksenåsen is Norway’s gift to Sweden for the humanitarian aid during World War II. The house is situated high above Oslo bordering to the recreational area Nordmarka, with views over the city and the Oslofjord. Voksenåsen is owned by the Swedish Ministry of Culture and offers a varied program ranging from literary events, concerts and the celebration of the Swedish midsummer, to courses in music, language and democracy for youth and young adults. Voksenåsen also holds a large collection of contemporary Norwegian and Swedish art, as well as a restaurant, accommodation, bar and a large patio overlooking all of Oslo and the surrounding area. Voksenåsen was opened in 1960.

The Black Diamond is a modern waterfront extension to the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Black Diamond functions as a Cultural center for the Royal Library with literary events, theatrical performances and conferences. The facilities include a 600-seat auditorium, the Queen’s Hall, used for concerts—mainly chamber music and jazz—there are also exhibition spaces, a bookshop, a restaurant, a café and a roof terrace. Two museums are based in the Black Diamond, the National Museum of Photography and a small museum dedicated to cartoon art. Its quasi-official nickname is a reference to its polished black granite cladding and irregular angles.

For over 25 years, the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdańsk have organised culture events, artistic research as well as international and national cross-disciplinary projects. The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre promotes culture and cultural exchange in the Baltic Sea region within music, literature, film as well as the visual and performing arts. The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre is located in the Old Town Hall and at the St. John’s Center. The 400-year-old Town Hall in the Flemish Renaissance style is one of only a few monuments in Gdańsk that survived World War II. St. John’s Center is a Gothic church that has been turned into a vibrant culture centre. The talk will be livestreamed from the St. John’s Center.

Hanaholmen – Cultural Centre for Sweden and Finland, works to develop collaboration between the countries in all areas of society. Hanaholmen plans and organises different kinds of events, courses, seminars and projects, and evaluates various societal development needs. Hanaholmen is also a conference centre and hotel with a view of the Baltic Sea. Hanaholmen administrates four Nordic foundations, of which the biggest is the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation. The Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation is also Hanaholmen’s mandator, which means that it’s ultimately responsible for Hanaholmen’s operations. The cultural centre at Hanaholmen was opened in 1975 by King Carl XVI Gustaf and president Urho Kekkonen. In 1967, Finland’s jubilee year, Sweden decided to remit 100 million SEK of wartime debt, and a return gift was required. The Finnish government decided to open a jointly administered cultural centre to develop collaboration between the two countries.

The MO Museum in Vilnius is one of the Baltic Sea Festival’s new partners. Designed by the prominent architect Daniel Libeskind, the MO Museum opened to the public in 2018 and has already received numerous Lithuanian awards for leadership in the museum field. The MO Museum’s mission is to collect and present modern and contemporary Lithuanian art in an international context. The MO aims to be open and accessible as well as to build and foster a strong community through engaging exhibitions, novel education and inclusive programming. The MO Museum collection is one of the largest private art collections in Lithuania. It consists of artworks dating from the 1960s to the present day and includes more than 5,000 key works of contemporary Lithuanian art.

Just a bridge span from Old Town of Riga, on the left bank of the Daugava, looms an extraordinary, culturally significant edifice, the Castle of Light – the National Library of Latvia. The library building houses a modern information centre and ample space for cultural and social events, exhibitions, offering one and all multi-themed reading rooms and access to rare books and audio/video recordings besides the usual printed matter. The mission of the Library is to build and maintain a repository of national and international literary works, securing access to them for the general public. Over four million units are now located here, mostly Latvian and foreign publications about Latvia and Latvians but also rare handwritings, maps, music, films, newspapers and magazines. Opened in August of 2014, the striking edifice is the masterwork of the world-renowned Latvian architect Gunārs Birkerts (USA).