Research at the Latvian Academy of Culture is organised and coordinated by the Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies of the Latvian Academy of Culture (LAC), which unites researchers from a wide range of disciplines.

The LAC research goals are embedded in the LAC vision to develop excellence as an interdisciplinary higher education institution and research centre in culture and arts, and a resource centre for cultural and creative industries. The LAC research impact stems from the generation of new knowledge on internationally relevant scientific themes, and dissemination of that knowledge. The core impacts of LAC research are in the specialisation areas of cultural heritage (intangible and tangible), cultural participation, theatre, dance and cinema, and cultural and creative sector research.

To achieve excellence in research in the defined specialisation fields, the LAC strives to do the following:

• Prioritise the development of its research specialization both in research and in teaching;
• Develop thematic interdisciplinary research groups, active in competing for national and international research funding;
• Prioritise research personnel development;
• Prioritise publishing in SCOPUS-indexed scholarly journals, and develop the LAC scientific journal as an open access publication (indexed in EBSCO and ERIH PLUS and under review for SCOPUS indexation: http://www.culturecrossroads.lv/);
• Prioritise joint publications and teaming with foreign collaborators;
• Maximise strategic participation in international research networks in order to develop joint research proposals, and increasingly share LAC research results;
• Organize international conferences and research seminars on specialization themes, increasing their international reach and thematic value;
• Maintain and expand the links with policy and cultural/creative sector practitioners.

Support for research:

• Allocation of funding for research personnel salaries;
• Support to early career researchers;
• Providing funding to attend relevant international conferences;
• Supporting publications and participation in research networks;
• Administrative support for developing new research proposals.