Our story

Rucka Artist Residency was established in 2013 by Latvian documentary film director and photographer Kaspars Goba and documentary film producer Ieva Ūbele. Residency is run by Rucka Art Foundation (previously – foundation Elm Media), which was established in 2007 with the aim of drawing society’s attention to environmental and social issues through documentaries and documentary photography projects. In 2012, our team decided to move out of Riga, the capital of Latvia, to Cēsis, a small town an hour’s drive from Riga.

Ieva Ūbele

Founder / creative producer

Ieva is experienced producer and manager of audiovisual and cultural projects. She holds MA in Social Anthropology from Riga Stradins University (Latvia) and Executive MBA from Bled School of Management-International Executive Development Centre (Slovenia).

Ieva is responsible management of the team of Rucka Artist Residency and strategic development, maintaining international relations, development of new projects and attraction of funding.

Oskars Goba

Project Manager

Oskars graduated Latvian Academy of Culture with a degree in culture management and creative industries in 2017 and has been working in project management since 2013. For the past five years he has been working on various audiovisual projects – organizing and planning art exhibitions and performances in Latvia, Ukraine and Austria and coordinating process during production of international Dutch and American TV series in Latvia, Norway and Italy.

Oskars is responsible for art residencies at Rucka Artist Residency, implementation of new projects, communication and publicity of various projects and their activities.