Cultural partnerships
Lithuania is always on the lookout for creatively challenging, inspiring partnerships. The country has become a destination for global film-production heavyweights like Netflix and HBO, and a co-producer of significant international cultural programmes, such as the Lithuanian Season in France in 2024, with more than 200 events and 500 artists, and a similar programme across several Italian cities in 2025–26. We’re also a safe second home for Ukrainian culture under threat, with more than 1,500 national treasures rescued from the war.
Working with global partners to showcase Lithuanian culture
Recent years have seen a huge flourishing of international exposure to Lithuanian art. Through rich and valuable cooperation with institutions in Europe and beyond, new audiences have been able to appreciate the best of Lithuanian creativity. From September to December 2024, France hosted the Lithuanian Season: The Other Same (Se voir en l’autre), with more than 200 events, 500 Lithuanian artists and 120 French partner institutions, including the prestigious Centre Pompidou and Sorbonne University.
Building on that momentum was the Cultura Lituana in Italia programme. Running from 2025 to 2026, this initiative brought Lithuanian film, music, art and literature to events in Milan, Rome, Bologna, Venice and Turin, and featured such prominent Lithuanian performers as Asmik Grigorian and Martynas Levickis.
Meanwhile, the major exhibition M. K. Čiurlionis: The Inner Constellation at Tokyo’s National Museum of Western Art built on the longstanding relationship between Lithuania and Japan. Here, local audiences were able to appreciate the unique bridge between Symbolism and abstraction that Čiurlionis’s painting presents. Indeed, Čiurlionis’s distinctive early 20th-century oeuvre is becoming a popular draw for international audiences. The Tokyo show follows the successful 2023 exhibition M. K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds at London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery.
One filming destination. A world of possibilities.
With its distinctive architecture, skilled crews and production-friendly environment, Lithuania is proving the ideal destination for foreign film production. In 2025, the country attracted a record €56 million in foreign film production spend.
Fuelling much of this production is Lithuania’s ability to transform into different countries, historical periods and cinematic worlds. Vilnius and Kaunas alone offer sleek urban spaces alongside academic courtyards, Baroque monastery complexes and characterful industrial sites. In 2025 alone, Vilnius hosted more than 20 films and television series, with the city standing in for places such as Vienna, Kraków and Paris.
Notable productions from the past decade include the international hit Stranger Things, Star City and Honey, as well as the award-winning historical drama Chernobyl.
A safe haven for globally significant treasures
With the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine was forced to protect not only its people but also its history. Daily bombing meant that much of its cultural heritage was under constant threat. Lithuania stepped in to provide storage and care for more than 1,500 valuable works from all corners of the country, including Lviv, Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. This treasure trove includes roughly 100 paintings by the celebrated Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko, now largely on display at the Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum in Vilnius. Every work that arrives in Lithuania is received at the Pranas Gudynas Conservation Centre, where it is examined, cared for and prepared for exhibition and safekeeping, receiving the same level of care and attention afforded to Lithuanian works.