Latvia in the Eurovision Choir of the Year going to develop a new show to join the existing Eurovision Family of Events. The event was officially confirmed on 30 November 2016, with Latvia chosen to host the inaugural event scheduled to take place on 22 July 2017. On 14 February 2017, it was confirmed that the inaugural contest would take place at the Arena Riga, located in the Latvian capital. The arena is primarily used for ice hockey, basketball and concerts. Riga Arena holds a maximum of 14,500 and was completed in 2006. It was built to be used as one of the venues for the 2006 IIHF
Museum of the Occupation of Latvia after Paulis Lazda, a History Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, proposed the idea to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia to create a museum covering the occupation period of Latvia, from 1940-1991. This led to the establishment of the Occupation Museum Foundation (OMF), now the Occupation Museum Association (OMB), in spring 1993. The OMF was made of 11 people who aimed to establish, administer and finance the museum. The first exhibition of the museum opened on 1 July 1993. The exhibition covered the period of the first Soviet occupation of Latvia from 1940 to 1941.