Patronages The 25th General Latvian Song and 15th General Latvian Dance Festival At a meeting with Culture Minister Sarmīte Ēlerte on July 18, 2011, President Bērziņš agreed to her request that he become patron of the 25th general Latvian Song and 15th general Latvian Dance festival.  It will be held in the summer of 2013.   On May 14, 2012, Latvian President Andris Bērziņš attended the first meeting of the organising council for the Latvian Song and Dance Festival.  Members of the councils for the Song Festival and the Dance Festival were selected, rulers for the artistic council of the festival were considered, there was a discussion about when and where to hold the 25th Latvian Song Festival and the 15th Latvian Dance Festival, and participants learned about the overall programme and concept of the festival. The council of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival is a consultative institution aimed at facilitating the sustainability of the festival and its processes, as well as the transfer of the relevant traditions from generation to generation.  Members of the council are approved for five-year terms, and the duties of the council are enshrined in a special law on the song and dance festivals.