Who will save Romania’s

Who will save Romania’s independent cultural sector?

Once upon a time, Romania was an emerging market for artists and cultural entrepreneurs who were committed to work hard to define the Romanian independent cultural sector as a new creative hotspot in Eastern Europe. Festivals, events, performances, galleries, industrial spaces, concerts, and all kinds of artistic approaches had an open scene and an audience here. But the coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.

By Oana Vasiliu

With indoors closed, arts and culture moved online. But few are willing to pay for this type of entertainment

With no financial support from which the Romanian cultural sector has been local authorities or any state affected, one concrete action taken by the aid schemes from the Culture Culture Ministry has been to allocate money Ministry, Romania’s independent cultural for contemporary art acquisitions through sector is struggling. There is a little support the National Museum of Contemporary Arts from initiatives like crowdfunding campaigns (MNAC). An extra RON 2 million was apthat may help independent actors pay their proved for MNAC’s budget to buy Romanian rent and calls for micro-funding projects, but contemporary art, following an acquisition the sector is currently bleeding out. Inde- procedure carried out through an art expert pendents, NGOs, and professional cultural commission, which has been publicly critiassociations have met with the government cised as not being very friendly to indepenand demanded financial support or any kind dent contemporary artists. Unlike concert of help, but there has been no news so far. halls, theatres or cinemas, museums and

What’s more, Romania’s is not included in galleries are still open for public, so maybe any of the EU’s cultural and creative guides. you could spare a penny for the arts. Plenty of information and resources are avail- Everything seems to have moved online, able online: for example, EUNIC Global car- yet local streaming platforms, although ried out a quick survey among its members well-advertised and promoted, are not hitting on their government’s initiatives to mitigate impressive numbers. Concerts, theatre plays, the loss of income for artists and creative pro- live performances or even improv shows are fessionals. It found examples from most EU being delivered online for buy-in-advance member states, but nothing from Romania. tickets, but few people are expressing inte-

While nobody yet knows the extent to rest. HIGH HOPES MET WITH PROMISES An effervescent debate is taking place around the funding provided by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN), in a project competition worth almost RON 32 million designed for the independent sector, with a limit of RON 85,000 per project.

Is it enough for a team to create something artful, be paid for it, and also advertise it in order to attract an audience? Nobody knows, as the results of the winning projects are not public yet. Still, the entire independent sector cannot rely solely on these funds.

There was some enthusiasm recently following a statement made by the new mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, who said that an annual budget would be allocated to the independent sector instead of the public fairs and free concerts which the previous mayor had primarily financed. “We have promised emergency aid for the running costs of independent cultural institutions which have been affected by the medical crisis, an emergency inventory of cultural spaces in Bucharest and, in the future budget, an allocation of funds for the independent cultural sector,” Nicusor Dan wrote on his Facebook page.

It’s quite interesting that not even seven months after the pandemic first hit Romania does anybody know how many people in the independent cultural sector have been affected by the shutdown of spaces and the cancelled events, let alone how many independent cultural spaces which need financial aid to pay their bills.

But everyone is still planning activities and events for 2021, when we’re all hoping to get our normal lives back.