From impromptu stages in suburbs and churchyards to workshops for young people from vulnerable backgrounds, independent culture finds its way into even the most isolated places. Sometimes a show or an honestly told story can be more than entertainment – it can open a perspective, change a community.
Theater and art become forms of education and belonging.
In a country where major theatres, museums or established festivals hardly manage to keep culture afloat, much of artistic life takes place outside the institutions. Romania has around 4,000 non-governmental organizations active in the cultural field – small groups, local associations or artist collectives that work constantly, often without public visibility and without stable support. For many of these actors, the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) has become, in recent years, the only chance to take his projects further. Created in 2005, AFCN operates under the authority of the Ministry of Culture, but has autonomy in organizing funding sessions. In 2025, only 31% of the 702 projects registered in the first session received support – the rest remained outside.
This is the first part of the “Arta de a resistenza” series, “Weekend Adevărul” brand, about the people and initiatives that keep culture alive in Romania. In this episode, we talk about two projects that show what real access to culture means: Cultură’n Șura, which takes theater to villages without infrastructure, and Untold Stories, which gives vulnerable youth tools for expression and belonging.
Theatre, education and belonging for villages and invisible youth
In the villages of Romania, where culture is most often reduced to folk dances or commune days, Asociația Cultură’n Șura tries to bring something else: professional theater performances, exactly where there is neither infrastructure, nor tradition, nor even a declared desire for such events. The project “Art in the hearth of the villages” started from the need to bring the theater to those who have never seen a show before – and who otherwise would never have had access to such a thing.
Florentina Năstase, actress at the “Toma Caragiu” Theater in Ploiești and PR of the project, talks about an approach started in 2013, from a tiny funding at the beginning, when “we played a show in a village, in Higa commune in Sălaj county, where we had 152 hundred spectators, so very, very many people“. The first years meant performing in one village, but the real change came only when the project managed to get funding through AFCN. “This funding from AFCN is vital – it’s not just helpful. Only then did we feel we were making a difference in the number of villages or the number of people we were able to reachSince then, “Art in the Heart of the Villages” has reached almost 100 localities, most of them without any other theater experience in the last 30 years. “The number of localities we reached increased exponentially thanks to this funding. So far we have reached almost 100 localities, including villages, but also small urban localities, smaller cities“. Florentina also talks about the need for a public policy at the national level: “Resources should come for this kind of project from the government level. A country policy should be made for this, seriously and with involvement“.
What does a rural theater tour mean, concretely? It means, in 2025, 16 localities from seven counties. Almost the entire budget goes to activities: transport, accommodation, payment of the technical team and actors. Before each performance, the team also holds theater workshops for children, to teach them not only what it means to be a spectator, but also to prepare them “not to snack, not to consume carbonated drinks, not to talk on the phone” – all this in a playful way, because, says Florentina, “theater means, first of all, fun, play and playfulness“. The project works like a traveling theater, with a small team, but covering everything a production entails: from communication and PR to theater workshops and photographic documentation of the entire route. “It’s like a small theater, only in a much smaller form and for a specific period of time“.
Cultură’n Șura brings theater to villages without a stage.
Without the money from AFCN, the project would have been drastically scaled back. “In the absence of funds, we would have tightened our belts – we would have stayed with the locals, as we did a few years ago, we would have tried to group as many nearby towns as possible to reduce costs. Now, these costs allow us a comfort that is necessary to carry out our activity in good order. We need this comfort, to have a room in which to rest, after a long journey or after a tiring show – because we are not only actors, we are also mechanics, and costume designers, and lighting designers, all of us, as a team“.
The impact of the project can be seen both in the rural communities – where most of the locals have never seen a theater, and the reaction is strong and, often, the children are left with lines from performances that they remember for a whole year -, as well as among those who came to the village from the cities and discover the theater right in the courtyard of a farmhouse, a castle or a renovated wooden church. “People stay after the show, talk about their impressions. It is also a form of education through culture, with rules, with solemnity – even if it is comedy“.
Florentina Năstase talks about the uncertainties hanging over independent initiatives, especially in a context of austerity: “I’m not necessarily very optimistic. It’s something that worries me since the first projects, and it happened again recently, when I had a project rejected because it was behind budget and also delayed the second call. We are talking about the quality of the evaluators, the knowledge they have about the field“. He notes, however, that the level of competence has increased in recent years, and hopes that truly worthwhile projects will continue to be funded. For areas without other forms of access to culture, these projects are “very necessary, very useful. I see their impact in the medium and long term. We have met children who have grown into great people under our eyes – we met them when they were 10 years old, now they are in college, some even abroad. And they continue to go to the theater because they remembered the first time they saw a show in their village“. “To cut the funds for such projects would be very sad, for many people who, at least for us, are waiting. There are people who write to us every year when we visit them and why we didn’t come this year. Funds are very important and I hope they don’t cut them – don’t make this mistake – once again from areas that can fundamentally change a paradigm. Starting from the small children, whom we educate and to whom we offer this act of culture, to the elderly who are happy to have seen a theater performance at least once in their life“.
“I’m sugar”. A platform for voice and visibility
The project “Me sem sukar” (“I am beautiful”, in Romanian), coordinated by the NGO Untold Stories, is more than a cultural program: it is a declaration of belonging, validation and resilience. Designed for young people – Roma and not only – from vulnerable backgrounds, the project gives them the opportunity to tell their stories with honesty and courage, through theatre, creative writing and music.
Through the Me sem sukar project, young people from vulnerable backgrounds discover their voice and confidence.
Between April and July 2025, the project team reached seven places in the country – Bucharest, Dâmbovița, Jilava, Călărași, Iași, Miercurea Ciuc, Ploiești – and even in Paris. 16 theater and creative writing workshops were organized, with over 160 young people directly involved. In parallel, the project included eight events with screenings of the multi-award winning film “Gipsy Queen” at the international level, reaching over 1,600 beneficiaries – many of them coming into contact with a positive Roma story for the first time. Through workshops, screenings and cultural events, the project created safe and creative spaces where young people could assert their identity and understand that their beauty lies in authenticity. “It’s a project about voice, visibility and what it means to really be seen“, says Liliana Oprea, project manager.
AFCN funding was vital for “Me sem sukar” to reach this scale. “Without this co-financing, the project would not have been possible on such a scale and consistency. It allowed us to reach hundreds of young people, produce original artistic materials and organize an impactful cultural gala“, emphasizes Liliana Oprea. Without AFCN’s support, access to theater, storytelling workshops or artistic expression would have remained, for many of these children, an inaccessible experience. “We give people the chance to feel seen and at the same time the opportunity to see others with more empathy“.
Art can be a form of belonging and resilience for young people in vulnerable communities.
The budget for the project was carefully planned, but there were also logistical challenges, especially for isolated locations or to supplement costs so that all children involved could fully benefit from the experience. “We had an engaged and flexible team, and the support of local partners was invaluable. Every resource has been used responsibly, with long-term impact in mind“, says Liliana Oprea. Without AFCN funding, the project would have been reduced to a few specific activities, with limited impact. “Projects like this cannot exist only out of enthusiasm and passion – they need concrete support“.
For Liliana Oprea, the most honest measure of the impact is the reactions of children and young people who have started to have more confidence in themselves. Many stepped onto a stage or into a movie theater for the first time. After the “Eu Contez” Youth Gala, organized on June 16, many participants confessed that they felt for the first time that their voice matters. “We received messages from teachers, parents, spectators who told us that they felt transformed, that they understood better who these children are and what potential they have. For some it was the first time someone asked them how they felt and what they were thinking – for them, it was validation“.
Liliana Oprea emphasizes that independent initiatives are essential in a healthy society, because they respond to real needs and try to produce change. But, she warns, without political and economic support for culture, such projects risk becoming invisible. “We need funding that encourages diversity, institutions that support not just the official culture, but also the culture that comes from the communities. I hope that such projects will not remain the exception, but will become a constant in the Romanian cultural landscape“.
