In Sulina, the city that seems to float between the sea and the Delta, a group of teenagers learns to look at their birthplace differently. Through the “Voice Your Place – Sulina” project, initiated by the Youth Vision for Society Association, young people are involved in summer workshops on built heritage, acting and writing, learning how personal identity is linked to that of the city. The goal: to rediscover the meaning of belonging.
Teenagers from Sulina rediscover the city through summer workshops dedicated to local heritage.
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 National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN) has become, in recent years, the only chance to move their projects forward. 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 fourth episode of the “Arta de a ristista” series, “Weekend Adevărul” brand, about the people and initiatives that keep culture alive in Romania. In this episode we talk about “Voice Your Place – Sulina”, a project that gives teenagers tools to discover, in their own way, what heritage and belonging to a place mean.
The “Voice Your Place – Sulina” project, initiated by the Youth Vision for Society Association, aims to bring teenagers closer to the heritage of their city, involving them directly in the discovery and reinterpretation of local values. Inspired by a pilot project carried out at Curtea de Argeș by Iarina Tava, the program also reached Sulina this year, with the support of Cristina Stîngu and the Youth Vision for Society team.
Without AFCN’s support, such initiatives would remain mere intentions.
“Voice Your Place” involves a series of summer workshops where young people are challenged to get closer to the built heritage, participate in architecture, diction, writing or acting workshops and, at the end, contribute to the creation of audio guides for their community. The goal is for these teenagers to get to know and appreciate more the city they live in, developing an emotional connection with the history and buildings around them.
The financial support offered by AFCN was, in this context, essential for the development of the project. “We would not have been able to implement the project without such funding. Small organizations like us are almost entirely dependent on AFCN resources – it’s hard to find other sources and the competition is very high“, explains Cristina Stîngu. Without the financial support, the project could not have been put into practice at all. “Without these funds, nothing would have happened. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many small NGOs working in the cultural area“, points out Cristina Stîngu. The secured budget allowed the efficient management of activities, even if there were difficulties typical of any project at the beginning of its journey. “Fortunately, the AFCN is flexible and allows us to make transfers between budget chapters when needed, so that we fit within the resources“, states Cristina Stîngu. In the case of Youth Vision for Society, the funds were sufficient for implementation, and the interest of teenagers, including those outside Sulina, confirmed the relevance of the approach.
Regarding the future, Cristina Stîngu looks with reluctance at the uncertain context of cultural funding: “Most likely, some NGOs will close if there are not enough funds at the national level. We hope that the situation is not quite so dramatic and that the allocations for culture remain consistent, so that such initiatives can survive and bring about real change in communities“.
