The city of Cluj-Napoca is a multicultural city, with an important percentage of ethnic Hungarian residents, which is also reflected in the level of cultural organizations. As for the theater, there are performance organizations in the city both in Romanian and in Hungarian, state and independent. The Cluj audience, however, remains largely segregated by ethnic criteria, which means that the local cultural offer, whose complexity derives precisely from its diversity, is only fully accessed by a small number of spectators who frequent theater spaces in both languages.
Creative and experimental reactor and Váróterem Projekt propose the desegregation of the Cluj theater audience through a joint program of events that will challenge them to discover the full extent and complexity of the local scene. An exchange of performances between the two organizations and a bilingual communication will represent a first step in increasing the access to culture of the inhabitants of Cluj, who speak Romanian and Hungarian, in the development of this audience and in the promotion of cultural diversity.
Two bilingual co-productions will probe from multiple perspectives on the topic of multicultural coexistence, involving the Cluj public in documentaries, in order to provide a loyal and impactful image of the Cluj communities and help mutual knowledge and communication. The collaboration between the two theaters will also be a good opportunity to explore new themes and tools of artistic expression, developing the local cultural sector in innovative directions. The professional development of the artists and administrators of the two theaters will also be achieved through the partnership with Para Film & Teater, an organization from Norway that will mediate artistic and managerial development workshops.
The workshops will focus on other ways of sustaining this joint effort, methods and tools of communication with a multicultural public, thinking of cultural products for this public, as well as ways of approaching the theme of interethnic coexistence within artistic processes and teamwork techniques bilingual.
• Project promoter: Reactor de creation e experiment Association
• Project partners: Váróterem Projekt (Romania) and Para Film & Teater (Norway)
• Total value of the project: 983,475.20 lei (198,758.15 euros)
• Amount of non-refundable financing ( 85% EEA Grant and 15% the national budget): 983,475.20 lei (198,758.15 euros)
• Duration: 16 months
• Implementation location: Reactor Space and ZIZ – art and social area (Cluj-Napoca)
The EEA Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway towards a green, competitive and inclusive Europe. There are two overall objectives: reduction of economic and social disparities in Europe, and to strengthen bilateral relations between the donor countries and 15 EU countries in Central and Southern Europe and the Baltics. The three donor countries cooperate closely with the EU through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA). The donors have provided €3.3 billion through consecutive grant schemes between 1994 and 2014. For the period 2014-2021, the EEA Grants amount to €1.55 billion. More details are available on: www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.
RO-CULTURE is implemented in Romania by the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit. The Programme aims at strengthening social and economic development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship and cultural heritage management. The total budget amounts to almost 34 million EUR. For more details access: www.ro-cultura.ro