As we wrap up 2023, we want to look back on our completed CULTFORT – Urban Cultural Forest project, funded by the EEA Grants 2014-2021 under the RO-CULTURE Program, Objective 4 – “Strengthening Cultural Entrepreneurship” and “Developing Audience Outreach”. The project took 24 months and received a total non-reimbursable funding amount of 794,115 lei, of which 11% (98,149 lei) was contributed by the Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation.
The project elegantly addressed the needs identified during the MET-organized public debates that took place Sighișoara in 2019: to improve cultural management, to involve local businesses, to create multifunctional cultural spaces, and to enrich the city’s cultural agenda.
Through this project, we worked to develop Sighișoara’s integrated creative and cultural sector. We enhanced the strategic planning, entrepreneurship, and cultural management skills of thirty professionals and practitioners active in the cultural and creative fields. We staged twenty-three classical, modern, folk, or contemporary art events, which attracted 750 visitors during the 2023 summer season. Another objective was developing a culture-consuming audience among Sighișoara’s youth by creating an innovative cultural space and involving 250 children and young people in a non-formal cultural and artistic education program.
Through CULTFORT, we also developed a strategic document outlining a cultural plan for Sighișoara and organized two professional training courses in cultural management and entrepreneurship.
The project brought life back to Sighișoara’s Butchers’ Tower and Bastion. An innovative and multifunctional cultural space was born, whose layout aimed to highlight Sighișoara’s multi-ethnic heritage – i.e., the Saxon heritage imparted by those who built the medieval citadel’s fortifications with the contemporary cultural diversity brought by local Romanians, Hungarians, Roma, and Saxons.
The Bastion functioned as an outdoor stage for six plays, six feature-length film screenings, and six special concerts spanning different musical styles. These were complemented by five sensory cultural experiences including: photo exhibitions geared toward Sighişoara locals, interactive video mapping events, and culinary art events. Participants were engaged and delighted by the diversity of our summer programming.
The cultural events were livestreamed on the Foundation’s Facebook page, and the project’s completion was marked by an interactive cultural fair.
About Our Sponsors
The EEA Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the Kingdom of Norway to reducing economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and strengthening bilateral relations with fifteen beneficiary states across Eastern and Southern Europe and the Baltics. These processes are established under the European Economic Area Agreement, which brings together EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway as equal partners in the internal market. In total, the three states contributed €3.3 billion in the 1994-2014 funding period and subsequently €1.55 billion in the 2014-2021 funding period. More details are available at www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.
The RO-CULTURE Program is implemented by the Ministry of Culture through its Project Management Unit and aims to consolidate economic and social development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship, and cultural heritage management. The Program’s budget is approximately €34 million. More details are available at www.ro-cultura.ro.
The Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation is headquartered in the Cojocarilor Tower in Sighișoara. The Mihai Eminescu Trust has over 20 years of experience in revitalizing and rejuvenating Transylvanian communities, cultural and natural heritage, and has implemented over 1300 projects for restoration, community development, reforestation, non-formal education for children, and vocational training courses for adults. https://www.mihaieminescutrust.ro/