Description
ART_ROM's general objective is the development and promotion of artistic and socio-cultural activities, methods and practices aimed at understanding the Roma culture from Romanian urban territories in order to encourage intercultural dialogue, to stimulate awareness of cultural diversity and to develop a culture of inclusion at local level, based on pilot-approaches in Turnu Magurele and Alexandria. The project aims at wide dissemination and awareness efforts among Romanian artists and NGOs. The expected results include: two groups of 20 young Roma and non-Roma from Turnu-Magurele and Alexandria, who participate in the development of community theater plays; two Del Duma theatre plays; two local consultation groups with 30 representatives of local stakeholders; 10 months of community theater and personal development workshops to develop two community theater plays based on the situation of Roma people in the two cities; two documentary exhibitions on Roma culture from the two cities; an ART_ROM documentary Handbook, video and photo story; 8 performances of the community plays in 4 cities.
Summary of project results
Although some efforts have been made by NGOs in the past in Alexandria and Turnu-Magurele (two cities in the Southern county of Teleorman with 18% out of total Roma population ) the integration problems of the Roma community remain chronic. These are caused by deficient public policies and by a lack of knowledge and empathy with Roma culture. The aspects of development and integration of the Roma population are identified as highly problematic in the local sustainable development strategies. In parallel, the public authorities from Teleorman county jointly emphasize the local needs of cultural and artistic activities, and the promotion of cultural diversity. Maskar developed and promoted artistic and socio-cultural intervention to understand the Roma culture from the South of Romania (namely in Teleorman county), to encourage intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and to develop a culture of inclusion at local level, based on pilot-approaches in Turnu-Magurele and Alexandria. The main outputs of the project included two groups of more than 50 young Roma and non-Roma from Turnu-Magurele and Alexandria, who participated at a long-term personal development program; two representations of ''Del Duma'' theatre play dealing with roma culture; two local consultation groups with 75 representatives of local stakeholders from the two cities to debate about discrimination and interculturality; two community theater screenplays based on the situation of Roma people in the two cities; two documentary exhibitions on Roma culture from the two cities; Maskar documentary Handbook, video and photo story; Maskar Caravan in Turnu-Magurele, Alexandria, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca. Over 50 young people from the two cities participated to a complex series of workshops that developed their self esteem, cooperation, solidarity, team skills, and their ability to fight against discrimination; 75 adults participated in the local consultation groups and developed their cultural dialogue, critical spirit, and solidarity abilities; 13 artists worked directly with Roma people in the project, which enabled them to understand the amplitude of the discrimination problem and the role of art in the representation of the minorities; over 105 artists, 550 NGOs, 40 mass media representatives entered in contact with the project activities and became more aware about the role of activist art.
Summary of bilateral results