Roma Culture: Preserving and revitalizing crafts, part of the intangible heritage

Project Promoter: Youth for Sustainable Development in Europe
Project Partner: Romers Rettigheter
Project duration: 12 months
Total project amount: RON 271,382.91, i.e. EUR 61,607.92
Grant amount: RON 244,244.61, i.e. EUR 55,447.13

General objective: Revitalising Roma intangible heritage, by facilitating the access of the general public at cultural events dedicated to Roma minority.

Activities:

• organizing two exhibitions in Bucharest and Sibiu, where the Roma craftsmen will perform artisanal craftsmanship demonstrations in front of the public in order to provide a greater exposure and understanding of the importance of crafts, as part of the intangible cultural heritage.
• organizing five workshops in Bucharest schools in order to bring Roma traditional crafts closer to students and to offer them the opportunity to  understand the main traditional Roma crafts such as pottery, woodworking or silversmithing.
• a study on Roma traditional crafts based on five visits in Roma communities. The study will present Roma culture both nationally and internationally, by disseminating the study results in Norway.
• building an online platform based on the study, serving as a framework for a dynamic presentation of the craft items, and also for displaying video presentation of each Roma craft.

Project outcomes:

• 13 revitalised crafts
• 2 exhibitions dedicated to Roma intangible heritage
• 5 crafts workshops
• 5 visits in Roma communities
• one online platform developed
• 1.000 magazines in Romanian
• 1.000 brochures in Norwegian

The project progress can be followed on the dedicated website www.romaculture.ro and also on the official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/romaculture.ro.

Project news

• Shukar Fest – Interethnic handicrafts fair, 7 – 9 October 2016

IMPACT

2 exhibitions dedicated to Roma intangible heritage

Shukar Fest, first edition, Bucharest, August 2015

Shukar Fest, second edition, Sibiu, October 2015

5 handicrafts workshops organized in two education institutions. During the workshops, students learned about the history, tools and techniques used by craftsmen, but they also had the opportunity to craft their own objects from metal, leather, wood and clay.

“Handicrafts Caravan” consisting of 4 itinerant exhibitions organized in Bucharest, Sinaia, Predeal and Brașov

5 visits in Roma traditional communities to document their specific handicrafts

Materiale video

Film documentar - Documentary film

Argintari din Alexandria - Silversmiths from Alexandria

Căldărari din Brateiu - Coppersmiths from Brateiu

Căldărari din Popești-Leordeni - Coppersmiths from Popești-Leordeni

Curelari din Sighișoara - Harness makers from Sighișoara

Rudari din Băbeni - Rudars from Băbeni