ABOUT RCI

The Romanian Cultural Institute, a public body founded in 2003, is tasked with raising the profile of Romanian culture around the world. In order to achieve this, it spreads information and spearheads cultural projects involving Romanian artists and writers.

Furthermore, the Romanian Cultural Institute acts as means through which foreign audiences can experience the products of Romanian culture. Cultural exports from Romania are, for the most part, facilitated by the institute’s 16 foreign branches, located in Berlin, Brussels, Budapest (with a subsidiary in Szeged), Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Prague, Rome, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Venice, Vienna and Warsaw. These are tasked with organising high-visibility cultural events adapted to suit the tastes of foreign audiences, while at the same time ensuring that a balance be maintained between their uniqueness and an international appeal.

The Romanian Cultural Institute has developed extremely close ties with Romanian minorities in neighbouring countries as well as with the Romanian diaspora. It aims to facilitate their efforts to preserve their own cultural identity while living abroad.

Not only does the Romanian Cultural Institute target cultural circles abroad, it is also very much involved in supporting cultural activities in Romania. It achieves this through non-refundable financing programmes, scholarships and courses in Romanian language and culture. These include the CANTEMIR Programme, the ‘Constantin Brâncuşi’ and ‘George Enescu’ scholarships (which take place at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris), residency programmes, scholarships for foreign cultural journalists and research scholarships.

In June 2007, the National Book Centre was set up under the auspices of the Romanian Cultural Institute. The mission of this centre is to promote Romanian literature abroad, and it achieves this through a variety of means.

It oversees the financing of translations of Romanian literature through the TPS – Translation and Publication Support and 20 Authors programmes and, through the Publishing Romania programme, produces albums, books and magazines focused on Romanian culture. The centre also supervises the awarding of scholarships to foreign translators, represents Romania at international book fairs and organises meetings between foreign publishers and their Romanian counterparts.

The CANTEMIR Programme was launched in 2006 as a non-refundable financing programme for cultural projects taking place internationally. The programme aims to ensure easier access to Romanian culture, raise the profile of Romanian culture on international cultural markets, and foster links between Romanian and foreign artists. CANTEMIR is structured on three levels, as follows;
Level I, Festivals: Culture by Request, provides support for Romanian cultural operators wishing to ensure Romanian participation at high-profile
international festivals
Level II, Promotion: Culture to Go, is aimed at operators who initiate projects designed to promote culture abroad.
Level III, Co-operation: Culture to Share, assists those participating in cultural co-operation projects designed to encourage inter-cultural dialogue.
Furthermore, Levels II and III support projects developed by foreign operators and aimed at Romania, or projects undertaken outside Romania with a Romanian partner.