The project C.R.E.S.C. – network of creation, education, health, research – developed by the AREAL team over the next 2 years (Feb. 2025 – Nov. 2026) – proposes a community of care, responsibility and creativity, based on a type of profound relationship between persons with psychiatric diagnosis, children with special needs, parents, caregivers, teachers, therapists, doctors, artists, students, pupils and the entire community.
We are building a network of cooperation between cultural organizations, universities ( The National University of Theatre and Film UNATC and UNIBUC- Faculty of Psychology ), psychiatric hospitals, special schools, social NGOs, around four main pillars: I. Education and mental health; II. Professional development; III. Art as a space for reflection in the community; IV. Inclusive creation.
Among the project’s activities – through which we want to stimulate both artists and professional staff but also the audience which participates to our events – we will organize therapeutic – creative interventions at two psychiatric hospitals and a Foundation that cares for persons with psychiatric diagnoses, multidisciplinary conferences in educational spaces, performances in the halls of universities, special schools and high schools, a psychoeducational research which can be shared to all parties involved afterwards, workshops for the dissemination of practices in communities of pupils, students and artists, transdisciplinary and inclusive laboratories, participation of our team and collaborating artists in art residencies and international training programs, followed by the dissemination of information to the specialized public in Bucharest, the presentation of 6 performative works hosted by our project partners and finally, the organization of the C.R.E.S.C festival hosted by ARCUB, CNDB, Rezidenţa9 in September 2026 as the official closing of the project.
The project comes as an organic continuation of the initiatives and programs carried out by the partner organizations AREAL, Indiebox and Entuziart and we believe that it is the most complex and complete form through which the interests of the team converge. Moreover, we believe that the timing is also opportune, given the fact that we witness in Romania the first Government’s and Ministry of Health’s initiatives which would regulate expressive-creative therapies, so indispensable when we talk about the real help that patients with mental illnesses or disabilities, as well as their relatives or related medical personnel, can receive.
C.R.E.S.C. – Network of Creation, Education, Health, Research is a program co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) and developed in partnership with Institutul Italian de Cultură din București, Centrul Național al Dansului București (CNDB), ARCUB, Universitatea Națională de Artă Teatrală și Cinematografică „I.L.Caragiale” (UNATC), Universitatea din București – Facultatea de Psihologie, Institutul Liszt – Centrul Cultural Maghiar București, Institutul Polonez din București, British Council, Liceul de coregrafie „Floria Capsali”, Școala Profesională Specială „Sf. Nicolae”, Spitalul de Psihiatrie Voila, Spitalul de Psihiatrie „Eftimie Diamandescu” – Bălăceanca, Fundația Estuar, Asociația Entuziart, Rezidența 9, Scena9.
Parteneri media: Bookhub, Clivaj, CVLTARTES, Happ.ro, Life.ro, Matca Literară, Observator Cultural, Palindrom, București FM, Radio România Cultural, Radio România Internațional, Revista Psyche, Subversiv, The Institute, Zeppelin, Zile și Nopți.
Thank you!