The C.R.E.S.C. Festival marks the culminating event of C.R.E.S.C. – Network for Creation, Education, Health and Research, a two-year programme developed by AREAL and its partners between February 2025 and November 2026.

Over the course of two years, the project has fostered a community of care, responsibility and creativity, grounded in meaningful relationships between people with psychiatric diagnoses, children with special needs, parents, caregivers, teachers, therapists, medical professionals, artists, students, pupils and the wider public. The network brought together cultural organisations, universities, psychiatric hospitals, special education schools and social NGOs around four key pillars: education and mental health, professional development, art as a space for community reflection, and inclusive creation.

Throughout the programme, participants engaged in therapeutic and creative interventions in hospitals and social care institutions, multidisciplinary conferences, transdisciplinary laboratories, dissemination workshops, psycho-educational research, international residencies and training programmes, as well as a series of performative works developed together with partner communities.

The C.R.E.S.C. Festival showcases the outcomes of this process through performances, participatory installations and professional gatherings that address themes such as inclusion, mental health, motherhood, ageing, and the relationship between art and care. Bringing together artists, researchers, educators, healthcare practitioners and programme participants, the festival creates a space for dialogue and reflection on participatory artistic practices and their social impact.

The festival continues and expands the work developed by the partner organisations AREAL, IndieBox and Entuziart, contributing to the consolidation of an interdisciplinary framework at a moment when expressive and creative therapies are beginning to gain greater recognition in Romania.

PROGRAM

31 August – 2 September 2026 | Rezidența9

mind moving
Participatory performative installation

23 September 2026 | ARCUB – Hanul Gabroveni

moving [m]others
A performative work exploring experiences of motherhood, care and transformation.

25 September 2026 | National Center for Dance Bucharest (CNDB)

Polyphony of Gestures
An inclusive performance developed together with participants from the programme’s partner communities.

26 September 2026 | ARCUB – Hanul Gabroveni | 11:00

International Conference: “Dancing from Inclusivity towards Complexity”
Organised in partnership with the European Dance Development Network (EDN).

Panel 1 | International Inclusive Practices (United Kingdom)

• Jonathan Meth
• Olga Macrinici
• Katye Coe

Panel 2 | Artistic Practice and Research (Italy)

• Laura Napoletano
• Domenico Valenza
• Thomas Greil
• Carla Bottiglieri
• Sara Santilli (TBC)
• Matteo Maffesanti (online)

Panel 3 | C.R.E.S.C. Results and Local Perspectives (Hungary, Romania)

• Dorka Farkas
• Rarița Branca
• Representative of UNATC
• Representative of DGASPC
• Representative of Estuar Foundation
• Representative of Sf. Nicolae Special School
• C.R.E.S.C. project team

The final conference format and detailed schedule will be announced at a later stage.

27 September 2026 | Bucharest

The Bodies Where We Meet
A performative work developed within the C.R.E.S.C. programme, exploring the body as a space of encounter, vulnerability and belonging.

Throughout the festival, audiences and professionals will also be invited to informal gatherings, research presentations, discussions and networking activities dedicated to practitioners working across the fields of art, education, healthcare and social intervention.

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!

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!