The Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation implemented, between November 2024 and February 2025, as project promoter, the bilateral cultural initiative “Talent 35 – Supporting and Promoting Emerging Artists and Contemporary Art”, in partnership with Nedland Kultur from Norway. The initiative contributed to supporting contemporary art and 62 emerging artists – 52 visual artists and 10 musicians – as well as to raising awareness of cultural diversity and strengthening cooperation and cultural exchange between Romania and Norway.

The closing conference of the Talent 35 bilateral initiative takes place on Thursday, February 27, starting at 3:00 PM,during an online session. Emerging artists, cultural institutions, stakeholders, and other target groups participating in the project are invited to learn about the project results and the implementation methods of the activities carried out within the project. The actions and results of the initiative can serve as an example of best practice for other bilateral cultural projects .. Artiști emergenți, instituții culturale, stakeholderi și alte grupuri țintă participante la proiect sunt invitați să afle rezultatele proiectului și modalitatea de realizare a activităților desfășurate în cadrul proiectului. Acțiunile și rezultatele inițiativei pot reprezenta un exemplu de bună practică pentru alte proiecte culturale bilaterale. Registration is available by completing the form at this link .

The project’s actions contributed to supporting contemporary art and emerging artists, as well as to promoting cultural diversity and strengthening cooperation and cultural exchange between Romania and Norway. 62 emerging artists, musicians and visual artists, were promoted through the Concert, the Exhibition and the Contemporary Art Album Talent 35, which provided them with an elite exhibition framework, to an audience of over 1,000 people, at the Romanian Athenaeum and the National Museum of Art of Romania. The project experts and 132 young emerging artists from Romania and Norway carried out an exchange of know-how, good practices and creative and cultural experiences.

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Initially, 3 experts from the project team took part in an exchange of experience and best practices in the creative and cultural field in Norway,which aimed at the bilateral transfer of knowledge, identifying collaboration opportunities between Romania and Norway, and finding inspirational models for new contemporary art projects. Meetings were organized with organizations and institutions in Oslo, such as the Barratt Due Institute of Music, Tom Wilhelmsen’s Foundation, Talent Norge, Jeunesses Musicales Norway, as well as visits to representative contemporary art projects, such as the new National Museum, Munch Museum, Oslo Opera House, Gustav Vigeland sculpture museum in Frogner Park, and the Nordic Pixel Forest light installation..

Between January and February 2025, 132 participants benefited from meetings on valuable and diverse topics, featuring 13 experts with a prominent cultural profile from Romania and Norway as guests, with the participation of Sigbjørn Nedland, founder of Nedland Kultur Norway. The themes of the 6 sessions organized online focused on broadening the cultural horizon of young visual artists and musicians and on the development of contemporary art, through the transfer of creative and cultural knowledge between Romania and Norway. The topics addressed were:

• Norway’s decentralized vision on cultural activities and cultural institutions, a topic addressed by Harald Furre – Managing Director at Kilden Performing Arts Centre Kristiansand, and Torill Haugen – Leader of Digital Mediation and Innovation at Kunstsilo Art Museum Kristiansand;
• Musical entrepreneurship and electronic music, a theme presented by the University of Agder, Kristiansand, through Alesandra Bossa – PhD researcher and teacher in Live Electronics, and Andreas Waaler Røshol – Leader of Center for Excellence in Creative Use of Technologies in Music Education;
• Musical physiology – how body awareness can optimize artistic performance, featuring as guest Anca Cristescu – specialist in the field of musical physiology, PhD candidate at the West University of Timișoara, Teodora Chircă, pianist;
• Music therapy and the way musicians can approach this field as complementary to their activity, a topic presented by the organization Jeunesses Musicales Norway, by Ingrid Dyrnes Svendsen – musician and music therapist;
• Success in the artistic career. Advantages, risks and impact on creativity, a topic addressed by Costion Nicolescu – essayist, ethnologist and anthropologist, and Andrei Bălan – sculptor, musician, architect;
• Technology in the artistic career, At the junction of ART and the ALGORITHM, a topic presented by Cătălin Creţu – scientific researcher and associate lecturer at the National University of Music Bucharest, Theodor Dumbravă – specialist in coordinating projects in the field of information technology, and Dan Adrian Ionescu – visual artist and interior architect.

The bilateral initiative highlighted the talent and creativity of young emerging artists, born after 1990, through 3 contemporary art activities carried out during January–February 2025.

52 young visual artists exhibited their works at the National Museum of Art of Romania, as part of the visual art exhibition Talent 35, from January 18 to February 23, 2025. The artistic exploration undertaken by the young artists over time materialized into a collection of 91 works created using various techniques, such as painting, photographic art, sculpture, installation, fashion design, illustration, and set design. The exhibition was curated by Assoc. Prof. PhD Ion Anghel, painter and member of the Union of Fine Artists of Romania, and the opening took place on January 18, 2025, in the presence of the Royal Family of Romania and an audience of over 200 people. Opening video.

A selection of 72 artworks belonging to emerging visual artists constituted the Contemporary Art Album Talent 35, a project coordinated by Assoc. Prof. PhD Carmen Apetrei, published and distributed in 717 copies to specialized institutions and the contemporary art-loving public. Album of works.

10 young emerging musician artists performed on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum during the Talent 35 Anniversary Concert, as opera soloists and as members of the Royal Camerata and the Ascendis Choir, alongside conductor Tiberiu Soare. The event offered a memorable musical experience, taking place in the presence of the Royal Family of Romania and an audience of 800 people. The concert opened with lyrical pieces by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, and a varied opera repertoire brought emotion, freshness, and diversity through the exceptional performance of 4 soloists from the young generation. Concert video.

The promotion campaign for emerging artists and project activities reached a cumulative audience of over 1.4 million people through media coverage on radio, TV, and online publications, as well as a reach of over 125,000 people on social media pages across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the pages of relevant influencers.

Talent 35 – Supporting and Promoting Emerging Artists and Contemporary Art is a bilateral initiative funded by the EEA and Norway Grants – the National Bilateral Fund within the RO-CULTURE Programme.

The total value of the bilateral initiative is 618.840,41 lei (124.355,03 EUR).

Together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.

 

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About the EEA Grants

EEA Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the Kingdom of Norway to reducing economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and to strengthening bilateral relations with the 15 beneficiary states in Eastern/Central and Southern Europe and the Baltic states. These financing mechanisms are established based on the Agreement on the European Economic Area, which brings together EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway as equal partners in the internal market.

In total, the three states contributed €3.3 billion between 1994 and 2014 and €1.55 billion for the 2014-2021 funding period.

More details are available on: www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.

 

About the EEA and Norway Grants

EEA and Norway Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway to a green, competitive, and inclusive Europe. There are two general objectives: reducing economic and social disparities in Europe and strengthening bilateral relations between the donor countries and 15 EU countries from Central and Southern Europe and the Baltic States. The three donor countries cooperate closely with the EU through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA). Between 1994 and 2014, the donors provided EUR 3.3 billion through consecutive grant schemes. For the 2014-2021 period, the EEA and Norway Grants amount to EUR 2.8 billion.

 

About RO-CULTURA

The RO-CULTURE Programme is implemented by the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit and has the general objective of strengthening economic and social development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship, and cultural heritage management.

The Program budget is approximately 34 million euros.

More details are available on www.ro-cultura.ro.

 

About The Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation

The Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation was established in 1990 by King Michael I of Romania and Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown. With 35 years of activity, the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation supports children, youth, and elderly people through sustainable interventions based on the exchange of experience and values between generations. Over time, the Foundation has been involved in numerous social and cultural projects, as well as initiatives supporting education and artistic talent. More details are available on fundatiaregala.ro/.

 

About Nedland Kultur

Nedland Kultur is a private company from Norway with over 20 years of experience in cultural projects, intercultural collaborations, organizing concerts and festivals, music digitalization, etc. The company has implemented projects in Norway, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi, Russia, Palestine, Israel, Vietnam, and Egypt, including Romania. Through numerous projects in varied locations, Nedland Kultur has brought people together, inspiring them to enjoy getting to know each other, learning from one another, and respecting each other, based on the firm belief that there are always more things uniting people from different cultural and/or geographical backgrounds than what separates them. More details are available on www.nedlandkultur.com.