Programme

Contact Zones in Practice

A Training Model for Cultural Democracy, Dialogue, and Structural Change

📅 2–3 December 2025
📍 Goethe-Institut Bucharest, Calea Dorobanți 32

December 2nd

18:30 – 19.30 EET | TCZ TALK

Mapping Contact Zones: Voices from Within and Beyond Roma Communities
Roma intellectuals, cultural professionals, and activists are invited to reflect on their own “contact zones” — spaces where community life, cultural expression, and social transformation intersect. Moderated by Joachim Umlauf (Coordinator EU Projects Goethe-Institut Bucharest)
Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Delia Grigore (writer, researcher, and cultural activist)
Prof.Dr. Elena Radu (activist and community leader)
Stream via YouTube Goethe-Institut – link

December 3rd

09:00 – 09:30 EET |Arrival participants + coffee greeting

09:30 – 09:45 EET | Welcome word by Markus Huber, director of Goethe-Institut Bucharest

Introduction by Kerem Çelikoğlu (Culture Action Europe)
Stream via Zoom, Q&A online

09:45 – 10:45 EET | Contextualizing Contact Zones: why now, and why they matter?

Speakers:
András Rényi (Human Platform),
Frans Damman (Herrengracht401)
Roberto Gomez de la Iglesia (Conexiones improbables)
Carina Moutinho (PELE)
Konstantin Fischer (Etz Chayyim Synagogue)
Lars Ebert (Culture Action Europe)
Moderated by Joachim Umlauf (Coordinator EU Projects Goethe-Institut Bucharest)
Stream via Zoom, Q&A online

10:45 – 11:00 EET | Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:45 EET | Keynote Lecture

Inês Bettencourt da Câmara (former President of Culture Action Europe, Lecturer at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar)
From Contact to Transformation: Rethinking Heritage Through Mediation and Failure
Moderated by Joachim Umlauf (Coordinator EU Projects Goethe-Institut Bucharest)
Stream via Zoom, Q&A online

11:45 – 13:00 EET | Pilot video screening

Curriculum Presentation
Insights from TCZ Pilot Trainings
Moderated by Maria João Mota (PELE) & Micol Manunta (Herrengracht401)
Q&A with trainers Luiza Medeleanu (Roma Education Fund), Adrian Furtună (Centrul Național de Cultură a Romilor – Romano Kher)
Stream via Zoom, Q&A online

13:00 – 14:30 EET | Lunch

14:30– 15:30 EET | Who gets to tell the story? Exploring Narrative Justice and Cultural Democracy

Workshop facilitated by Roberto Gomez de la Iglesia (Conexioness improbables) & Lars Ebert (Culture Action Europe)

15:30 – 16:00 EET | Coffee Break

16:00 – 17:15 EET | Who gets to tell the story? Exploring Narrative Justice and Cultural Democracy

Workshop facilitated by Roberto Gomez de la Iglesia (Conexioness improbables) & Lars Ebert (Culture Action Europe)
Introduction on the concept of Cultural Rights by Jazmin Beirak (Director of Cultural Rights at the Spanish Ministry of Culture)

17:15 – 17.30 EET | Closing Words – Shared Learnings and Next Steps

Facilitated by Micol Manunta (Herrengracht401) and Kerem Çelikoğlu (Culture Action Europe)

20:30 EET | Meet up at Lokal Bar – Informal feedback session

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