Arts Lab 6.0: Nikola Svobodova - Month 1

It’s been over a month since I arrived in Romania. So much stuff happened, that it’s kind of hard to remember it all. It was a full month, full of learning new things and discovering. Not just things like how to create and guide workshops, but also how to live with other 14 people.

I arrived into the house first, it was very strange and intimidating. This space, which seemed so big with no people here, filled with artworks and history from different people who lived here before us. But shortly the others started to arrive and we finally met.

We started our journey by an on-arrival training, which took place online and taught us about being a volunteer. Then the workshops came, the total number of them were 3. At the start it was hard, but it’s getting easier. The most intimidating one was the second workshop at Moldova school with kids that have visual impairments, the theme for our workshop was about JEMOM museum. The first day was really hard for me and Sona, with which I worked on the workshop. But for the other days we learned from the first day and prepared better, more kids came and it was so much smoother. In the end the art residency was really nice and we created an artwork from their drawings, paintings and scans.

Then we went to discover Iași together. The first time we went there was for French institute, to meet other people from Erasmus and Romania. During this trip we saw lots of places, and discovered how beautiful it is there. We also went to a modern gallery, where the owner invited us to come for the Night of Galleries. So naturally the second time we went there was for the Night of Galleries. It was very ALIVE night. People on the streets for the galleries, but also for a metal festival. We met 2 volunteers from Romania, that study in Iași. We were a little bit lost in finding the galleries, but then we met them and they helped us and also gave us a tour of the city. Through the galleries we met some more volunteers. The night of galleries was a beautiful experience full of art and people.

A big thing we were part of was Folcloristica festival in Tătăruși. These were 3 really full days of Romanian culture, hospitality and nature. The first day they took us to a local woodcrafter and restaurant. I was in a team which created postcards for the village, firstly painting and then digitize them. The second day we started by doing a workshop, then visiting the church, the shepherd and woods. The nature was really beautiful, the views at the mountains and trees were really peaceful. Later the festival started, people were dancing, singing, showing their culture. We also participated in it, I taught people a traditional Czech dance Mazurka. During the third day, people from the villages around travelled there to represent their cultures. So many beautiful clothes, colors, patterns and cultures. We were part of the jury this year, to give the prize of the most beautiful village.

So much more stuff happened this month: birthdays, Romanian night and more. Sometimes it was overwhelming to guide through the work and trying to learn how to live with so many people. But I learned so much already and am excited to see what comes next!

Report written by Nikola Svobodova, she's from Czech Republic and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.