ESC: Building an artistic community in Chișinău, Moldova!

Founded in 2000 and based on rather long working experience as an independent cultural actor, "Oberliht" aims to interconnect dispersed artistic scenes and build an artistic community making use of public spaces. The Association aims to provide support to young artists and contribute to their professional development. It develops and maintains interdisciplinary platforms and projects aiming to connect the local and international contemporary art and culture initiatives, and advocates for a strong and independent cultural sector in Moldova and in the region. We develop relations with organisations, institutions and individuals from Moldova and the wider European region, which are active in the cultural field that reflect in their projects the dynamics of social, political and economic transformations of the society, among them students and teachers, researchers and activists, public authorities, journalists, volunteers. Deemed unimportant by the Moldovan government, culture and the arts receive very little funding, which is limited to state institutions and doesn’t include independent art and culture organizations among which Oberliht association can be found. Therefore, we rely on the volunteers’ support and their energy to support our activities. By volunteering, we wish to support the local community and we appreciate any help that is willingly given. On top of that, by working with volunteers, we hope to gain new experiences as well as raise awareness of our activities on an international level. Since 2009 we have successfully hosted over 30 volunteers from different countries. Participation in the project would contribute to the professional and personal development of the volunteer aiming at obtaining experience in art/culture projects and events management. It will allow the volunteer to learn new languages and acquire new cultural experiences, to get to know the arts and culture scene from Moldova and from abroad, to establish new relations with artists, curators, cultural workers etc; as well as with the public attending the organized events. By carrying out different tasks, the volunteer would also acquire new practical skills. Meeting new people and working in a team as well as individuals are also an everyday reality. Although there are fixed tasks, there remains a lot of variety and space for new ideas.