More than 1 million people interacted with the more than 200 events of Romanian Creative Week (RCW), the most important event dedicated to the creative industries in the EU, which took place in Iasi from 15 to 26 May 2024. Another 20 million+ audience interactions also took place on the event's social media accounts, a spectacular increase of around 25% compared to the previous edition.
For 12 days, Iasi became the heart of fashion, art and culture in Romania: over 1,000 Romanian and foreign artists, 200 events, dozens of exhibitions, film, theatre and dance festivals, three days of fashion shows, visual arts performances, concerts, conferences, workshops and competitions. No less than 350 volunteers, supported by McDonald's, were on hand every day at RCW events to support the public.
"The fourth edition of Romanian Creative Week was a success. Year after year, RCW has grown, diversified and we are happy to see that the public enjoyed all the more than 200 events we offered this year. Iasi is a wonderful city, which once again proved that it knows how to welcome its artists. During these 12 days, people came to Iasi from all over the country, but also from abroad, to see the RCW events", said Irina Schrotter, president of the Federation of Creative Industries Employers (FEPIC), the organiser of the event.
Among the famous names who have been in Iași during this period are Horia-Roman Patapievici, Andrei Pleșu, VasileBănescu and Ioan Stanomir, guests of the Creativity Conferences, an event launched with this edition of Romanian Creative Week. One of the firsts brought by RCW this year was the presence at Romanian Creative Week of Mircea Cantor, winner of the prestigious Duchamp Prize (2011), who exhibited his latest project at Baia Turcească in Iasi, at the invitation of the famous fashion house Dior. The Romanian artist reimagined the famous Lady Dior bag in his own way, as part of the eighth edition of the collaboration project between the fashion house and international artists.
Set designer Dragoș Buhagiar, president of UNITER, invited together with visual artist Andrei Cozlac to the ACT Festival of Author's Theatre, gave a unique artistic meaning to the great event. In fact, the ACT Author's Theatre Festival was another first for Romanian Creative Week. The two, together with the architect Andrei Bodnar, were also the authors of the installation "Shifting Realities", supported by glo and exhibited on Stefan cel Mare cel Mare șiSfânt Boulevard, during the whole RCW period.
The fourth edition of RCW ended on Sunday evening with the last show of Romanian Fashion Week, during which some of the most famous designers in the country presented their splendid collections for the 2024-2025 autumn-winter season, in front of thousands of spectators present in the Palas Gardens in Iasi. Irina Schrotter's collection, which closed Romanian Fashion Week, also brought a national premiere: an Augmented Reality moment, created with visual artists Valentina Druțu and LeontinPăun, together with architect Sebastian Comănescu and the company Centric IT Solutions. Included during Irina Schrotter's collection presentation, the Augmented Reality moment could be admired by thousands of spectators, during the fashion show, using the RCW mobile app.
Romanian Fashion Week, Romania's longest-running fashion event, which this year celebrated a quarter of a century since its first edition, was the context in which more than a hundred young and established designers presented their latest collections in Iași, on the country's most impressive catwalk. Among them: Affair 37, Atelier Hamza, BOL Fashion Of Nature by OanaLupaș, SmarandaAlmășan, AXENTE, Carmen Secăreanu, Chic Utility, Irina Schrotter, House of Compulsion, Ioana Ciolacu, Sandra Chira, Scapadona, Tearless street, Tudor Halațiu, Laura Lazăr and AndreeaTincu. They were joined by dozens of young designers from all four design universities in the country - University of Arts and Design in Cluj, National University of Art in Bucharest, West University of Timisoara and Gheorghe Asachi University in Iasi, as well as the University of Design in Chisinau, who presented their collections on the first evening of Romanian Fashion Week. For all the fashion shows, make-up was provided by the Lancôme team, coordinated by NMA Alexandru Abagiu, and hair styling was supported by the Philips team, coordinated by Philips Ambassador Sorin Stratulat.
Over 50 locations in Iasi hosted RCW events
Apart from the Design pillar, Romanian Creative Week had six main pillars: Arts&Crafts, New Media, Content Creation, Creative Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Digital, Sustainability and Creative Communities. The events took place in more than 50 locations in Iasi.
After last year's successful debut, the HazarDance dance festival expanded to a week-long festival and put the spotlight on contemporary dance, flamenco, nomadic dance and street dance in exceptional performances featuring artists from Romania, Spain, USA and Hungary. One of the surprises of HazarDance, supported by Pepsi, was the presence of two of the most renowned flamenco dancers in the world, Spaniards Patricia Guerrero and Alfonso Losa, who opened the dance week in Iasi with "Alter Ego", a performance like a meeting of emotional mirrors.
The New Media District has proposed to the public no less than 40 spectacular, interactive installations by 37 visual artists from Iasi, Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj and Chisinau.
ACT - arthouse cinema&theatre, the theatre and film festival, brought to Iasi nine feature films, six plays and conferences in the field. Each feature film was preceded by the screening of a short film with a complementary theme. This year's selection of films included two national previews: Averroès& Rosa Parks, directed by Nicolas Philibert, and Girasoli, Catrinel Marlon's directorial debut, both distributed in Romania by Voodoo Films.
The NeMO music festival, curated by CătălinAlionte, generated a week of concerts, parties and music conferences. Supported by Pepsi, NeMO featured performances by Alexandra Căpitănescu, winner of the last edition of "VoceaRomâniei", Delta Pe Obraz and Tajnic, among others.
Creative Entrepreneurship, a pillar supported by UniCredit Bank, proposed a mentoring programme for young entrepreneurs, bringing together seven of the country's leading experts in banking, business, finance, legal, digital marketing and branding. For one day, on 22 May 2024, in the Hall of the Voivodes of the Palace of Culture, dozens of entrepreneurs at the beginning of their journey benefited from personalised advice for the development of their business.
The Innovation & Digital section has prepared, through the UniCredit FinTech Hack event, a competition with prizes of up to €2,500 for students. During the 48-hour hackathon, mixed Coding, Design and Marketing teams were invited to work together and then present their solutions in front of a jury of fintech specialists and experts, representatives from academia and leaders of tech businesses.
The Arts & Crafts section came with several dozen exhibitions that challenged the public's imagination, including Egologia, RCW's central exhibition (curator Marian Pălie), FF | Fashion & Film (curators DomnicaMărgescu and Maurice Munteanu), Eternity as Attempt (curator Marlene Herberth), Wanna Be Fog with Me? (curator Bogdan Iacob), Glimpses of Infinite Symmetry 2014 - 2024 (Galateca).
Sustainability and Creative Communities, the newest of the RCW sections, has proposed to the public the documentary "What unites us", directed by journalist and curator Irina Păcurariu. The film, which focuses on "manipulation, distortion of the truth, the rise of frivolity", was screened in Baia Turcească.
The sustainability pillar also offered exhibitions, debates and interactive urban projects dedicated to the community, such as MYC_Casa, Sustainable Cities. Sustainable Living and "Real, Modelled, Virtual - Frumoasa Monastery". The conference "Sustainable Cities. Sustainable Living", attended by experts from both the private sector and local government, discussed a range of topical issues in the field of sustainability and societal impact.
This year, RCW launched its offline shop dedicated to promoting and selling the work of local visual artists, as well as its online shop. The shop, located in the Art Gallery "Nicolae Tonitza", belonging to UAP Iasi, was set up with a €20,000 grant from RCW and partners.
ABOUT ROMANIAN CREATIVE WEEK
Romanian Creative Week is organized by the Federation of Creative Industries Employers (FEPIC), the only nationally representative employers' federation active in the Creative Industries sector in Romania. In 2023, RCW has been designated as the event that brings together the largest number of creative industries in Europe, according to the European Union Intellectual 
Property Office (EUIPO).
Partners: Iasi City Hall, Iasi County Council, Ministry of Culture, UniCredit Bank, Iulius, National Museum of Romanian Literature Iasi, Pepsi, glo, Lenor, Vodafone, Banca Transilvania, Mobexpert, Lancôme, Philips, Raiffeisen Bank, Centric, Stella Artois, Huawei, McDonald's, Purcari, Moxy Hotels, BMW Apan Motors Iași, Epson, Quartz Matrix, National Museum Complex Moldova Iași, Freudenberg, Order of Architects of Romania Iași, Printco, Wink, Greentek, Noir, Zano, Iași Airport, FILIT, Godmother, Omnimind, University "Al. I. Cuza" Iași, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Gr. T. Popa" Iasi, the Union of Fine Artists Iasi Branch, "VasileAlecsandri" National Theatre Iasi.
Media partners: ProTv.ro, PRO TV, Digi 24, HotNews, Libertatea, Newsweek Romania, Agerpres, Unica, Viva!,Avantaje, Elle, Ringier, TVR Iași, Alist Magazine, Ziarul de Iași, PressHub, Investigatoria, Media Quality, ArtHood, The Woman.
RCW Friends: Acaju, Beer Zone, CafeneauaPiațaUnirii, Madison, Skin, Nish feat. Nuba, Foom, Nuba Palace.
