CIRCOSTRADA × SIPAM - Bridging Policy and Practice 

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Street and circus arts fill public squares with audiences who never bought a ticket — yet they remain among the least institutionally recognized forms in the cultural sector. This exclusive joint plenary between Circostrada, the European network for circus and street arts, and SIPAM brings network members and high-level Romanian policymakers to the same table to ask how public space becomes a lasting cultural ecosystem rather than a backdrop for the occasional spectacle.

Bridging policy and practice, the session moves between the view from the government office and the view from the street. It examines what real institutional recognition for circus and street arts would require — funding, status, training, and infrastructure — and how outdoor performance shapes civic identity, turning a city’s squares and streets into shared cultural commons. It weighs the legacy of the European Capital of Culture designation: what endures once the title passes, and how a one-year spotlight can be converted into durable structures. And it confronts a quieter frontier — the integration of street arts into higher education, and what it means to formalize traditions built on apprenticeship, risk, and the open air. The shared question: how do you build placemaking that outlasts its founders?

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Bruno Costa  ·  Co-Director, Bússola (Portugal)

Antonia Kuzmanić  ·  Artistic Director, ROOM 100 (Croatia)

Constantin Chiriac  ·  President, FITS & SIPAM; General Director, TNRS (Romania)

Iulia Popovici  ·  Performing arts critic & curator, Observator cultural (Romania)

Ramona Chiriac  ·  VP for Global Impact, Therme Group; former Head, EC Representation in Romania (Romania)

Simona-Mirela Miculescu  ·  Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO (Romania)

Moderator — Alice Brunot  ·  Coordinator, Circostrada

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Event in English, with translation into Romanian and French
Duration: 1h 15min