A UK-based Grant for Romanian Cultural Managers

(for the Romanian version, scroll down)

Gabriela Tudor Foundation from Bucharest, in partnership with the Ratiu Foundation from the United Kingdom, is launching the call for applications for the ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant in Cultural Management for the year 2011. The Grant, with the value of GBP 2,500, is presented annually. It consists in a stay of four weeks in the United Kingdom.

The funds ensured by the grant cover the cost of travel Bucharest-London-Bucharest, local transport in the UK, accommodation during the duration of the grant, per diem, as well as a budget for tickets for shows, films, entry fees to museums and galleries.

The aim of the ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant is to keep alive the memory of one of the few visionary cultural managers in Romania. Gabriela Tudor – who passed away, alas too soon, in January 2009 – has significantly contributed to the development of the Romanian cultural scene through her initiatives and projects, and her direct support given to artists and cultural organisations.

Launched in 2009, the goals of ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant are to offer opportunities for European-level professional development and at the same time to contribute to the development and motivating of emerging Romanian cultural managers.

The winner of the first ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant in Cultural Management was Corina Bucea, manager al the Paintbrush Factory (Fabrica de pensule) of Cluj Napoca. Corina’s visit to the UK took place during June-July 2010.

The next ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant will take place in the United Kingdom during June-July 2011. The deadline for the applications is 30 October 2010.
In 2011, besides the four-week grant in the UK, with the value of GBP2,500, the Ratiu Foundation will also award five special grants consisting in a one-week professional visit to London.

All grants will be awarded on the basis of the applications received, the selection being made by: Irina Cios (cultural manager and Curator of the International Centre for Contemporary Art, Bucharest), Petra Bischof (cultural manager, The Swiss Cultural Programme), Ghislaine Boddington (Creative Director, Body>Data>Space; mentor of the ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant winner), Corina Bucea (Gabriela Tudor grantee for 2010), Ramona Mitrica (Director, the Ratiu Foundation), Cosmin Manolescu (Executive Director of the Gabriela Tudor Foundation). The fields of activity which have priority for 2011 are contemporary arts management, the private cultural sector, and cultural policies.

For more details and to obtain the application forms, please contact us at cosmin@gabrielatudor.ro, contact person Cosmin Manolescu, or access the pages www.gabrielatudor.ro and www.ratiufamilyfoundation.com .

The ‘Gabriela Tudor’ Grant is offered by
the Ratiu Foundation and Gabriela Tudor Foundation / United Experts, with the financial assistance of Swiss Cultural Programme in Romania.

Supported by Green Hours Jazz Cafe and IDILIS.

• • • • • •

Bursa in Marea Britanie pentru manageri culturali romani

Fundatia Gabriela Tudor din Bucuresti, in parteneriat cu Fundatia Ratiu din Marea Britanie, lanseaza concursul pentru Bursa ‘Gabriela Tudor’ in Management Cultural pentru anul 2011.
Bursa, in valoare de 2500 de lire sterline, se acorda anual si consta intr-un stagiu de patru saptamani in Marea Britanie.

Valoarea bursei acopera costul biletului de avion Bucureşti-Londra-Bucureşti, al transportului local in Marea Britanie, cazarea pe perioada stagiului, diurna bursierului, si un buget pentru bilete la spectacole, filme, intrari la muzee si expozitii.

Bursa ‘Gabriela Tudor’ isi propune sa pastreze vie memoria unuia dintre putinii manageri culturali vizionari din Romania. Disparuta prea curand, in ianuarie 2009, Gabriela Tudor a contribuit in mod semnificativ la dezvoltarea scenei artistice romanesti prin initiativele si proiectele realizate si prin sprijinul direct acordat artistilor si organizatiilor culturale.

Lansata in 2009, Bursa ‘Gabriela Tudor’ ofera posibilitati de pregatire profesionala la nivel european si contribuie la perfectionarea si motivarea managerilor culturali din Romania, aflati la inceput de drum.

Castigatorul primei Burse ‘Gabriela Tudor’ in Management Cultural a fost Corina Bucea, manager al Fabricii de Pensule din Cluj Napoca. Vizita Corinei in Marea Britanie a avut loc in perioada iunie-iulie 2010.

Urmatoarea Bursa ‘Gabriela Tudor’ se va derula in Marea Britanie in perioada iunie – iulie 2011. Data limita pentru depunerea dosarelor de candidatura: 30 octombrie 2010.
In 2011, pe langa bursa de patru saptamani in Marea Britanie, in valoare de 2500 de lire sterline, Fundatia Ratiu va acorda cinci burse speciale care vor consta intr-o vizita profesionala de o saptamana la Londra.

Bursele vor fi acordate pe baza selecţiei de dosare, realizate de catre o comisie formata din: Irina Cios (manager cultural şi curator Centrul Internaţional pentru Arta Contemporana), Petra Bischof (manager cultural, Programul Cultural Elveţian), Ghislaine Boddington (Creative Director, Body>Data>Space; mentorul castigatorului Bursei ‘Gabriela Tudor’), Corina Bucea (bursier Gabriela Tudor 2010), Ramona Mitrica (director Fundaţia Raţiu din Marea Britanie), Cosmin Manolescu (director executiv al Fundaţiei Gabriela Tudor). Domeniile de prioritate pentru anul 2011 sunt managementul artelor contemporane, sectorul cultural privat si politicile culturale.

Pentru detalii si obtinerea formularelor de candidatura, va rugam sa ne contactati prin e-mail la cosmin@gabrielatudor.ro , persoana de contact Cosmin Manolescu, sau sa consultati paginile de internet www.gabrielatudor.ro si www.ratiufamilyfoundation.com

Bursa ‘Gabriela Tudor’ este oferita de catre Fundatia Ratiu din Marea Britanie si
Fundatia Gabriela Tudor / United Experts, cu sprijinul financiar al Programului Cultural Elvetian in Romania.

Sustinut de Green Hours Jazz Cafe si IDILIS.

AT THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

in association with the exhibition

THE LOST WORLD OF OLD EUROPE, The Danube Valley, 5000 – 3500 BC

Clay, water, a potter’s wheel – and a technique almost unchanged for thousands of years.

On Saturday 24 July 2010, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford played host to a unique event: at the invitation of the Ratiu Foundation, craftsman CORNEL SITAR, a true master of ancient Romanian traditional pottery skills, met the audience and held a special three-session workshop.

Grown-ups and children alike took enthusiastically to this task, eager for their turn at the wheel. A great number of small pots and several full-scale demonstration objects resulted from this workshop, the audience being invited to take them home, as a memento of the meeting.

You can see a photo gallery with images taken during the workshop on the website of the Romanian Cultural Centre, by clicking here. You can also see a short film of the event by clicking here.

CORNEL SITAR is a traditional craftsman from the Baia Mare region in north-western Romania. He learned his trade from his parents, having first come into contact with the potter’s wheel in 1962, at the age of 13. From 1978, Cornel Sitar began working in the workshop inherited from his father. Pottery and ceramics became not only a way of preserving an ancient skill, but also a business, the entire Sitar family being involved in the workshop.

Special thanks to: Cornel Sitar, Nicolae Ratiu, Ramona Mitrica, Mihai Risnoveanu, The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London, Susie Gault, Rowan Guthrie, The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Virgil Nitulescu, Oana Halpern, The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Adrian Cherciu, ROMANi-ONLiNE.co.uk, Petrica Pop Sitar.

THE LOST WORLD OF OLD EUROPE

until 15 August 2010, Temporary Exhibition Galleries, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH
Tel. 01865 278 000 • Tickets: £6.00 / £4.00 concession • www.ashmolean.org .

With major loans from Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, ‘The Lost World of Old Europe’ presents more than 250 artefacts recovered by archaeologists from the settlements and cemeteries of ‘Old Europe’. This remarkable exhibition of gold, pottery and archaeological finds from the prehistoric civilisation of the Danube Valley, in southeast Europe, is presented in Britain for the first time.

Highlights of the exhibition include the ‘Thinker’ and Female Figurine from Cernavoda, as well as many ceramic and metallurgical pieces from the Cucuteni culture in Romania.

The exhibition has been organised by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW) in collaboration with the National History Museum of Romania, Bucharest, and with the participation of the Varna Regional Museum of History, Bulgaria and the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova, Chisinau; and has been made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.

the pottery workshop was supported by The Ratiu Foundation, in collaboration with The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (Muzeul National al Taranului Roman).

Dragii nostri prieteni romani de peste tot,

In perioada 1– 7 iulie 2010 a avut loc Festivalul de Film Romanesc la Londra. Zilele cele mai intense au fost cele de weekend, bineinteles, cand au rulat cateva filme noi la cinema Mayfair Curzon, chiar in buricul Londrei.

Abia asteptam sa vad, nefiind un devorator de filme devenit expert in film romanesc, cu ce am mers la inaintare anul trecut, ce premii internationale am mai luat etc.

Am luat cu mine ca invitat pe o prietena de familie care se afla in Londra la momentul cu pricina. Dupa prima parte a zilei in care au fost prezentate trei scurtmetraje si un documentar despre comunitatea de lipoveni din Delta Dunarii, a urmat o pauza. La pauza, iesim afara sa luam aer si sa bem ceva. “Ei, ce zici?” intreb eu. Nu m-am asteptat la ce a urmat. Prietena noastra era ‘socata’, ca sa o citez, nu-i venea sa-si creada ochilor ce a putut sa vada! Ca noi cu asta ne mandrim, ca “prostii astia de regizori, asa cred ei ca trebuie sa promoveze Romania, sa arate lumii intregi cata saracie e in tara noastra, si sa faca din asta arta. De ce, ma, de ce, cand avem atatea lucruri faine de aratat?!” Inutil sa va spun ca nu a fost chip sa o pot lua si la filmul urmator, Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier.

Mai apoi, discutand si cu alti compatrioti, aflu ca a mai fost un incident asemanator cu doua zile inainte. Si ca si in tara au fost reactii negative legate de film tocmai din aceeasi pricina! Intrebarea mea este: cati dintre cei care au reactionat astfel promoveaza in orice fel Romania sau fac eforturi pentru crearea unei imagini pozitive a romanilor?

In fine, ca un roman cu simtul responsabilitatii ce sunt, o sun pe prietena noastra ca sa lamurim dilema. “Hai sa vedem!”, zic. “Care este scopul cinematografiei in general? Ce se urmareste intr-un film? De ce filmele romanesti au succes si sunt din ce in ce mai apreciate in ultimii ani? De ce criticii de cinema si juriile si Europa intreaga se uita la filme romanesti si le mai si dau premii frumusele? Pentru ca au auzit ca promoveaza saracia? Ai vazut vreodata vreun scurtmetraj produs de englezi, sau de scotieni, sau de francezi?” “NU!” zice ea. “Cum crezi tu ca poti impresiona un intreg public cu peisaje mioritice ideale, unde sa nu existe niciun factor creator de conflict? “

Cinema-ul romanesc nu e Discovery Channel! Nu are ca rol principal, direct, promovarea Romaniei! Cinema-ul este arta. Si apoi, cei care, vazand un film romanesc, raman doar cu impresia ca tara noastra e extrem de saraca, nu se gandesc cu dispret la asta, ci ca trebuie luate initiative pentru a fi sustinuta sa iasa din saracie. Multe initiative de sprijin financiar se nasc din simplul fapt ca oamenii observa acest aspect.

Insa, din nou, cinema-ul nu are ca rol nici atragerea de investitori, nici promovarea turismului romanesc. Cinema-ul romanesc este apreciat pentru originalitate, noutate, si pentru prezentarea unei realitati aproape necunoscute in Vest. Si mai vine sa arate ca talentele pot iesi la suprafata chiar si din saracie.

Asa ca, oameni buni, haideti odata pentru totdeauna, sa nu ne mai negam artistii, singurii care trec cu adevarat ‘hotarele’. Sa incercam intr-un efort comun sa promovam acele lucruri faine care nu au nevoie sa fie aratate intr-un film artistic, si anume vointa de a ne schimba in bine noi, ca oameni, in primul rand, si de a sustine pe cei care fac ca numele nostru sa fie pomenit nu numai ca urmare a scandalurilor din Italia sau a instabilitatii politice si economice, ci si ca actanti valorosi pe piata atat de vasta si de dura a culturii.

Cati dintre noi au vazut mai mult de trei filme romanesti premiate? Cati dintre noi l-au ascultat pe Enescu din proprie initiativa? Cati, pe Angela Gheorghiu? Sau pe Alexandra Dariescu? Chiar si pe YouTube. Cati dintre noi stiu cate eforturi externe individuale, umane si financiare, sunt alocate pentru ‘schimbarea la fata’ a Romaniei? Cati dintre noi sunt constienti cat de greu e sa ramai motivat si sa continui sa te intorci cu forte noi, timp de 20 de ani, intr-o tara in care oamenii si institutiile lor au dezvoltat un fel de sport al ‘pusului de piedici’ celor care se ‘incapataneaza’ sa ne ajute? Cati dintre noi stiu ca sunt o multime de romani care, odata plecati din tara, cauta cai de promovare a ce e mai bun in tara noastra si se mandresc cu faptul ca sunt romani?

Nu va condamn, nici eu nu am stiut toate aceste lucruri. Si nu o sa dam vina pe nimeni pentru faptul ca suntem ignoranti. Sa incetam odata pentru totdeauna sa mai dam vina pe cineva, chiar si pe noi insine. Sa trecem la fapte grele! E in puterea fiecarui roman sa promoveze Romania, prin atitudine. Ce ar putea apoi sa faca un film? Ar putea arata aceasta schimbare profunda de atitudine, si prin asta ar promova, in mod indirect, o imagine sociala in transformare. Asa ar putea cinema-ul romanesc promova Romania.

The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London would like to invite you to Oxford for a

POTTERY WORKSHOP WITH MASTER CRAFTSMAN CORNEL SITAR

in association with the exhibition

THE LOST WORLD OF OLD EUROPE, The Danube Valley, 5000 – 3500 BC

supported by the Leon Levy foundation

Saturday 24 July 2010 at 11 am, 12.30 pm, and 2.30 pm, Education Studio, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH
Free Admission • Tel. 01865 278 000 • education.service@ashmus.ox.ac.uk • www.ashmolean.org .

Clay, water, a potter’s wheel – and a technique almost unchanged for thousands of years.

Come to the Ashmolean on Saturday 24 July 2010 and meet the craftsman CORNEL SITAR, a true master of ancient Romanian traditional pottery skills. Watch him create pots from scratch, using the same materials used by his ancestors.

The pottery demonstrations are free-for-all, drop-in sessions starting at 11 am, 12.30 pm, and 2.30 pm. Children are most welcome.

See the exhibition THE LOST WORLD OF OLD EUROPE (ticketed exhibition, details below), and then under the master’s guidance, try your hand at creating your very own traditional clay pot.

CORNEL SITAR is a traditional craftsman from the Baia Mare region in north-western Romania. He learned his trade from his parents, having first come into contact with the potter’s wheel in 1962, at the age of 13. From 1978, Cornel Sitar began working in the workshop inherited from his father. Pottery and ceramics became not only a way of preserving an ancient skill, but also a business, the entire Sitar family being involved in the workshop.

Today, Cornel Sitar produces 12,000 pieces every year, in about 160 shapes and sizes. The traditional ceramics from his workshop are specific to the Baia Mare, Baia Sprie and Targu Lapus areas, and comprise pots, plates, bowls, jugs and jars, among other forms.

THE LOST WORLD OF OLD EUROPE

until 15 August 2010, Temporary Exhibition Galleries, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH
Tel. 01865 278 000 • Tickets: £6.00 / £4.00 concession • www.ashmolean.org .

With major loans from Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, ‘The Lost World of Old Europe’ presents more than 250 artefacts recovered by archaeologists from the settlements and cemeteries of ‘Old Europe’. This remarkable exhibition of gold, pottery and archaeological finds from the prehistoric civilisation of the Danube Valley, in southeast Europe, is presented in Britain for the first time.

Highlights of the exhibition include the ‘Thinker’ and Female Figurine from Cernavoda, as well as many ceramic and metallurgical pieces from the Cucuteni culture in Romania.

The exhibition has been organised by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW) in collaboration with the National History Museum of Romania, Bucharest, and with the participation of the Varna Regional Museum of History, Bulgaria and the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova, Chisinau; and has been made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.

An event supported by The Ratiu Foundation, in collaboration with The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (Muzeul National al Taranului Roman).

Image above: Globular vessel with lid, fired clay. Cucuteni, Scanteia, 4200 – 4050 BC, Moldova National Museum Complex, Iasi, Romania. Photo: Marius Amarie.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford hosted, Saturday 24 July 2010, a unique workshop with Romanian master craftsman Cornel Sitar. This event was organised by the Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre as a part of the Ashmolean’s exhibition ‘The Lost World of Old Europe’.

The visitors – children and parents alike – were treated to a presentation of an ancient craft, and under the guidance of master Cornel Sitar, they all had a go at the potter’s wheel, modelling their very own objects.

The visitors – children and parents alike – were treated to a presentation of an ancient craft, and under the guidance of master Cornel Sitar, they all had a go at the potter’s wheel, modelling their very own objects.

7th Romanian Film Festival
2 July – 7 July

by David Parkinson

A little smaller than in previous years, but still packed with intriguing titles, the Romanian Film Festival returns to London for a seventh year. In addition to Calin Peter Netzer’s ironic revisionist memoir, Medal of Honour, and Florin Serban’s delinquency drama, If I Want to, I Whistle, the programme also includes several shorts: Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s Oli’s Wedding; Alexandru Mavrodineanu’s Music in the Blood; Adrian Sitaru’s The Cage; and Klara Trencsenyi and Vlad Naumescu’s Birds’ Way.

There is also a rare chance to see one of the classics of 1980s Romanian cinema, Dan Pita’s Sand Cliffs (1983), which charts the efforts of a neurotic surgeon to have an innocent carpenter jailed for the theft of a radio. Prompting President Nicolae Ceausescu to launch into an intemperate speech at a conference, the film was banned on its release for its scathing denunciation of the Communist regime and its ruthless methods. And the extent to which old habits die hard is explored in the festival’s standout picture, Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective.

Having won the Caméra d’or at Cannes for 12:08 East of Bucharest (2006), his hilariously revisionist take on the 1989 Romanian revolution, Porumboiu surpasses himself with this chilling insight into the extent to which things have really changed since the coming of democracy. Tackling such complex issues as language, the law and the long reach of history, this is also a stylistically ambitious picture that compellingly combines long stretches of mundane activity with taut sequences of intricate verbal dexterity.

Dragos Bucur is an undercover cop in the north-eastern city of Vaslui, who has been detailed by inspector Ion Stoica to shadow teenager Radu Costin, who is suspected of being a drug dealer. Following him from his apartment in a drab tenement, Bucur watches Costin sneak away with classmates Alexandru Sabadac and Anca Diaconu for a crafty smoke on some wasteland near a toddlers’ playground. He also spends hours lurking outside Sabadac’s family home, noting the comings and goings of his parents and the disappearance of an older brother, who is probably responsible for smuggling the dope into the country. Yet, even though he has collected a couple of joints, Bucur is far from convinced that Costin is a danger to society.

When he’s not on stakeout duty or setting slowly turning bureaucratic wheels in motion back at headquarters, Bucur is bickering with new wife Irina Saulescu, either over her repeated playing of a corny pop song on her laptop or the imprecise use of grammar. Ironically, it’s a linguistic matter that proves Bucur’s downfall, as he is subjected to a grilling by martinet captain Vlad Ivanov, who makes him look up the words he uses so casually in his report to demonstrate the rigidity of the Romanian legal system.

Photographed in long realist takes by Marius Panduru, this is a darkly satirical, yet insidiously disconcerting study of routine and rubric. Moreover, it’s an acute dissection of a society trapped between its totalitarian past and a pan-European future. Bucur is unwilling to prosecute Costin, as he will receive a life-ruining sentence for something that would merely be deemed a minor misdemeanour under incoming EU legislation. But, having spent days scrupulously avoiding his superiors, his humiliation by Ivanov suggests that not everyone is yet prepared to relinquish trusted methods.

Exposing the absurdity of much detective work and the growing inability to communicate in the new media age, this is a deceptively trenchant film that ends the drolly interminable scenes of surveillance and beadledom with a resounding thump, as the iron fist of authoritarianism crushes any notions of personal initiative.

For more information: www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk/filmfestival/

An unmissable gypsy music double bill featuring the brassy beats of Serbian trumpeter Boban Markovic and the scurrying violins and punchy accordions of Romania’s greatest export Taraf de Haidouks.

Taraf de Haidouks – literally ‘band of outlaws’ – were the first Balkan Gypsy band to clamber over the fresh ruins of the Berlin Wall and win a Western audience. Discovered in their village of Clejani in souther Romania by Belgian impresario Stephane Karo in 1989, this troupe of then-unemployed musicians soon received a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music – presented by their admirer Johnny Depp. Appearances in films (Latcho Drom, The Man Who Couldn’t Cry) and praise from Yehudi Menuhin and Depp helped consolidate the Taraf’s reputation.

The Boban Markovic Orkestar is widely held to be the greatest of the Balkan gypsy brass bands, and is famed for its contribution to the soundtrack of Emir Kusturica’s Underground. Drawing inspiration from Klezmer, jazz and Latin styles, the Boban Markovic Orkestar also push their music into the future with an infusion of funk – all interpreted with their stunning mixture of exuberance and virtuosity.

Details on www.barbican.org.uk

Acest eveniment, realizat in colaborare cu Muzeul National al Taranului Roman din Bucuresti, va avea loc in data de sambata 24 iulie 2010, in cadrul expozitiei “The Lost World of Old Europe” (Lumea disparuta a Vechii Europe).

In cadrul unor sesiuni de lucru deschise, mesterul Cornel Sitar va oferi publicului britanic sansa de a vedea “pe viu” un mestesug traditional, cu o tehnica aproape neschimbata de mii de ani. Participantii vor avea ocazia unica de a-si crea propriile vase traditionale din lut.

Mesterul popular Cornel Sitar provine din zona Baia Mare, unde a invatat olaritul de la parintii sai. Lucreaza cu roata olarului din 1962, de la varsta de 13 ani. In 1978 a inceput sa lucreze in atelierul mostenit de la parinti. Treptat, olaritul si producerea obiectelor ceramice au ajuns nu numai o afacere de familie, dar si un mod de viata prin care tainele acestui vechi mestesug sunt transmise generatiilor viitoare.

Expozitia, organizata de Muzeul Ashmolean din Oxford, este deschisa pana in data de 15 august 2010. Cu aceasta ocazie pot fi vazute pentru prima data in Marea Britanie celebrele vase de Cucuteni, precum si podoabe de aur si obiecte ceramice remarcabile, urme ale civilizatiilor preistorice dezvoltate in zona cursului inferior al Dunarii.

Pentru mai multe detalii, vizitati www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk

Un eveniment sustinut de Fundatia Ratiu din Marea Britanie, in colaborare cu Muzeul National al Taranului Roman din Bucuresti.

Imaginea de mai sus reprezinta un vas globular cu capac, lut ars. Cucuteni, Scanteia, 4200 – 4050 î. Ch., Complexul Muzeal National Moldova, Iasi. Foto: Marius Amarie.

Doors open at 19.30. Paprika will be on stage at 21.30 (subject to minor changes, please check Stratford Circus website)
Tickets: £5

Support act Still House Orchestra starts at 20.00

London based Paprika Reloaded is a hot newcomer in the World music scene. Coming from Romania, Serbia and UK, the boys have a generous serving of musical minestrone, with ingredients from Eastern European traditional, Balkan, Gypsy and classical music.

Directions how to get there: stratford-circus.com/about/gethere.htm.