Mihai Lupu works with FEPIC — the Federation of Employers in the Creative Industries in Romania — on the programmes that build the country's creative economy: the Romanian Creativity Pavilion at Cannes Lions, Romanian Creative Week in Iași, and the federation's work connecting agencies, brands and institutions. He describes himself as a helper and facilitator rather than a creative — the person whose job is to connect organisations, build visibility and create the conditions in which Romanian creative work can develop at home and abroad.
Key ideas
- Recognition is a long game. Building Romania's creative reputation means consistency across years, not a single campaign — the pavilion, the festival, the federation are compounding infrastructure.
- Distance from the capital is a constructive challenge, not a disadvantage. "Locating yourself away from the centre of the country, or its administrative centre, is a constructive challenge, not a disadvantage" — Iași's Romanian Creative Week is proof.
- Democratizing creativity means taking it to the street. "We democratize art, creativity: we take it out into the street" — creative industries grow when the audience is everyone, not just the industry.
- Industries are the sum of their efforts. "We are the sum of all our efforts" — the federation's model works because employers, institutions and festivals pull in the same direction.
Appears on Boringly Effective
- Mihai Lupu on FEPIC, Romanian Creativity and the Long Road to Recognition — Episode 4 — Romanian creative industries, Iași as a creative centre and the patience recognition requires, recorded at the Romanian Creativity Pavilion in Cannes.