My guest via telephone is Ioana Petrea, Director of Fundraising and Communications at the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation. Good evening.

Good evening.

It is tradition that on October 25^th, when celebrating king Michael of Romania's birthday, the Royal Charity Concert, organized by the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation, takes place. Please remind our listeners what the purpose of this event is.

Indeed, on Sunday, October 25^th, we are organizing the Royal Charity Concert, and we have reached the 17^th edition. Let's say it is a gala of artistic excellence and generosity, an event that happens in the presence of the Royal Family of Romania, as it benefits the Young Talents National Scholarship Program. We raise funds through tickets purchased by art lovers and through sponsors who have joined this event. Moreover, the Royal Charity Concert is one of the longest-running and successful fundraising events in Romania and for this edition we are once again bringing the magic of opera, the emotion of classical music, and the energy of a new generation of talented artists on the Romanian Athenaeum stage.

Looking back at last year's edition of the Royal Charity Concert, what would you say, in a few words, are the most important achievements of the Young Talents Program?

The Young Talents Program is a national program through which we support Romania's new generation of artists. In our 18 years of existence, we have given over 500 scholarships to young artists at the start of their careers, who study music and visual arts. Over the past year, there have been 36 scholarship recipients, pupils and students from high schools and universities specializing in classical music and the visual arts, who have received, in addition to the financial aid to help them realize their professional development plans, numerous promotional opportunities, as well as guidance from experienced mentors that help smooth their path toward success, toward the artistic career they all desire.

Going back to the concert taking place on October 25^th at the Romanian Athenaeum, and which will be broadcasted live on our post Radio Romania Muzical, baritone Mihai Damian, soloist at Romania National Opera in Cluj-Napoca, laureate of last year's Operalia contest, a competition presided over and launched by the famous Plácido Domingo, and also soprano Georgiana Dumitru, soloist at Romanian National Opera in Bucharest who, if I'm not mistaken, was a recipient of the Young Talents Scholarship, will perform.

Indeed, Georgiana was one of the young artists that managed to receive the Young Talents Scholarship based on the jury selection in 2018 and again for two years in a row, until 2020. She was one of the young artists who managed to access these opportunities, to have countless chances to perform on stage and now she has even become a soloist at the Royal Charity Concert. She had a really beautiful development, like all our scholarship recipients, and we are very proud of her results and achievements. Georgiana is a very talented young woman, one of the accomplished sopranos of this generation and we are very happy she accepted our invitation to help other young artists by supporting the Young Talents Program through her performance on the Romanian Athenaeum stage.

The conductor is Tiberiu Soare, who, besides his activity at the conductor's podium, is a mentor and member of the selection jury for the recipients of the Young Talents Scholarships, and also a member of the Board of Directors of the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation. For those interested, how and who can apply for this program?

On November 1^st we will be starting the selection for the next edition of Young Talents Scholarships. As I was saying, applications are open for pupils and students that are currently studying at vocational educational institutions, high schools and universities of music and visual art. They have to be between 14 and 24 years old and, as a new addition, the scholarships are now also available to students from the Republic of Moldova. There will be a strict selection, initially based on the application file, followed by the selection by a prestigious jury of experts in January. We have a jury for visual arts and one for classical music, and they will make the selection based on the young artists' potential. I should mention that the Young Talents program strives to offer equal chances to the young talented people of Romania, so we primarily target young people from low-income families and for whom this 2000 euro scholarship represents a chance for to participate in courses, international and national competitions, buy work instruments, scores, go on documentation trips, and many more activities they may plan but don't necessarily have the resources for.

Considering your vast experience in fundraising, I would also like to address this side of the event, namely the fundraising in general. You said in an interview, and I quote "regarding the sponsors, we have to give them time to understand the projects, feel their pulse, see their influence on people's lives, and gain trust in you and the organization. This is how they end up truly investing in your projects". How difficult is it in today's Romania to persuade society and companies to support cultural projects?

We keep saying that Romania also needs art, maybe there are indeed more serious or urgent matters, but companies that wish to invest in this kind of national projects exist, who wish to see a more educated Romania, a more solidary Romania, and of course a more equitable Romania, and the Young Talents projects meets all three criteria. So, companies with national coverage should have, in general, an interest in raising the cultural level of Romania, of the newer generation, and in supporting the authentic Romanian values. Because we are talking about some very talented artists, some very promising young people just starting out, who have all the chances to become cultural ambassadors of Romania and examples for their generation.

What advice would you give to those who want to start a cultural project, in terms of fundraising?

Firstly, to address the people that relate to these values and to demonstrate the path to success that allows a young person to go through transformative stages toward their destiny. Just like we discovered a recipe for success over time, during the progress of the Young Talents project, by combining scholarships, mentoring and promoting, and we also showed the impact it has on these young talented people's lives, who often come from low-income families, by helping them reach their potential, express their talent and have a successful artistic career. Therefore, it is important to show this "recipe" and show its impact, which is something we do, including through the Royal Charity Concert, because first and foremost, this concert is a performance of high artistic caliber, that, at least for the last five years, has been an occasion to bring on the Romanian Atheneum stage the more accomplished musicians of the moment, among whom the Young Talents scholarship recipients are always included. So, they are living proof that this scholarship plays a part in their subsequent development.

Thank you for the interview. Thus, on Sunday, October 25^th, the 17th edition of the Royal Charity Concert will take place at the Romanian Athenaeum, and it will be broadcast live by Radio România Muzical.