Biography

Gabriela Tudor · 1957 – 2009

1. Gabriela Tudor was born on Saturday 20th July 1957 at the Ploiești Maternity Hospital

   

2. She spent the first years of her life in the town of Drobeta Turnu Severin
3. In 1959 she moved with her parents, Paulina and Constantin, to Craiova
4. In 1964 she started her education in Craiova at the Nicolae Bălcescu National College. Then in 1966 she moved to the General School nr. 50, in Bucharest
5. The same year, on her parents’ advice, she started private lessons in English and French
6. In 1968, the Tudor family returned to Craiova where Gabriela continued her studies at the Elena Cuza Secondary School
7. In 1969, at the age of 12, she made her first trip abroad, to Prague
8. She moved back to Bucharest in 1972 where she became a pupil of the Theoretical High School nr. 36 (where she was taught in French)
9. In 1973 she went to a summer camp in Dubrovnik and in 1974 she participated in a camp set up by the Union of Communist Youth in Berlin
10. At the end of her high school studies she considered, for a short time, a career in fine arts or architecture
11. In 1976 she was admitted as a student of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Faculty of Commerce, where she specialised in International Business and Economics
12. During her studies she worked as a guide for the National Tourist Office, accompanying groups of foreign tourists
13. In 1978, at the age of 20, she married a faculty colleague
14. She graduated in 1980 with excellent results
15. On 11th July 1980 she started her working life in Bucharest at the Aversa Pump Building Plant as economist in the Export Department
16. On 4th April 1983 she gave birth to her son Vlad
17. On 15th October 1984 she was hired by the Romanian Agency of Arts and Management in Bucharest, where she managed Romanian artists touring abroad; from this point on, her dedication to a career in the arts never stopped
18. In 1988 she had her first encounter with dance while accompanying the Oleg Danovschi Ballet Theatre on a tour to Germany
19. In 1989 she co-ordinated the casting of the film ‘Tinereți frânte’ (Broken Youth - director Maria Marić), realised by the Novi Sad Television
20. After the Revolution in April 1990, Gabriela joined a new team gathered together by Ion Caramitru and started working with the newly founded Romanian Association of Theatre Artists (UNITER) as Director for International Relations
21. In the frame of UNITER she collaborated on the realisation of the ‘Printemps de la Liberté’, training courses for theatre professionals in Avignon, the Franco-Romanian Theatre, Peter Brook’s visit to Bucharest and ‘La Danse en Voyage’
22. Joining the tour of Andrei Șerban’s performances ‘A Greek Trilogy’ she visited Paris for the first time, a city that she loved all her life
23. In 1991 she was selected to participate in cultural management training ‘Seeding A Network’ with the team from LIFT (the London International Theatre Festival) and the Sheffield Festival

    

24. In 1991 she co-founded (with Marian Popescu and Horia Gârbea) and became the manager of the ‘Inopportune Theatre’
25. She got divorced in 1991
26. In the summer of 1992 she attended the ‘Raising Sponsorship in the Arts’ training held at the Amsterdam Summer University led by Neil Wallace and Robert Palmer
27. In the fall of 1992 she was offered a two-month grant ‘Courant d’Est’ in Paris and Strasbourg
28. She returned from France in December 1992 and joined Corina Șuteu in launching the first Romanian project based theatre, Theatrum Mundi, where she worked until the beginning of 1995
29. As Programme Co-ordinator of this new theatre she was in charge of organising and producing theatrical performances, rock music shows, round table debates etc.
30. In 1993 she started collaboration with the dancers Florin Fieroiu, Mihai Mihalcea and Cosmin Manolescu in the Franco-Romanian performance ‘Le Grand Jeu’ by the choreographer Christian Trouillas
31. The same year she visited the USA for the first time, New York and Washington DC, where she attended the annual conference of the ‘Association of Performing Arts Presenters’
32. She participated in 1994, together with the Theatrum Mundi team in training on Professional Development offered by the Choreographic Centre in Angers
33. Also in 1994 she produced the premiere of the first performance realised by Marginalii Group – ‘Despre fluturi fără aripi’ (‘On wingless butterflies’) with choreography by Mihai Mihalcea and Cosmin Manolescu, and she also toured the show to Oldenburg
34. Between 1993 and 1995 she collaborated with the French Institute in Bucharest to organise the touring of several French theatre and dance companies in Romania
35. Starting 1994 she studied cultural management in Barcelona, San Sebastian and Ljubljana in the framework of the European Diploma In Cultural Project Management, organized by the Marcel Hicter Foundation in Brussels. She graduated in 1995 in Delphi (Greece)

    

36. She co-organised the first edition of BIFEST, the festival of the city of Bucharest
37. In 1995 she and Cosmin fell in love
38. Together with Corina Șuteu she launched Ecumest in the summer of 1995, the first specialised Master in Cultural Management for Eastern Europe, based in the premises of the French Institute in Bucharest

    

39. She worked as Ecumest Programme Co-ordinator until 1997
40. In January 1997 Gabriela Tudor and Cosmin Manolescu founded the Proiect DCM Cultural Foundation, aimed at promoting and developing contemporary dance in Romania
41. In the fall of 1997, as President of the Proiect DCM, Gabriela launched the long term project The Inter/National Center for Contemporary Dance, which she directed until her departure from the Foundation in 1999

    

42. Important projects to which she contributed substantially were The Portuguese Dance Days Festival in Bucharest (1997), The Romanian Contemporary Dance Platform (1998), the 1998–1999 dance season of the L.S. Bulandra Theatre, The Dance Section of the Sighișoara Medieval Art Festival (1998), ‘Dans.Acces’ audience development programme (1998 - 1999) and movement workshops for people with disabilities and dancers, led by the Austrian choreographer Daniel Aschwanden (1998)
43. In 1998 within the Foundation she started the programme ‘Rezi Dans’ hosting the choreographers Karine Ponties (BE) and Damiano Foa/Silenda (FR) to work with Romanian dancers
44. In 1998 she began her collaboration with the choreographer Cosmin Manolescu as producer and organiser of the international tours of the DCM Company productions
45. In June 1998 she produced the premiere of the ‘Incursiune 2’ performance in Green Hours Club in Bucharest (performed by Nicu Chiosu and Manuel Pelmuș), and in 1999 she promoted ‘Private Show’ a dance piece for one spectator in the Periferic Art Biennial in Iași
46. In 1998 she collaborated with the British Council to set up ‘The British Dance Edition’ festival in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Constanța
47. In 1999 she presented the show ‘3 male solos’, three choreographic pieces by Mihai Mihalcea, Eduard Gabia and Cosmin Manolescu on the stage of ‘DieTheater’ in Vienna and she set up the tour of the DCM Company in Austria with ‘Incursiune 2’

    

48. Starting January 1999 Gabriela became the head of the Pro Helvetia Antenna in Romania (since 2002 the Swiss Cultural Programme in South-East Europe and the Ukraine), where she collaborated with Carmen Vioreanu and Marius Tănăsescu until 2004
49. In this position she supported the promotion of contemporary creations and the production of innovative projects in all artistic fields, initiating residencies and cultural exchanges, programmes addressing both Romanian and Swiss artists.
50. In Zürich in March and September 1999 she met her colleagues from the Pro Helvetia Antennas Skopje, Sofia, Kiev and Tirana

    

51. In October 1999 Gabriela officially launched the office of the Pro Helvetia Foundation in Bucharest by organizing a series of cultural events: the exhibition ‘Mostre’ with works by Dan Perjovschi, subREAL, Pipilotti Rist, curator Ruxandra Balaci, jazz concerts with Harry Tavitian, Cornel Stroe and Jürg Solothurnmann and a contemporary dance performance with Katarina Vogel

    

52. Starting in 1999 she collaborated with Hélène Kündig, the Pro Helvetia Est-West Network administrator from Zürich
53. In 1999 she was awarded the distinction ‘Friend of the Arts’ by the Union of Fine Artists
54. In October 2000 she initiated and managed, together with the film critic Alex Leo Șerban, The Swiss Film Festival in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iași with the participation of the Swiss film director Marcel Gisler

    

55. In March 2001 she arranged the visit to Romania of Walo Landolf, director of the Pro Helvetia East-West Network
56. In April 2001 she attended the Theatre and Dance Fair in Thun, and in October a performing arts fair organised by Pro Helvetia in Warsaw
57. Together with Aurora Király (curator) and Irina Cios (International Center for Contemporary Arts) she founded Galeria Nouă [New Gallery], one of the first independent contemporary arts spaces in Bucharest, which opened in October 2001

    

58. She participated in the first edition of the Balkan Dance Platform in Sofia in December 2001
59. She arranged in collaboration with the Centre for Rural Assistance and Reto Stäheli (Kulturmobil Pro Helvetia) a workshop for the managers of cultural houses in rural area
60. She co-ordinated the participation of Switzerland as guest country at the Bookarest International Book Fair held in Bucharest in May 2002
61. The same year Pufitză, an adorable apricot poodle, arrived in Gabriela’s life and was to give her much joy

    

    

62. In 2003 the Multi Art Dans Center, led by the choreographer Vava Ștefănescu, awarded Gabriela the Mărul de Aur [The Golden Apple] distinction for the best supporter of Romanian contemporary dance
63. Starting April 2003 Gabriela began to collaborate with Elisa Fuchs, the newly appointed director of the Swiss Cultural Programme in South East Europe and Ukraine (SCP) and with Petra Bischof, the new regional coordinator in Belgrade (before, working as head of Pro Helvetia Skopje)
64. In the same year, Gabriela and Cosmin created Art Manager, a small private company offering services to the cultural field
65. Between 2002 and 2004, in collaboration with the Center for Rural Assistance, she initiated and administrated in Timișoara the first SCP co-operation project ‘Phoenix 05’ aimed at sustaining cultural development at a rural level
66. From 2003 to 2007 she was a consultant, producer and manager of ‘Paradis Serial’ [Serial Paradise] performance, with choreography by Cosmin Manolescu, which was successfully toured in Bucharest, Sfântu Gheorghe, New York, Uzes, Lyon, Paris, Rome, Catania, Porto, Malmo, Barcelona, Bremen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam
67. On 16th February 2004 she and Cosmin got married
68. In July 2004 she started collaborating with Larisa Ispas, administrator of SCP Romania office
69. From 2004 until 2007 she oversaw the development of ‘cARTier’, a cultural regeneration project of the Tătărași neighbourhood in Iași, realised by Matei Bejenaru and the Vector Association

    

70. Between 2005 and 2006 together with Cosmin she collaborated with the Cirque du Soleil casting department
71. She was a member of the Balkan Dance Platform (3rd edition) selection jury which took place in 2005 in Skopje

    

72. In March 2006 she put together in Bucharest and Sinaia the SCP Regional meeting

    

73. In May 2006 Gabriela was invited to moderate a workshop for artists and local cultural organisations aimed at outlining a new co-operation project in Albania
74. In July 2006 Gabriela Tudor, Petra Bischof and Toni Linder undertook a joint fact-finding mission to Chișinău/Moldova in view of a potential future program of SCP in this country
75. On the 8th of July 2006, Gabriela and Cosmin held a very special religious wedding ceremony in the beautiful Plopiș wooden church in Maramureș

    

76. In January 2007 she initiated her final Romanian regional cooperation project, United Experts, coached by Monika Egger

    

77. In May 2007 she participated in the international conference ‘Cultural and Creative Cities in Europe - Coherent Policy in a Global World’ in Berlin
78. In the same month she arranged the participation of four Romanian writers and of the Polirom Publishing House in the Basel Book Fair
79. In 2007 to mark the legacy of the Swiss Cultural Programme in Romania she launched a call for proposals for a public space art project
80. In June 2007 ‘Grădina pentru oamenii care nu dorm’ [Garden For Sleepless People], a permanent installation in the Kiseleff Park by Anca Benera and Suzana Dan was inaugurated

    

81. The same year she collaborated with Proiect DCM Foundation in the organisation of Sibiu Dance 2007 Festival, realised in the frame of Sibiu European Capital of Culture 2007
82. To mark the closure of the SCP Romania Gabriela directed in November 2007, a series of events: an exhibition in Galeria Nouă entitled ‘Back to the Future’, curator Vlad Nancă and an audio-visual event mastered by artist Daniel Gontz, in Lăptăria lui Enache Club
83. Within the same series the official launching of United Experts, a quality branding that offers services in coaching and consultancy for the cultural sector took place
84. In early 2008 she collaborated with the ‘Balkan Tranzit’ Association from Caen on the organisation in France of the festival ‘Insolite Roumanie’
85. From February until June 2008 she was the co-ordinator for Romania for Black SEAS/North SEAS, a collaborative project initiated by Intercult in Stockholm which took place in June in Mangalia, Romania
86. Starting January 2008 she worked as project manager for United Experts and co-ordinator of ArtistsNe(s)t residency program
87. In May 2008 she participated in the international conference ‘Culture makes the difference - Future oriented communities’ in Kiev
88. During January–September 2008 she coached the Menthor Foundation from Constanța on organisational development
89. The summer of 2008 she was also coordinating Dans.Dialog, an international collaboration project with workshops and residencies in Zagreb, Genoa and Catania

    

90. On 1st September 2008, after undergoing emergency surgery it was discovered that she was suffering from a very rare and aggressive form of cancer which was already at an advanced stage
91. In September 2008 she finalised the United Experts business plan
92. From October until December she received intensive treatment at the Curie Institute in Paris, unfortunately with no positive results
93. On October 4th in Bucharest the avant-premiere of the ‘Supersomething’ dance performance took place, her last collaboration with the choreographer Cosmin Manolescu, and Gabriela participated in the show over the phone from Paris
94. Although very ill she kept working to finalise her projects, she had ideas for a debut in a dance piece and for new projects and travel plans to Switzerland, Brazil and Japan
95. She passed away in Bucharest on Saturday 3rd January 2009 at 22:30 in her blue room on Jules Michelet Street