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MARIA CARBUNARU
"We are made out of seasons."
Maria is a Romanian educator, anthropologist, improviser, and poet, creating trustworthy development experiences since 2009.
Initially trained as an adventure education facilitator by Outward Bound, she facilitated development processes in nature for groups of adults and youth.
In her MA in Communication Sciences and BA in Cultural Anthropology, she explored the impact of creative learning programs on community development.
She studied Viola Spolin's improvisation theater method with coach Aretha Sills and graduated from her "Improvisation for Educators" class.
She is currently enrolled in the Circle of Trust facilitator preparation program at the Center for Courage and Renewal.
Since 2020, she has been living in Portugal, with her partner, where she continues to train and write, after seven years of coordinating Education Studio, the organization she co-founded in Cluj, Romania..
"The most challenging in our times is the fragmentation feeling.
I wanted this poem to be held together by something that is common, universal for all of us..."
Listen to the full Interview on creative habits with Maria at Trafika Europe Radio
"A creative life is an amplified life."
Maria is the former president and co-founder of Education Studio, a non-profit organisation in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, dedicated to empowering youth, adults, and communities through creative education.
She has coordinated the Studio since the beginnings in 2014, until 2020, when she took a leap of faith and started a new transformation journey, moving to Portugal.
"A group of people that can sing and play together can accomplish something even bigger together".
In 2019, she co-created a three-month program called "The Odyssey” with the trainer Alexandru Mare.
The Odyssey is a multidisciplinary journey taken from a mythological perspective, that puts different arts like spoken word poetry, improv theatre, embodiment, or visual arts in the service of personal discovery.
Speaking at
conferences and events
ADULT EDUCATION & ERASMUS+ TRAINING
"Meeting other cultures, and collaborating with people from different backgrounds is essential for growing into our full selves."
Since 2017, Maria has been offering intensive trainings, as a part of the international pool of trainers inside the Erasmus+ lifelong learning program of the European Union.
She co-facilitating with other European coaches, week-long training programs for youth workers, teachers, trainers, social workers, and community facilitators, .
"ConVersations" Training Course - 7 days - 24 participants - Cluj Napoca
With co-trainer/poet Bas Boettcher and organizer Agnes Balasz.
A 7-day intensive offering spoken word poetry as a method of self-discovery and community building to be further used in projects in social centers, juvenile prisons or schools in Europe.
The training culminated with a spoken word performance at Scouts House in Cluj-Napoca.
"Your Story in Mine" Training - 8 day intensive - 27 participants from the EU - Brno
With co-trainer Veronika Pavlova and program manager Despoina Rafailidou.
An 8-day intensive on the topic of social inclusion through embodiment and spoken word poetry, youthwork methods in youthwork to be further used in developing confidence and community power.
The training ended with a spoken word performance in Cafe Trojka, Brno.
"First 5000 Mistakes" Training - 9 day intensive - 28 participants from the EU - Holloko
With co-trainers Gergo Kiss and Lucie Voukroulikova.
A 9-day intensive for 28 youth workers from the EU, focused on exploring mistakes as essential elements of one's learning cycle through improvisation theatre.
The training included an open space of non-formal educational methods focusing on learning through trying.
"It's not about the cake" Training - 4 day intensive - Porto
2 intensives for the psychologists, facilitators, and social workers from Fundacja Atalaja, from Warsaw, Poland.
The workshops focused on using improvisation theatre to explore relational trust and meeting the developmental needs of teenagers in foster care.
The intensive included an experience exchange of playback theatre.
Collaborating with organisations
