Founded in 1998, the ECUMEST Association has defined itself from the beginning as an interface organisation, whose mission is to intermediate and accompany the democratisation (accession) and cultural democracy processes (diversity and participation), for the institutional emancipation of the cultural sector in Romania and in Central and Eastern Europe.

PRIORITY OBJECTIVES
Following the experience and expertise gained by the association and in order to respond to the needs identified as critical in the current context, ECUMEST will focus its efforts on two priority objectives in the following years:


Accompanying the EU integration process
through two action lines:

· Initiating interactive pedagogical spaces between cultural operators and decision-makers in Romania (through international debates, publications, academic education, training of professionals);
· Accompanying cultural organisations in understanding the processes of accession and their sensibilisation to promoting democratic values through cultural action.

Accompanying the creative processes
as a condition of the rehabilitation of the individual in the post-communist context, through:

· Professionalisation and contextualisation of the competences needed in the administration of the artistic and cultural action (the administration and management in favour of arts and artists);
· Organising in Romania various international workshops opened to artists from different fields, as well as of conferences, debates and encounters aimed at facilitating the confrontation of the Romanian audience with other cultural contexts;
· Bringing an adapted support to the mobility of young artists (through a mobility programme adapted to the need of creators to explore and confront with different cultural practices).