Romanian community plan education festival

A Romanian community group is planning an education festival, as part of its plans for 2025.

Ipswich Romanian Community (IRC) was founded by Romeo Mustata, who has developed projects including a film festival and partnerships to tackle anti-social behaviour.

He said: "We believe that education should be comprehensive, encompassing not only academic growth but also social, cultural, and community values."

The group are looking for support from other organisations before launching the festival in the new year.

The first Romanian film festival for Suffolk was held in partnership with Ipswich County Library in September.

Mr Mustata wants to build on that success with The Educational Festival (TEF).

"Through my volunteer experience, both as an individual and through the Ipswich Romanian Community, I have observed that local organisations, authorities, and the educational and healthcare systems often develop impactful educational projects.

"However, these initiatives often remain internal due to the lack of a public and creative event that could make education more visible and accessible to the broader community.

"The purpose of TEF is to address this need by showcasing these educational efforts and fostering a deeper understanding of British culture including other background nationalities and values."

According to data from the 2021 census, about 112,900 (80.9%) Ipswich residents said they were born in England.

Romania was the next most represented, with about 3,800 (2.7%) born there.

This compares to more than 200 Romanian-born residents in 2011 (0.2% of the population of Ipswich at the time).

In 2014, Romanians and Bulgarians were allowed free movement to the UK under European Union rules.

Following Brexit, the rules changed at the end of 2020 so Romanian citizens need a visa to live, work, study, or run a business here.

As of 31 March 2023, 1.48 million Romanians had applied under the EU Settlement Scheme to stay in the UK.

The group are also focusing on supporting newer arrivals from Romania.

IRC volunteer Albert Arcuda said: "Our plan is to create more gatherings and help people come together, because that helps with mental health, creating new links with people and [to] stop feeling lonely.

"We just want to make people feel more comfortable and more included."

Cristina Rosu, another IRC volunteer, said: "For some people it's very hard because they don't know the language, so to try and integrate into a community when you are not very good at the language, it's scary as well.

"So to have a support group, a place to go, is important."

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