Meet Our New SIPAM Coordinator
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Arina Bartha grew up backstage. Now she’s running the show. We’re thrilled to announce that Arina Bartha has been appointed as SIPAM Coordinator - a role that it feels it was written for her. Arina didn’t choose the performing arts; she was born into them.
Arina Bartha-Lazar coordinates SIPAM as a meeting point for the world’s most compelling artistic voices. With an instinct for connection and a vision shaped through cultural diplomacy, she turns encounters into collaborations and ideas into movement. She works with a simple belief at heart: one spark can move souls.
Arina Bartha-Lazar coordinates SIPAM as a meeting point for the world’s most compelling artistic voices. With an instinct for connection and a vision shaped through cultural diplomacy, she turns encounters into collaborations and ideas into movement. She works with a simple belief at heart: one spark can move souls.
Q&A
1. What's your performing arts "gateway drug" – the moment or show that made you think "I need to spend my life around this"?
I grew up backstage - quite literally. I was mesmerized by characters and how they touched a part of my soul that was still unknown. My “gateway drug” was witnessing how the mundane could transform into poetry. Once you experience that, there’s no way back.
2. If your life was a theatrical genre, would you be absurdist comedy, dramatic tragedy, experimental mime, or chaotic musical improv?
Absurdist comedy - Because life feels often like a Ionesco play, only with a lower budget.
3. What's the worst advice you've received about working in the arts, and what's the secret best advice you're hoarding?
Worst: “Compose yourself, tone it down. ” Best: “Never dim your own light in hopes that others will shine brighter - the world needs all the brilliance it can get”.
4. Complete this sentence: "The future of performing arts needs more _______ and less _______ . "
More courage, less borders.
5. If you had a magic wand to grant one wish to emerging artists, what would it be?(Besides unlimited budgets, because that's everyone's answer!)
Confidence in their own weirdness. The world needs the raw version of you, not another polished, predictable copy.
6. What makes you unreasonably excited about walking into a theater?
The smell of dust, velvet, and possibility. It’s the only place where time stands still.
7. Describe your ideal Sibiu moment that hasn't happened yet – go wild, no budget limits, laws of physics optional.
When I was little, I used to imagine that where the theatre stands in Sibiu today, there once was a sea. One day, I’d love to bring that sea back — and stage a performance floating right on it.
8. You're curating a festival lineup but can only choose artists based on their favorite breakfast food. What's your selection strategy?
Anyone who eats a full breakfast - go big or go home. Those who skip breakfast entirely or survive on coffee only - they’re the intense ones. I love avant-garde.
9. If you could mandate one thing that every theater/performance space must have (besides toilets and fire exits), what would it be?
A space for the after-performance shock - where people meet, exchange thoughts, get tipsy and accidentally plan the future of theater.
10. What's something you think 20-year-old you would be shocked to learn about who you've become?
That I’m no longer just chasing inspiration - I’m also building the structures that make it possible.
11. What's your ideal "first date" advice for an artist meeting Sibiu for the first time?
Take your time, Sibiu is an old soul with a young heart. Sibiu reveals itself slowly. Walk the old cobblestones, feel protected by the eyes on the rooftops, dance at the “FITS Club” - you’ll leave a part of yourself here.
12. What's the weirdest cross-sector partnership you dream about? (Performing arts + insurance companies?
Theater + agricultural tech? Go weird!) Theater and politics - They have always been friends with benefits, I would just make the relationship official.
13. If you could add one new job title to the performing arts ecosystem that doesn't exist yet, what would it be and why do we desperately need it?
Art Advocate - someone who represents artists through the administrative maze. Too often, the creative madness gets lost in forms, procedures, and explanations.
I grew up backstage - quite literally. I was mesmerized by characters and how they touched a part of my soul that was still unknown. My “gateway drug” was witnessing how the mundane could transform into poetry. Once you experience that, there’s no way back.
2. If your life was a theatrical genre, would you be absurdist comedy, dramatic tragedy, experimental mime, or chaotic musical improv?
Absurdist comedy - Because life feels often like a Ionesco play, only with a lower budget.
3. What's the worst advice you've received about working in the arts, and what's the secret best advice you're hoarding?
Worst: “Compose yourself, tone it down. ” Best: “Never dim your own light in hopes that others will shine brighter - the world needs all the brilliance it can get”.
4. Complete this sentence: "The future of performing arts needs more _______ and less _______ . "
More courage, less borders.
5. If you had a magic wand to grant one wish to emerging artists, what would it be?(Besides unlimited budgets, because that's everyone's answer!)
Confidence in their own weirdness. The world needs the raw version of you, not another polished, predictable copy.
6. What makes you unreasonably excited about walking into a theater?
The smell of dust, velvet, and possibility. It’s the only place where time stands still.
7. Describe your ideal Sibiu moment that hasn't happened yet – go wild, no budget limits, laws of physics optional.
When I was little, I used to imagine that where the theatre stands in Sibiu today, there once was a sea. One day, I’d love to bring that sea back — and stage a performance floating right on it.
8. You're curating a festival lineup but can only choose artists based on their favorite breakfast food. What's your selection strategy?
Anyone who eats a full breakfast - go big or go home. Those who skip breakfast entirely or survive on coffee only - they’re the intense ones. I love avant-garde.
9. If you could mandate one thing that every theater/performance space must have (besides toilets and fire exits), what would it be?
A space for the after-performance shock - where people meet, exchange thoughts, get tipsy and accidentally plan the future of theater.
10. What's something you think 20-year-old you would be shocked to learn about who you've become?
That I’m no longer just chasing inspiration - I’m also building the structures that make it possible.
11. What's your ideal "first date" advice for an artist meeting Sibiu for the first time?
Take your time, Sibiu is an old soul with a young heart. Sibiu reveals itself slowly. Walk the old cobblestones, feel protected by the eyes on the rooftops, dance at the “FITS Club” - you’ll leave a part of yourself here.
12. What's the weirdest cross-sector partnership you dream about? (Performing arts + insurance companies?
Theater + agricultural tech? Go weird!) Theater and politics - They have always been friends with benefits, I would just make the relationship official.
13. If you could add one new job title to the performing arts ecosystem that doesn't exist yet, what would it be and why do we desperately need it?
Art Advocate - someone who represents artists through the administrative maze. Too often, the creative madness gets lost in forms, procedures, and explanations.
