REFUGIU
The First Fairy Festival
24–30 August • Apuseni Mountains, Romania
A week of radical softness, queer joy, collective living and becoming.
The First Twenty
This first edition of REFUGIU is intentionally small.
We will welcome a maximum of 20 participants.
Not because we couldn’t invite more, but because we want to create something meaningful before we create something bigger.
This isn’t simply the first edition of a festival.
It’s the beginning of a community.
The people who gather around the fire this August won’t just attend REFUGIU, they will help shape what it becomes in the years to come.
The conversations we have, the rituals we invent, the traditions we begin, the mistakes we make, the friendships we build… all of these will become part of the festival’s DNA.
In many ways, you’re not buying a ticket.
You’re becoming one of the first people to believe in an idea that doesn’t fully exist yet.
We hope that one day REFUGIU will grow into an annual international gathering, a place where queer people from across the world come together to celebrate art, tenderness, nature and chosen family.
If that happens, the first twenty people will always have been there at the very beginning.
We hope you’ll be one of them.
There is a version of you that exists only when nobody is watching.
For seven days, we leave behind our everyday identities and disappear into a secluded cabin somewhere in the Apuseni Mountains. Hidden among forests and mountains, far from the noise of ordinary life, we create a temporary world of our own.
A world where time slows down.
Where beauty isn’t measured by appearance.
Where chosen family is built around shared meals, long conversations, laughter, vulnerability and care.
Where everyone arrives as themselves, and leaves as someone a little freer.
This is the first edition of what we hope will become an annual gathering: The Fairy Festival.
The Journey
Monday, 24 August
At 10:00 AM, we meet in Cluj-Napoca.
A private coach will take us into the Apuseni Mountains.
The journey is part of the ritual.
By travelling together, we begin leaving behind the identities we’ve carried with us every day. Work stays behind. Expectations stay behind. Social media stays behind.
When we arrive, Fairyland begins.
Sunday, 30 August
At 6:00 PM, we leave REFUGIU together and return to Cluj-Napoca, hopefully carrying home a few new friendships, a few unforgettable memories, and perhaps a fairy version of ourselves that refuses to disappear.
Fairyland
The cabin is more than accommodation. It becomes our home. Our stage. Our studio. Our sanctuary.
The exact location is still a surprise, but we’re choosing between several beautiful, secluded cabins in the Apuseni Mountains, each surrounded by nature and offering complete privacy.
Some of the locations we’re considering include:
- Scrind 11 – Madleine Chalet
- secluded cabins around Scrind-Frășinet
- remote cabins near Beliș
- hidden mountain homes around Avram Iancu
Whichever one becomes Fairyland this year, one thing is certain:
It will be beautiful. It will be remote. It will belong to us for one week.
Become Your Fairy
The first evening marks our crossing into another world.
Together, we leave behind our everyday selves.
Each participant is invited to:
• choose a Fairy Name
• imagine an alter ego
• invent a personal mythology
• take part in an opening ritual
• meet everyone through games, storytelling and playful introductions.
You’re encouraged to bring clothing that feels like your fairy uniform.
It can be glamorous. Ridiculous. Elegant. Camp. Vintage. Handmade. Covered in flowers. Or almost nothing at all. The goal isn’t to impress. The goal is to stop thinking about how you look. Once we’re here, getting dressed becomes secondary. Being present becomes everything.
Living Together
REFUGIU is built around community.
Everything essential will be provided:
• accommodation
• breakfast, lunch and dinner every day
• coffee, tea, fruit and snacks
• transportation
• workshops
• art materials
• shared spaces
Breakfast is served buffet-style every morning.
Lunch and dinner is something we create together.
Although all ingredients are provided, everyone will take part in preparing meals throughout the week.
When it’s your turn to cook, others will help prepare the table.
When someone else cooks, you’ll wash the dishes.
Like any chosen family, we take care of each other.
No one is a guest.
Everyone belongs.
Daily Life
Every day offers at least two curated activities, balanced with generous free time to rest, wander through the forest, swim, read, nap or simply exist.
The programme may include:
• Naked Drawing with Liviu Bulea
• Naked Yoga
• Morning movement and stretching
• Guided meditation
• Forest walks
• Breathwork
• Purification rituals
• Sound journeys
• Flower crown workshops
• Body painting
• Drag and gender-play improvisation
• Fairy portrait photography
• Creative writing
• Campfire storytelling
• Tarot and oracle readings
• Queer discussion circles
• Dance beneath the stars
• Collective singing
• Sauna or hot tub evenings (depending on the cabin)
• Silent sunrise walks
• Time to do absolutely nothing.
Participation is always optional.
There is no pressure to perform.
Only an invitation to explore.
Evenings
One evening is dedicated to The Devourers of Porn.
Together we’ll watch a curated programme of unusual, humorous and historically significant queer erotic cinema, celebrating pornography as a form of cultural expression, camp, absurdity and artistic experimentation. The selection is designed to spark conversation as much as laughter, curiosity and reflection.
Another evening, we’ll gather outdoors for Movie Night Under the Stars, screening films that invite us to think about intimacy, identity, transformation, belonging and freedom.
Every night ends around the fire.
Rituals
Throughout the week, we create our own traditions.
An opening ceremony. A forest blessing. Water rituals. Letters to our future selves. Collective moments of silence. Moments of celebration. A closing ritual before returning to the world beyond the mountains. By the end of the week, Fairyland exists because we built it together.
Who Is This For?
REFUGIU is created primarily for queer men and anyone who feels drawn toward exploring softness, vulnerability, femininity, playfulness and transformation within that shared context.
No specific body. No specific age. No expectation of experience.
No requirement to identify in any particular way beyond respecting the space and the people within it.
Bring your curiosity. Bring your tenderness. Bring the version of yourself that rarely gets invited outside.
What’s Included
Your participation includes:
• 6 nights in a secluded mountain cabin
• Return transportation from Cluj-Napoca
• Buffet breakfast every morning
• Dinner every evening
• Coffee, tea, fruit and snacks
• All workshops and activities
• Art materials
• Shared cooking ingredients
• Use of all communal spaces
• A welcome gift
What’s Not Included
Alcoholic drinks are not included.
If you’d like a glass of wine by the fire or cocktails with your fellow fairies, you’re welcome to bring your own and share if you wish.
Travel to and from Cluj-Napoca is also not included.
Participation Fee
Estimated: €800–900 per person
The final price will be confirmed once the cabin and the final number of participants are confirmed.
Your contribution covers accommodation, transport, meals, workshops, materials, artist fees, and the production of the festival.
By joining REFUGIU, you’re not simply booking a holiday.
You’re helping create the first edition of something we hope will grow into an annual celebration of queer creativity, friendship, softness and joy.
Ready to Join Us?
If REFUGIU feels like the place you’ve been looking for, we’d love to hear from you.
To register or receive more information, please contact us:
Email: refugiudecreatie@gmail.com
Phone: +40 756 363 645
We’ll be happy to answer any questions, tell you more about the programme, and guide you through the registration process.
Payment
To secure your place, payment can be made in one instalment or two instalments.
- Option 1: Full payment upon registration.
- Option 2: A 50% deposit is required to reserve your place, with the remaining 50% due no later than two days before the festival begins.
As this is an intimate gathering with a limited number of participants, your place is only confirmed once the deposit has been received.
We can’t wait to welcome you to REFUGIU.
See you in Fairyland.
About the Founder
Liviu Bulea
Artist · Curator · Cultural Manager
REFUGIU is imagined and curated by Liviu Bulea, a Romanian multidisciplinary artist, curator and cultural manager whose practice explores the relationship between memory, space and community.
Working across photography, installation, text, video, ready-made objects and socially engaged projects, Liviu creates spaces where personal histories intersect with collective memory, often addressing themes of environmental justice, post-industrial landscapes, queer identity and belonging. His work is driven by the belief that art can become a form of care, resistance and transformation.
As a queer artist, Liviu has long been interested in creating spaces that do more than exhibit art; they create community. REFUGIU grows from this desire: to imagine a temporary world where vulnerability is celebrated, creativity becomes a shared language, and chosen family is built through living together.
Alongside his artistic practice, Liviu is the Founder and Artistic Director of Refugiu de Creație, a platform supporting socially engaged artistic practices and underrepresented voices in contemporary culture. He is also the manager of IAGA Contemporary Art and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca.
His work has been presented internationally at institutions including the European Investment Bank (Luxembourg), Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), Urban Nation Museum (Berlin), the Romanian Cultural Institute (Berlin), the National Museum of Art Cluj, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest, Brukenthal Museum (Sibiu), Bucharest Biennale, Parallel Vienna, and many others.
His works are part of the collections of the European Investment Bank, Schwules Museum (Berlin), Tom of Finland Foundation (Los Angeles), Urban Nation Museum (Berlin), National Museum of Contemporary Art (Bucharest), Brukenthal Museum, and several other public and private collections across Europe.
For Liviu, REFUGIU is more than a festival.
It is an invitation to slow down, to imagine different ways of being together, and to remember that softness, joy and care can also be radical acts.
Partners
REFUGIU is developed in collaboration with artists, facilitators and cultural partners who share a commitment to queer community, artistic experimentation and collective care.
Partner announcements coming soon.
Contact
Email: liviubulea89@gmail.com
Festival Email: refugiudecreatie@gmail.com
Phone: +40 756 363 645
Instagram: @liviu.bulea2
Refugiu de Creație 