Corporate site · WordPress · 2025

CSCI Moldova — a platform for the Coalition of the Independent Cultural Sector

Платформа Coaliției Sectorului Cultural Independent з Молдови: index незалежних просторів, Blog Cultural, Harta культурних ресурсів та advocacy-розділ.

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Context

The Coaliția Sectorului Cultural Independent din Republica Moldova (CSCI din RM) is a national advocacy platform bringing together NGOs, independent cultural initiatives and artists across Moldova. It was legally formed on 27 March 2021 with ten founding organisations. The site’s task was to become the coalition’s single public interface: show who makes it up, what’s happening on the scene, how to find a venue, an organisation or an activist, and provide an advocacy tool for dialogue with the Ministry of Culture and public authorities.

Before this site existed, information about Moldova’s independent cultural sector was scattered across dozens of Facebook pages, individual project blogs and PDF manifestos. What was needed was a hub that would gather all of it into one searchable, linguistically consistent space.

What we built

The site is built on WordPress with several custom CPTs and taxonomies. The architecture revolves around two core entities: Index Cultural (a database of scene participants) and Blog Cultural (a content section with curated articles), connected through shared categorisation and the geolocated Harta resurselor culturale (Cultural Resource Map).

Hero — Index Cultural mosaic — The homepage hero: an H1 plus a mosaic of five Index Cultural categories (Spații culturale / Organizații / Persoane / Inițiative / Altele).

Index Cultural — a directory as the site’s core

A dedicated public CPT for sector entries. At launch — 28 organisations and 18 venues, with “persons” and “initiatives” to be added later. Each entry has a photo, a name, a clickable address with a geotag, tag chips (activity status, activity type, CSCI affiliation) and a description block.

Single Index Cultural entry — CZ / Club — A single entry page (CZ / Club): tag categories “occasionally active / mixed public-private / CSCI”, an address with a link, and category counts.

Index Cultural on the homepage — 3 columns — The Index Cultural teaser on the homepage: 3 columns by category (People / Organisations / Venues), with an empty state for categories with no entries yet.

Blog Cultural with custom topic tags

A separate section with its own “Tematica” (Topic) taxonomy (Articles / CSCI / Video / All) and a large pinned featured post. The homepage repeats this compactly: a featured-post card on a green background with a vertically cropped photo, plus a 2-column grid of cards.

Blog Cultural on the homepage: a split-screen featured card (text on the left, a protest photo on the right) plus topic filters and a grid below.

Blog archive — The /blog/ archive: the same large featured post, then topic filters and a 2-column grid with a “Load more posts” button.

A single blog post — Casa Zemstvei — A single post in a minimalist, centred typographic layout: an H1, a large featured image, and a dense prose paragraph layout.

Harta resurselor culturale — an interactive map

A dedicated page with a Google Maps integration: 25+ pins for cultural venues and organisations across Chișinău and Moldova’s regions. The homepage carries a compact map teaser. The full page has the map at the top plus a 2-column card grid with a description, category and address for each entry — duplicating the Index Cultural data in a geospatial interface.

Harta resurselor culturale — Google Maps — The full map page: 25+ pins clustered around Chișinău, with outliers in Durlești, Hîrlop Blumenthal and Dubăsari.

Harta — a list of resources — A resource list below the map: a 2-column card grid with a name, description, category (Venues / Organisations / Initiatives) and address.

A map teaser on the homepage — On the homepage — a compact map teaser plus a “Cultural map page” CTA that scrolls to the full page.

Despre CSCI: four tabs in one section

The /desprecsci/ section is structured as a tabbed menu: CSCI din RM (an intro, a manifesto with RO/RU/EN PDF downloads, the statute, annual reports) / Membri (a list of member organisations) / Acțiuni (a timeline of actions) / Corespondența (a contact form plus details). The team is rendered further down the page as a card grid with a photo, name and role.

Despre CSCI with tabs — The section header: a purple band with an H1 plus a four-tab menu. Below it — intro paragraphs and founding facts.

The CSCI team — The team: 4 cards (Director / Deputy Director / Public Relations / Assistant). The role labels use the gender-inclusive form “Asistentx”.

Contacte: a separate page with the same tabbed navigation

The Contacte section inherits the tabbed header from Despre CSCI (with Corespondența as the active tab), and adds a two-column form (Name / Email + Message), an office address (Strada Șciusev 103, Chișinău), opening hours and 4 social networks (Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Telegram). Two email addresses are listed: general and PR.

The contacts page — The Contacte header with the same purple H1 block and tabs; the “Corespondența” tab is underlined as active.

A multilingual structure (RO / EN / RU)

In the bottom bar there’s a language switcher with three locales: Română (the primary one, with full content), Russian and English (currently partial — switching sends the visitor to the homepage with RO content). The foundation is ready for a full translation as content accumulates.

Implementation details

Responsive layout

The mobile layout switches to a single column: the header collapses into a burger plus a centred logo plus a search icon. The Index Cultural mosaic rebuilds into a 2-column grid. The featured blog post splits into text on top, photo below.

Newsletter, footer, typography

Before the footer — a “Subscribe to our latest news” section with a simple email input plus a button. The footer is dark, with the logo, a repeated menu, contact details and a social block. Headings use a modular sans-serif with pronounced accents on “Ț”, “Ș”, “Ă” (a feature of Romanian orthography).

Result

CSCI got a national advocacy platform with three interconnected public faces: Index Cultural as a database, Harta as a geospatial interface to that same data, and Blog Cultural as the sector’s curatorial voice. The site became a tool through which the Coalition speaks out publicly during moments of crisis (for example, in response to the Ministry of Culture’s announcement about restoring Casa Zemstvei) and gathers support around specific advocacy actions.