Guide
Where to learn art in Cluj if you are not eighteen with a university application
The “Tudor Jarda” People's School of Arts has run since 1955, teaches everything from accordion to jazz, and publishes its fees. It is searched by 590 people a month and has nineteen reviews.
We wrote about UAD, which turns a hundred and trains professional artists. But between “I like drawing” and “I am applying to art school” there is a distance the university does not cover, and most guides skip.
We measured what people search for in that gap. “Școala populară de arte cluj”: 590 searches a month in Romania, 390 in Cluj. “Școala de arte cluj”: another 170. Meanwhile “art courses for children Cluj”, “creative workshops for children Cluj” and “art school for children Cluj” — all zero.
People do not search the category. They search the institution, by name.
The institution
The “Tudor Jarda” People's School of Arts, Strada Fabricii de Zahăr 51. Phone: 0264 592 576.
It was founded on 7 September 1954 by decision of the Council of Ministers, and began operating on 1 January 1955. Seventy-one years.
It addresses itself explicitly to children, young people and adults — not only children. That is the part people do not know.
What you can study, and what it costs
Three forms: core courses ending in a graduation diploma; artistic assistance, with a certificate of participation and no exams; and excellence courses.
In music the fees are published per year of study: accordion 1,400 lei, instrumental ensemble (violin, viola, double bass) 1,400, classical singing 1,500, folk singing 1,500, light music singing 1,500, classical and folk guitar 1,400, electric guitar and bass 1,400, clarinet 1,400, jazz improvisation 1,400, choral initiation 1,400, folk instruments (caval, fluier) 1,400.
Courses run two or three years depending on the specialisation.
That the fees are published deserves underlining. Of the three hundred and seven places, courses and workshops for children we track in Cluj on a separate site, only seventy-one publish their price. Here it is published, per specialisation, with its unit.
The calendar, which is strict
Enrolment and re-enrolment for the 2026–2027 educational year ran from 31 August to 10 September 2026. The September 2026 examination results are published on the site.
If you are reading this after 10 September, the window has closed for this year. We note the dates precisely so next year does not catch you out: it is a ten-day window at the end of August.
What else is on, in September
TIFF Florești runs ten evenings of open-air film between 11 and 20 September in Parcul Poligon, with free creativity and animation workshops for children and teenagers.
It is free, it is outdoors, and it is now. Of everything in this guide, it is the easiest thing to try.
Short workshops, from the city’s programme
If you do not want a year-long course, the city’s programme has workshops lasting an evening or a week. Our archive holds 68 workshops held in Cluj, most at the Alexandru Duma Museum of Babeș-Bolyai University (22, history games and caricature workshops for pupils), at NON Centre for Performing Arts (13, contemporary dance workshops, including the non.ctrl series with Tavi Voina, Sergiu Diță and Jasmina Cloșcă) and at Căminul Subcultural (8).
The schools with long programmes remain the University of Art and Design and the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy, with entrance exams, and the Folk Arts School, without. For working with your hands, Ceramic Cafe has a ceramics painting studio. Upcoming workshops appear, with date and venue, in the programme on BestCluj.
One last number
The school has 590 searches a month and nineteen Google reviews. Its listing is claimed, unlike the Art Museum's or the National Theatre's.
Seventy-one years of operation, published fees, a listing in order — and nineteen people who left a note. That is not the school's problem.
The search and review figures in this piece were measured on 10 September 2026. They may have changed since.
What this is about
- Școala Populară de Arte „Tudor Jarda” →
The city's arts school for children, young people and adults, since 1955. Courses from accordion to jazz improvisation, with fees published per specialisation.
- Universitatea de Artă și Design din Cluj-Napoca →
The city's artist factory. Almost the whole generation labelled the “Cluj School” trained here.
- Academia Națională de Muzică Gheorghe Dima →
The city's conservatory, on Bucium street. The musicians you see everywhere else in town come from here.
- Muzeul Alexandru Duma →
The university museum of the First World War, told through the story of the painter Alexandru Duma, a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army.
- NON Centru de Arte Performative →
The most-searched independent art space in Cluj: 260 searches a month locally, 320 nationally. A twelve-person company, every name and role published, working in dance, performance and theatre.
- Căminul Subcultural →
A shared space on Strada Fericirii with creative courses, workshops, exhibition openings and electronic music sessions.
- Ceramic Cafe →
An open paint-your-own ceramics studio near the Brassai high school. 2,400 searches a month — eighty times more than the phrase “ceramics workshop Cluj”.