The Alexandru Tzigara Samurcaş Foundation bears the name of the scholar who founded the museum more than a century ago. It was established in 1994, its founding members being: Pascal Bentoiu, Tudor Berza, Radu Boroianu, Horia Bernea, Corneliu Baba, Constantin Balaceanu-Stolnici, Ion Caramitru, Sorin Costina, Nicolae Constantinescu, Alexandru Duţu, Sorin Dumitrescu, Theodor Enescu, Ioan Ilişiu, Gabriel Liiceanu, Dan Nasta, Irina Nicolau, Ioan Opriş, Şerban Papacostea, Andrei Pleşu, Andrei Pănoiu, Ioan Raţiu, Speranţa Rădulescu, Georgeta Roşu, Aurelian Trişcu. The purpose of the foundation was to undertake cultural activities complementary to those carried out by the museum. Its presidents were, successively: Horia Bernea, Mihai Oroveanu, Tudor Berza and Speranţa Rădulescu.

The executive director of the foundation is Florin Iordan.

The foundation did not succeed in attracting substantial funds for its project to preserve architectural monuments throughout the country, as it had hoped. Instead, it obtained specific funding for one or another of the projects related to research and/or dissemination of ethnological research results.

The first major initiative organized by the foundation was the provision of traditional music performances for the international fair Hanover 2000. Shortly thereafter, the foundation launched the long-term ethnomusicological project Ethnophonie, which consists of producing and publishing a series of traditional music CDs (accompanied by bilingual or multilingual booklets) and organizing concerts under the joint auspices of the Museum of the Romanian Peasant (MTR) and the foundation (see https://www.ethnophonie.ro). Both types of activities are based on field research conducted by the foundation’s ethnomusicologist members: Speranța Rădulescu, Costin Moisil, and Florin Iordan.

Ethnophonie continues to this day, with the series having reached its 33rd CD release. The first ten volumes received one of the prestigious awards of the Charles Cros Academy in France (Coup de cœur), while the twelfth volume was honored with the German Record Critics’ Award. In Western Europe, Ethnophonie is regarded as the only Romanian label that produces and distributes the traditional music of Romanians and the country’s coexisting ethnic communities, including Roma, Hungarians, Jews, and Ukrainians.

There have certainly been other projects over the years, including: Furnica (consisting of collecting and inventorying material testimonies regarding life on the territory of Romania during the communist era) and Populații istorice azi (consisting of the ethnological investigation of some Romanian localities on the territory of Hungary). Smaller-scale projects dedicated to the education of children have been conducted in various Bucharest schools and/or at the MTR headquarters.
The Alexandru Tzigara Samurcaş Foundation has cooperated during its 16 years of existence with various cultural institutions: Canadian Heritage Information Network, Cité de la Musique, Wagram record label, Société Française d'ethnomusicologie (France), Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires, Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, Ateliers d'ethnomusicologie (Switzerland), Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies (Austria), Institut Français de Bucarest, Romanian Cultural Institute, Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (department of Romanians Abroad), National University of Music Bucharest, Constantin Nottara Theater, Electrecord, Popular Art School of Târgu Jiu and many others.