Тext: Magdalena Gigova
The NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ expert, Dr Mila Stareishinska-Angelova, takes appreciators of the original ideas on a virtual tour of the Prof. Vasil Gerov Hall, at the Fund’s headquarters.
The tour features the prize-winning digital drawings in the National Competition entitled ‘Together in Art for a Better Future’ for pupils from eight national secondary schools and schools with a profile in the field of visual arts, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.
The competition was launched by the ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ National Endowment Fund jointly with UNICEF Bulgaria to mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly.
Pupils aged from 14 to 19 years took part in the competition. The main idea was for young people to express, through their talent, their commitment to the fate of children with disabilities and, through art, to help them integrate in society and secure equal opportunities and a better future for all adolescents.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights treaty that has helped to bring about a positive change in the lives of millions of children around the world. According to the life-asserting pact, children must be allowed to grow, learn, play, develop and flourish with dignity during childhood. In Bulgaria, the anniversary was marked by focusing particularly on children with disabilities, many of whom cannot study or communicate fully owing to an inaccessible living environment, meaning that they cannot reach their full potential.
NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ encouraged pupils from secondary art schools to develop their creative vision and maximally avail themselves of the freedom that art affords to create fascinating canvases, and for their works, in turn, to become a source of ideas for the whole of society as to how children with disabilities can find a position of equality with their peers.
In November 2019, a national exhibition of the selected drawings was held at the National Palace of Culture where, at the opening, the winners received awards provided by NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’.
The awards themselves, thanks to the Fund, also had a financial element:
First Prize: BGN 300
Second Prize: BGN 250
Third Prize: BGN 200.
The creators of all the winning works received certificates of participation and books from the series ‘Contemporary Bulgarian Art. Names.’, a publication of the ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ National Endowment Fund.
Each educational institution selected five works created during the competition. The exhibition, ‘Together in Art for a Better Future’, displaying the 36 digital drawings chosen in the competition, was held under the patronage of the Minister of Culture.
Cameraman Tsvetan Ignatovski created the virtual tour hosted by Dr Mila Stareishinska-Angelova.
Pupils from the following schools participated in the competition:
- Iliya Petrov National School of Fine Arts, Sofia
- Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School of Art, Plovdiv
- Academician Dechko Uzunov National School of Plastic Arts and Design, Kazanlak
- Dimitar Dobrovich National Secondary School of Art, Sliven
- St Luke National School of Applied Arts, Sofia
- Venko Kolev National School of Applied Arts, Troyan
- Tryavna National Secondary School of Applied Arts, Tryavna
- Professional Secondary School of Applied Arts, Smolyan