A Record Number of Applications for the Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists

  •  August 18, 2022

221 women artists applied for BFW’s Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists. The open call named “State of Emergency” aimed to challenge women artists to propose projects for new works that deal with topics and issues relevant to our society.  

We received applications from over 30 cities, towns and villages in Bulgaria, as well as from over 20 Bulgarian women who live and work abroad. A total of 24 collectives submitted applications as well. The proposed project ideas examine the theme of the open call through various forms of contemporary art – painting, sculpture, installations, performance, etc. 

All received proposals will be assessed by an expert jury. The results will be announced on October 3 on the Bulgarian Fund for Women’s website and each of the selected artists will be personally notified via email. 

Each selected project will receive funding worth up to BGN 5,000. Then the authors will have 6 months to create their artwork. The finished works will be presented at a group exhibition in 2023. 

The artists who submitted applications have already received confirmation by email from BFW’s team. If you have submitted an application but have not yet received confirmation, please email us at grants@bgfundforwomen.org

See the full list of candidates HERE (in Bulgarian). 

About the Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists 

“State of Emergency” is the second edition of BFW’s Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists. The first one titled “Everything is Just Fine” took place in 2018-2020 and aimed to combat the underrepresentation of women in the professional arts and culture sector, to give visibility to the work of women artists and to increase their access to financial resources. 

During the process of establishing the Fund in 2018 BFW sent an inquiry to state galleries in the country, including the National Gallery, to check the ratio between women and men represented in their collections. It turned out that 91% of the works in the permanent exhibition and 78% of the solo exhibitions at the National Art Gallery were created by men. At the same time, only 16% of the artworks in the National Gallery’s Fund were created by women. 

The results of the inquiry are described in detail in the study by the curator Dobromira Terpesheva “Where are Women in the Whole Picture” where she examines the problem of the unequal representation of women in art on a global and national scale. The study comes to the conclusion that almost the entire visual history of our country turns out to be a monologue. The woman is present in the works as a muse, as a mother, but she is rarely the protagonist in the visual narrative. 

This year’s open call for Fund for Art Projects by Women Artists “State of Emergency” aims to support even more ambitious works and create a snapshot of women in art, completing the chronological and historical picture of their involvement and impact on events. Its total value at the moment is BGN 65,000, provided with the financial support of the Chanel Foundation, Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Veronika Puncheva – philanthropist, Ubisoft

If you wish to donate for the creation of more projects by women artists, contact us at grants@bgfundforwomen.org  

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