Visionary announces its creative program for 2022

Since its creation in 2017, VISIONARY's field of work has been urban art, and the main aspiration has always been and remains - the creation of freely accessible art.

"From our practical experience over the past 5 years in the field of street & mural art, we see the need for an adequate connection between - on the one hand, municipalities, institutions, cultural centers, and on the other - the artistic scene. We believe that we have been able to establish Visionary as a competent partner who guides both parties in the collaboration process, ensuring the quality implementation of the projects and execution of funds, without this being detrimental to the artists, nor the idea or the achieved results." - Delyana Angelova shares about the work of the Foundation and its establishment as a valuable point of contact between different parties in the cultural life.

Visionary's successful work with other NGOs with a cultural focus shows sustainable relationships and natural interaction in the sector, increasing the quality and results of projects on the one hand and mixing audiences and growing networks on the other. This will continue in 2022 as we develop this interaction with more cultural institutes and embassies.

The desired result of our work is building a sense of the aesthetic appearance of street art among the mass audience and directing their attention to it, working purposefully for its cultural enrichment by presenting the author's concept and the richness of the variety of styles.

" With all of the above, we define our activity as important for changing public attitudes, and the created content as key for the audience on the one hand - for the promotion of significant social topics and introduction to independent talented artists; on the other - for the artists - for their development through the successful implementation of the project, unlocking new opportunities, creating contacts and exchanges, and together with this the overall growth of the scene."

Following its vision to expand the possible genres of production and deepen its expertise in street art, the Visionary team is building an annual artistic program for 2022 with 3 main goals:

- collaborations between artists from different arts;

- audience development;

- creative residencies - both of bulgarian and foreign artists in Bulgaria, and bulgarian artists in Italy.

Putting the artists at the center

Visionary's projects have always been characterized by placing the artist at the center - a very clear and close collaboration on the creation of individual projects together with the artists themselves. As a stronger emphasis, there was the presentation of the artists and the creation of professional photo and video coverage of their work.

This, of course, remains in 2022, but increasingly the aim is with each of the projects to enrich their experience, skills and develop their current audience and connect them with new ones.

The projects with bulgarian artists will mostly be in the direction of multidisciplinary interaction, and the projects with foreign artists will be in the direction of exchange of experience, connection with the Bulgarian artistic scene, and providing a field of expression in various forms - mural painting, screen printing, performance, installation, exhibitions, artists talks.

"We have prepared a very diverse program and will work with artists from France, Italy, and Belgium, as well as many Bulgarian artists from various fields of art. Very soon we will start announcing some of them," hints Ioan, the creative director of the foundation.

Creating a network

An important part of the long-term development of the artists we work with, the team, and the Foundation is investing in quality exchanges with foreign organizations with similar activities. We believe that there is an enormous potential for developing international relations because our general impression is that there is a lack of communication between different cultural organizations and producers in the mural & street art scene.

Also, the presentation of Bulgarian artists abroad should come to the fore, which is so characteristic of other spheres of the arts, but in street art environments it remains somewhat sporadic and independent, which can be improved through systematic work in the direction of creating a sustainable network of partnerships. Therefore, in the fall of 2022, we are planning to visit the Pompei Street Festival, which combines cinematography, contemporary art, and mural/street art in one. The partnership with Pompei Street Festival is the first step towards our entry into the international scene as an organization that will present two prominent mural artists this year.

Objectives of the annual program:

1. Deployment and development of the creative potential of Bulgarian artists.

2. Exchange – both creative ideas and practices, and of organizational experience and successful models.

3. Active interaction with foreign artists and organizations and their presentation to the Bulgarian public and artistic scene.

4. Developing multidisciplinary relationships between artists for experimentation and collaboration.

5. Year-round audience engagement and systematic enrichment with content and introduction to new creators, cultural figures, and operators.

6. Expanding the administrative and creative capacity of the organization and retaining gravitating professional staff sustainably in the development and activities of the Foundation.

7. Creation and implementation of a communication and digital strategy in response to the increased demand for content and to better adapt the Foundation to a digital environment in the winter months, when projects in an urban environment are not implemented in practice.

Visionary - one-year program 2022 is implemented with the financial support of the National Fund "Culture".

Photos in the post: Mihaela Draganova, NoPoint Atelier.