Initiative of the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia
together with:
Foundation for a Civil Society, USA
Young Visual Artists Awards

In 1990 Wendy W. Luers, founder and director of Foundation for a Civil Society, together with Chalupecky Association had established a prize for the young visual artists up to 35 years of age in Czech Republic. Young Visual Artists Awards (YVAA - https://www.yvaawards.org) was established over several years as an international network of similar awards with support from the Trust from Mutual Understanding, a US foundation.
Today 10 European countries are part of this network: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Albania and Bulgaria.
Bulgaria joined this group in 2008. ICA-Sofia (http://ica.cult.bg) was chosen as a partner to organize the award.
Aim of the BAZA Award for contemporary art is to provide support to young creative artists through opening new possibilities for education, research and professional realization. Award creates a positive context for the young contemporary art and builds friendly milieu for its development.
The competition is opened for artists up to 35 years old who work in all media in the field of contemporary art. Applicants may enter the competition themselves or they also may be nominated by an invited arts professionals active in the field of contemporary art. A candidate must be a Bulgarian citizen or a permanent resident of Bulgaria.
The award is a six-week fellowship in New York and a solo exhibition in the gallery of the ICA-Sofia.