site.btaBulgarian Cultural Institute London Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The Bulgarian Cultural Institute London (BCI) celebrated its 10th anniversary on April 27. The institute was founded on 28 September 2011 by then Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov. Head of the BCI Svetla Dionisieva told BTA that their mission is to "spread and promote Bulgarian culture to a global audience" while also offering a home for their fellow Bulgarians who are away from home.

"At first, the institute operated from a nearly uninhabitable part of the building, similar to a basement. It was the efforts of Svetla Dionisieva and her team that transferred this place into a place for culture," said the stage director Bina Haralampieva.

BCI has hosted concerts, exhibitions, literary eves, drama and dance recitals, film screenings and festivals with some of the biggest names in the art world, as well as young artists who are just breaking through on the Bulgarian and world stage.

"This place offers hope that Bulgarian culture will reach a wider audience in Britain," said the actor Vlado Penev. Singer-songwriter Stefan Valdobrev added that BCI's model should be used as an example by all Bulgarian cultural institutions that try to be ambassadors to this country's art abroad.

Bulgarian poet Nedyalko Yordanov was so moved by his meeting with a Bulgarian audience in BCI that he dedicated a poem to his experience there.