site.btaUPDATED BTA Signs Cooperation Agreement with National Vocational High School of Printing and Photography

At the BTA National Press Club here on Wednesday, the Bulgarian News Agency and the National Vocational High School of Printing and Photography (NVHSPP) signed a long-term cooperation agreement. The document was signed by NVHSPP Director Tsvetanka Apostolova and BTA Director General Kiril Valchev.

Valchev said that the BTA's photo archive is the oldest in Bulgaria; the first photos in it date back to the middle of the last century. The Press Photo Department at the BTA was established in 1952. Currently, the agency employs 12 photo reporters, five photo editors, and four people in the photo archive. Eleven of BTA's employees are graduates of the National Vocational High School of Printing and Photography, he noted.

He also said that the partnership with the BTA gives the school's graduates the opportunity to participate in the BTA's internship programmes, as well as to start working at the agency on a full- or part-time basis.

A separate department of graphic designers will soon be established at the agency. They will be tasked with unifying the BTA's visual identity, Valchev said. This department can include students from fields of graphic and visual arts at the NVHSPP while guaranteeing their copyright," added Valchev.

The partnership agreement is signed on the eve of the celebration of the school's 100th anniversary, which will take place at the National Palace of Culture (NDK) on Thursday. Apostolova said that this year also marks 65 years since the start of education in photography. The NVHSPP offers education in six professional fields. The school is currently working on a photo restoration project under the Erasmus programme. A project was recently completed on the digitization of the school's photo archive.

The National Vocational High School of Printing and Photography is the fifth vocational school with which the BTA has a partnership agreement, following agreements with the Aprilov National High School in Gabrovo, the Saint Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher National School for Ancient Languages and Cultures, the Alphonse de Lamartine Ninth French Language High School, and the Sofia Theological Seminary.

The aim of these partnerships is to increase the visibility of vocational education in Bulgaria.