site.btaNational Art Academy Rector Yankov Reelected for Second Term

National Academy of Art (NAA) Rector Prof. Georgi Yankov said in a BTA interview on Wednesday that the National Academy of Fine Arts, in addition to being an educational institution, is also a cultural institution that provides the modern experience of visual culture in Bulgaria,  in every field. 

On January 16, Yankov was re-elected for a second term as rector of the academy with a secret ballot and unprecedented support from the General Assembly of the National Academy of Sciences. At the meeting, he also presented the management report for the 2020-2024 mandate, which was also adopted.

The NAA Rector said he wanted the Academy to finally be a little more relaxed. "Because the constant desire for some changes in the law on higher education and the method of assessment takes us in directions that are not typical for the academy - to chase some tables, statistics, while the most important thing for us is to create artists", explained Yankov.

Yankov's goals for the upcoming mandate are related to continuous work on projects started during the previous one, including  reconstructing and refurbishing the northern building of the Academy on Oborishte street. There is already funding for it and procedures for approving the documentation are currently underway. His plan is to turn the red building opposite the rector's office of Sofia University into a modern open cultural centre with many new galleries , including a permanent exhibition gallery, the first digital art gallery in the country, and a design gallery. "Students will have their own gallery. With a cinema hall for film screenings and book presentations. This will become a space in the centre of Sofia, where something happens from morning to night," said Yankov.

Georgi Georgiev Yankov was born on January 1, 1964 in Sofia. He completed his secondary education at the Secondary Art School of Applied Arts - Sofia. In 1990, he graduated from the National Academy of Art, majoring in Posters. Since 1995, he has been a teacher at the National Academy of Art, in the Poster and Visual Communication Department. He is the initiator of the creation of the NAA Branch in Burgas, being its first director.