PROJECTS and EVENTS
The TTO organizes a wide range of events at both local and national levels.
The TTO is a partner in numerous international project-based and event-driven initiatives.
The TTO initiates and implements a series of academic conferences.
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is an organization that funds research and innovation networks. Its actions support the connection of research initiatives across Europe and beyond, enabling researchers and innovators to develop their ideas in any field of science and technology by sharing them with their peers. COST Actions are bottom-up networks that run for four years and foster research, innovation, and career development.
Participation of teh Academy in the Action:
Prof. Dr. Vesela Kazashka – Member of the Management Committee
The primary aim of TransformERS is to inform research, policy, and practice on societal transformations that promote justice in a changing global context, by consolidating and positioning research related to societal change. Such transformations are seen as essential for avoiding catastrophic climate change and biodiversity loss, as highlighted by IPCC, IPBES, and the European Green Deal.
However, current research on transformation is highly fragmented. Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers hold valuable knowledge from various contexts, disciplines, and perspectives, both within and beyond the sustainability research community. There is a pressing need to: Identify what transformation-related knowledge exists and who holds it; Understand how these parts fit together; Grasp the collective picture of our current understanding of transformations; Identify knowledge gaps that still need to be addressed.
TransformERS establishes a networking infrastructure to meet these needs, aiming to: Inform transformation policy; Shape research and practice in the field of societal transformation; Train transformation researchers across disciplines and topics.
Artistic intelligence refers to the collective capacity of artistic and practice-based research to generate impact and value beyond the individual outcomes of specific projects. This COST Action explores value propositions based on data, information, and knowledge derived from connections among artistic research projects, practices, and cultures—often excluded or overlooked by conventional evaluation frameworks.
Artistic and practice-based research is increasingly called upon to contribute to interdisciplinary efforts that address complex societal challenges through collaboration. However, most such research is conducted in isolation, without reference to relevant studies, conclusions, or potential links to other research domains.
As a result, many new projects lack proper citation, contextualization of sources, or engagement with state-of-the-art methods and findings from other disciplines. Simultaneously, the methods and outcomes of these studies are often inaccessible to those not directly involved in the process.
ARTinRARE addresses the lack of shared standards by challenging isolated and non-referential research practices in the arts and culture. It aims to connect emerging initiatives in practice-based research by exploring current technological possibilities for access, linkage, and validation within a common framework of artistic intelligence.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Tsvetomira Kazashka – Member of the Management Committee
Prof. Dr. Vasil Kolev – Member of the Management Committee
“Critical Perspectives on Career and Career Guidance” (COCAG) brings together scholars from across Europe and beyond to examine how careers are evolving in the modern world and to consider the necessary responses from public policy and practice. The Action focuses on three main research questions: How can we understand the challenges and changes affecting careers today? How can policymakers respond effectively to the emerging career-related challenges faced by individuals? How can career guidance practice adopt a more critical stance to better address a rapidly changing world?
COCAG promotes debate on these questions by supporting publication projects, fostering collaboration between researchers, and developing new directions for investigation. It also aims to enhance public communication of research findings to policymakers and practitioners.
Capacity building is central to COCAG’s objectives. The Action supports the career development of early-career researchers and innovators by offering opportunities for international networking, co-publishing with senior researchers, and participating in a broad range of activities. It also fosters collaboration between COST Member Countries, Near Neighbour Countries (NNC), and International Partner Countries (IPC), with a special focus on engaging and supporting researchers from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries. Finally, the Action encourages engagement between practitioners, policymakers, and the academic community, facilitating mutual knowledge exchange and the advancement of expertise.
International Academic Conference “Science, Education and Innovation in the Arts”
The 4th International Academic Conference “Science, Education and Innovation in the Arts” achieved its primary goal: to create an academic environment for scholars from various fields of knowledge to present and interpret the evolutionary and revolutionary processes related to science and culture, and to showcase academic papers from diverse disciplines. The mission of the project is the integration of the academic community into a common research and educational space, which enables the creation and exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, and best practices. The conference was thematically structured into three panels: Education and Management, Music and Dance Arts, Fine Arts and Design. The interdisciplinary approach to organizing the conference, the choice of partners, and the connections with business, culture, and the arts serve to promote and legitimize science and art as socially significant in today’s world. The organization of this forum reflected the efforts of faculty members from the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts – Plovdiv in cooperation with colleagues from Bulgaria, Poland, Kazakhstan, Russia, and others. The conference proceedings will be published in a volume indexed by NACID (National Centre for Information and Documentation). The idea is to provide open access to the academic work. The materials will be printed and also made available online on the website of the Academy “Prof. Asen Diamandiev.” This initiative aligns with the objectives of the Law on the Promotion of Scientific Research and the National Strategy for the Development of Scientific Research. The project is managed by a team including Prof. Dr. Toni Shekerdzhieva–Novak, Rector of the Academy “Prof. Asen Diamandiev” and Head of the host organization, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vesela Kazashka, coordinator of the forum. The conference was held over two days, on October 26–27, 2023, in Plovdiv. The added value for both the project and the community lies in the partnerships and contacts established, the academic environment created during the event, and the social activities accompanying the conference.
More about the editions uou can find HERE.
International Scientific Conference 'MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING PROBLEMS IN ART'
The only high-level academic forum on art management and communication in the arts in the Balkans. In November 2023, the 11th edition of the conference was held, implemented with the financial support of the Research Fund under contract KP-06-MNF29/08.08.2023, with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vesela Kazashka as project leader. The host of the conference was the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts “Prof. Asen Diamandiev”. The two-day program included the participation of scholars from five countries – the USA, China, France, Russia, and Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of seven universities: Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, New Bulgarian University, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (UniBIT); University of Economics – Varna; University of Food Technologies; National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts “Krastyo Sarafov”; and the host institution – AMTII “Prof. Asen Diamandiev”. Papers were also presented by directors of Bulgarian drama theatres, specialists in copyright law, representatives of creative associations, and municipal structures. The event was officially opened on Friday, 17 November 2023, by Prof. Dr. Toni Shekerdzhieva-Novak, Rector of AMTII, who described the forum as the most significant regional gathering of managers, PR experts, and marketing professionals in the field of the arts. The opening plenary lecture was delivered by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhivka Busheva, founder of the Master's programs in Art Management and PR of Art Organizations at AMTII. She emphasized the important role these programs have played in the development of managerial and communication competencies among the leaders of Bulgarian art organizations over the past 20 years—a period in which more than 275 graduates have completed the Master's in Art Management and over 60 in Art PR at the Academy. The presented academic papers addressed topics such as: critique of artistic phenomena; issues in production; organization of marketing and PR activities in drama and puppet theatres; entrepreneurship in arts universities; specific aspects of media engagement; self-management in the arts; and many others. Moderators of the six academic panels were: Prof. Dr. Emilia Konstantinova, Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Karadzhov, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vesela Kazashka. The conference "Managerial and Marketing Issues in the Arts" is a research project of AMTII, organized by faculty members from the Department of Theory of the Arts, which has been recognized once again by the Ministry of Education and Science as the top-ranked department of its kind in Bulgaria. The event, which concluded today, was held with the support of the Research Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science.
More information about past editions can be found here.
International Scientific Conference 'MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING PROBLEMS IN ART'
The 12th International Academic Conference “Managerial and Marketing Issues in the Arts” marked an important step in the development of the ideas derived from the previous eleven editions of the event, which have examined contemporary theoretical and applied aspects, key terms, and concepts related to the management of art organizations and the interaction between art and business. To broaden our understanding of these issues, an in-depth analysis was required of the current challenges in the management of art organizations, as well as the financial and marketing tools and communication approaches used in the promotion of the arts. The main objective of the conference was to bring together scholars from different countries and universities, operational managers, experts, as well as young researchers (Master’s and PhD students), in order to discuss the regulatory environment and the dynamics of the creative industries and the arts, by examining their complexity and product flexibility. We received papers and reports with theoretical, methodological, or empirical focus (comparative analyses or specific case studies) in the following thematic areas: Strategic planning and management of art organizations; Motivation and human resource management; General and specific issues of marketing in art organizations; PR approaches, promotion, and communications; The entrepreneurial dimension of art; Management and PR in collaboration with education. Among the conference participants were art managers, public relations experts, scholars, young researchers, students, and PhD candidates from Bulgaria, as well as from Kazakhstan, China, the United States, and France. Particularly important was the participation of students from the program “Marketing and Communications in the Arts,” who had the opportunity to become familiar with the work of researchers and practitioners in the field. The primary contribution of the conference was the establishment of sustainable collaborations with colleagues from various Bulgarian universities and academic disciplines such as law, economics, management, art, and digital technologies. An important result of the project was the publication of a proceedings volume, indexed by NACID (National Centre for Information and Documentation). The conference was held on 7–8 November 2024 at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts “Prof. Asen Diamandiev” – Plovdiv.
More about previous editions can be found here.