All my work is towards creating memorable, exciting & engaging experiences through stories. Stories and storytelling unites what I do - from experiential marketing to brand innovation, from visual media to exhibition curation, from cinema programming to design thinking.
Specialties: creative producing - projects in arts, events, media; production/project management, events idea generation/planning/execution; marketing & publicity for both film and arts industry; social media & online community management, online content production & management; visual media production; illustration & design; concept development; copywriting; business communication
Projects
- CooltzineA one-day simultaneous exhibition + creative conference across several countries Cooltsalon currently operates on three levels: as an exposure platform, a creative network, and an arts and cross-disciplinary events curator. Over the years, Cooltsalon’s mission has grown into giving exposure to individual voices hidden behind the collective city life. These opportunities were presented in various ways – find out more here: https://cooltsalon.com/projects/ THE ‘COOLTZINE’ IDEA Cooltsalon does
- kvARTal festival 2016In March 2016 a group of enthusiasts working and living in a certain part of Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, decided to join forces in order to develop a project for defined cultural, creative & entrepreneurial area/quarter, akin to many existing in Paris, London, New York, Belgrade, Krakow, Berlin, etc. We felt the lack and the need to have an established and recognisable "perimiter" which we could all call the heart of cultural, creative & social buzz, change and progress: think what Kreuzberg was/is to Berlin, Shoreditch and Soho to London, Mare to Paris, etc. The specific area in Sofia - now tentatively named "kvARTal" - is actually the historic center of the capital (exactly where it started to grow and develop as a settlement and, eventually, a city back in the Roman Empire days), as well as historic Jewish and merchants quarter at the turn of the 19th c. It is and has been a unique melting pot of cultures and religions - currently, still the only perimeter hosting a Mosque, a Synagogue, a Catholic church, an Orthodox church and the ancient Sofia (Serdika) ruins, including also functioning mineral water fountains. It is home to numerous start-ups, co-working spaces, family-run restaurants, cafes, artists studios, ateliers, galleries; one of the oldest - and last few standing - arthouse cinemas in Sofia, "Dom na kinoto" (Cinema House); the Museum of Sofia is here. It has all of the signature traits and potential for true "cultural quarters", forward-thinking "hub", area you can point out and recommend to foreigners visiting Sofia - it's just never been defined and put on the map as such. And this is what we set out to do. What started as just casual conversations and exchange of ideas between friends, acquaintances and, simply, neighbours, resulted in "kvARTal festival" 2016 - a 3-day happening, aimed at highlighting the potential of the area, its already existing residents, services and infrastructure; attract media and public's attention, draw new residents, visitors, break stereotypes (the area is in close proximity to the Central Railway Station, as well as the Lion Bridge, both of which have gained some negative reputation in the last decade, deemed as spots of illegal / criminal activity), start regeneration plans, strategy for negotiations with the local council, etc. - all WITH the residents involved, not as a "top-down" scheme. Our main point was to keep it grassroots and happening WITH and BECAUSE OF the people who've already set up shop in the area. No artificial interventions. As an event, "kvARTal festival" 2016 was absolutely self-funded and self-run all by the core "kvARTal" collective - Cinema House (cinema, arts centre), SoHo coworking & events space, Cush.Be (design, print, shop), French 75 (bar), Sito Studio (print, design), TEZGYAH (ceramic studio, shop), Atelie Plastelin (arts, performance space/gallery). My role: The idea of "kvARTal festival" was that each participating location would be responsible for its own programmer/ideas during the 3 days (16-18 Sept 2016) - you develop it and run it, we announce and promote it in the overall fest programme & promo materials (flyers, online, etc.). Serving then as the Programming Manager / Cinema Director for Dom na kinoto (Cinema House), one of my tasks was to develop a programme for the 3 days of "kvARTal festival". At the same time, as the main initiator of the bigger "kvARTal" project and one of the core members of the original collective, I was responsible for the overall development, organisation, and coordination of the 3-day event (including attending/participating in media gigs set up by our PR person, such as radio & print interviews, discussing the festival itself, but also the bigger project): - contacting locations with proposal for the festival; keeping up communication with participating locations, coordinating their activity, collating information Re: each location's programme/activity in the overall festival programme, resolving time/duration issues, communicating back to the rest of the collective; - selecting artists; communication, coordination; - preparing information for the printed materials (maps, flyers); working with the Designer and the project's assistant for collating information, proof reading, information check, design changes, etc. ; distributing stickers for each bar/cafe participating in the "gourmet tour" (part of the festival programme); - obtaining parking permits, street closure permits & Health&Safety clearances with the local authorities - all the necessary paperwork for putting on the outdoor "Chill Zone" and other public space happenings part of the festival programme; - coordinating the day-by-day programme; main point of contact on the day; setting-up Cinema House as the official info center for the 3 days; instructing & informing Cinema House team, coordinating their immediate responsibilities; events including: screenings at the Cinema House, the festival opening party, the festival closing party, the outdoor "Chill Zone" (working with the Chill Zone Coordinator / Bar Manager(s)); - participating as one of the presentors/lecturers for the "Meet the kvARTal Collective" panel discussion; Q&A hosting; - exchanging information & photo materials between other participating locations; working closely wiht the PR person to promote the event and respond to any necessary media communication;
Work history
Creative Producer
Freelance
Initiating, curating and producing events in the arts, culture and media sector. Idea generation, brainstorming sessions, research and preparation; overseeing strategy for realisation of each project; programme selection & development; participants coordination, communication, artists liaison; managing publicity and media relations; process management, logistics. Examples of projects:
* WHY! Create, London, 2011 - working with the founders for their first meet-up event as Behance Ambassador.
* Crooked Cinema, Sofia, 2014-2017 - "Alternative venues for another cinema. Crooked Cinema for a wonky world" - series of bi-monthly screening nights at venues not usually associated with film (e.g. warehouses, national radio recording hall, underpass and disused underground, bar beer garden, etc.) of films that do not get wide (or any) release in Bulgaria, largely music documentaries or music-themed / influenced; films screened included: "Mistaken for Strangers", dir. Tom Berninger (with promo support from The National - video greeting before the film; radio support with air time for The National's singles) , "Patti Smith: Dream of Life", dir. Steven Sebring, "Goodnight Brooklyn: The Story of Death by Audio", dir. Matthew Conboy (with accompanying DJ night and poster exhibition), etc. Venue research & selection; work/coordination/communication with the producers providing films and the venues hosting the nights; media relations.
* Cooltsalon exhibitions, Sofia, 2014-2015 - series of one-week long exhibitions in various genre and media (photography, oil painting, digital illustration, spoken word - print outs, jewelry, etc.) site-specifically developed for Amaro Baretto bar&space in Sofia (Bulgaria). Each exhibition opens on a Thursday, in the presence of the author, followed by drinks & networking; until Wednesday, every visitor to Amaro has a chance to buy a piece from the exhibition, the next Thursdays everything is re-arranged for a new exhibition. The project had two seasons, 04 Sept -20 Nov 2014 and 29 Jan- 11 June 2015; all participating artists were found, selected, contacted and brought together by me.
* Cooltsalon creative walks, Sofia, 2015-2016 - guided alternative walks, exploring hidden gems of the capital and meeting locals in each explored area (e.g. cafe owner, gallery founder/curator, furniture maker, staff & scientists at an observatory, co-working space members & founders, etc.); one of the walks was with dog owners, in partnership with Doglar, a mobile app listing dog-friendly places & pet advice; all walks routes developed with the new co-curator of Cooltsalon, Kalina Petkova.
"One Year Cooltsalon Special Birthday Walk" consisted of 5 selected cafes/bars, each acting as a host of a one-night-only exhibition for the date. Attendees were guided from stop to stop, enjoying art and drinks, as well as promo games with the hosts.
* kvARTal festival, Sofia, 16-18 Sept 2016 - event promoting a project for area development & establishment as Sofia's cultural quarters (as a European capital that currently does not have defined arts&cultural quarters as the model in Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Belgrade, Paris, London, etc.). The event consisted of 3 days programme of various activities - screenings, presentations, live gigs, DJ night, wine tastings, free classes, workshops, etc. - hosted by the participating locations (over 50 organisations/bars/galleries/ateliers, etc.) in the area, tentatively named "kvARTal". I served as one of the initiators of the "kvARTal" project, developing strategy for future development, working with the local community, council, looking into creating a map of available spaces & investigation of property meanwhile use in Bulgaria, etc. as well as the programmer for Cinema House (Dom na kinoto) - one of the participating locations; festival info point - and coordinator of the overall festival programme (with the help of the assistant coordinator from another participating location), supported by the PR person for the festival.
* [4:3] by Daria Tchapanova, Mar-Apr 2017 - site-specific multi-media exhibition by visual artist Daria Tchapanova, entirely produced with crowd-funding; I acted as the curator and publicist of the project, as well as actually assisting with the mounting and hanging of pieces in the space.
Cinema Manager and Programming Director
- Sofia, BulgariaFull Time
For many years, The Cinema House has been the most important cinematic and cultural center for both professionals and true film buffs in Bulgaria. Its hall has screened the best of world cinema, as well as retrospectives, week-long marathons of foreign cinematography, seminars, festivals, educational and entertainment thematic programmes, exhibitions and presentations. Cinema House continues to support and enrich the cultural calendar in Sofia as well as endorse projects which support the best European practices and policies. The Cinema House was found as the cinema center of the Bulgarian Filmmakers Union in 1978 and it has served this purpose for many years. The cinema opened its doors for general audience in 1990. The Cinema House is part of the Europa Cinemas network and is one of the key hosts for many festivals in the region – Sofia International Film Festival, Cinemania, Festival of European Co-productions, SoIndependent, Sofia Biting Docs, etc. Among the current projects of Cinema House is ‘Sofia International Film Festival for Students’. The main objective of the programme is to provide students and teenagers with free access to local, European, and world cinema heritage. Cinema House also offers spaces for hire - the screening room, the main foyer, etc., which can host your private events.
In my time at the Cinema House (Dom na kinoto), I had the pleasure to oversee the smooth running of the business, on a day-to-day basis and strategically, not only programming film titles to be screened but also developing current and future events and partnerships. As a brief example of some of the daily tasks:
* events, marketing, PR;
* communication with film distributors, sales agents, independent filmmakers - programming opportunities for their projects;
* ensuring up-to-date promotional materials are supplied and on display, where necessary (film posters, flyers, weekly cinema programs), ensuring ushers on duty are taking care of the necessary materials; point of contact for cinema's printing provider (placing orders, following delivery, examining quality of printed materials, invoice tracking, etc.);
* worked with an in-house designer for the production of weekly cinema programme leaflet and poster;
* developed new institutional & business partnerships, further strengthening the existing ones;
* advising on customer attraction & retention policies, developing loyalty rewards initiatives;
* managed Dom na kinoto's Facebook page, promotion through social media, responding to customer inquiries online;
* staff (ushers, box office staff, projectionists, etc.) recruitment & selection, job development, appraisal, annual leave coordination, preparing weekly rota;
* responsible for all staff on duty, point of contact for emergencies and trouble-shooting any issues that go beyond their capacity/responsibility;
* dealing with building maintenance issues & requirements (e.g. booking plumbers, electricians as necessary, ordering cleaning supplies, ad hoc fixture for tear&wear, point of contact for the local fire marshal, etc.), conducting daily/weekly cinema premises check-up (incl. maintaining toilets cleaners' rota and ensuring achievement of satisfactory levels of hygiene & cleanliness at the premises at all times);
* coordinated book-keeping with the box office staff / senior cashier on duty;
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Skills
- Event Production
- Event Management
- Publicity Events
- Art Exhibitions
- Film
- Creative Storytelling
- Visual Storytelling
- Idea Generation
- Client Communications
- Creative Strategies
Education
Managing in the Creative Economy
- Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
Post-graduate degree
BA(Hons) Media and Communication
- London, United Kingdom