On January 22, the American Research Center in Sofia Foundation (ARCS) held a Bulgarian-American evening of the arts, together with Botev Academy, a Bulgarian school in the DC area that promotes multi-cultural education and children’s artistic endeavors. The event was opened by Professor Kevin Clinton, Co-Founder and Co-President of ARCS, who presented the successful efforts of the Center over the past twelve years in serving as a bridge for educational cooperation between North America and Southeast Europe. Dr. Nora Dimitrova Clinton, the other Co-Founder and Co-President of ARCS, emphasized the Center’s role for providing numerous young people with opportunities for education and access to libraries and scholarly research. She announced the newest publication of ARCS, the English edition of a charming book for children and adults called Shared Childhood: Behind the Iron Curtain, by the internationally recognized journalist and author Nassya Kralevska-Owens, who has received much deserved recognition by historians, dignitaries, and journalists for her magnificently written and researched monographs, articles, and essays on modern Bulgarian history.

Shared Childhood is another example of Nassya Kralevska’s diverse talent as a writer of different genres. The book contains bitter-sweet stories of friendship and mischief taking place in the 1950s. It is a subtle portrait of an Orwellian reality, where children quickly learn to lead a double life: one of truth and genuine emotions at home, and one of pretense and lies at school, in order to survive the oppressive educational system of communist Bulgaria. Nassya Kralevska-Owens arrived from Philadelphia especially for the occasion, together with her husband Dr. Aaron Owens, who read several fascinating chapters from the book.

During the second half of the event, the audience was mesmerized by the brilliant and moving performance of the world-renowned Bulgarian pianist Dr. Ani Gogova, who arrived from Chicago to support this joint Bulgarian-American charitable initiative, on her way to her upcoming exclusive performance at Carnegie Hall on Friday, January 27^th. Both organizations are extremely grateful to Ani for her fantastic performance—a rare combination of passion and virtuoso technique—and wish her tremendous success in New York! Dr. Gogova performed Obsessive Motion by the Bulgarian contemporary composer Georgi Kostov; Two Fantasy Pieces, Op. 12 by Robert Schumann; and Sonata quasi una Fantasia in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight” by Ludwig van Beethoven. Some of these pieces will be featured at Ani’s upcoming concert at Carnegie titled Fantasies, Fairytales & Nightmares.

Bulgarian painters and artisans also participated in the event by displaying their work at the fundraising bazaar and raffle. Among them was the Rousse Regional Museum of History curator and ethnographer Desislava Tiholova with her bead jewelry combining inspirations from tradition and modernity. The internationally renowned Bulgarian-American artist from Chicago, Kina Bagovska, contributed one of her paintings as the raffle’s first prize. The painting belonged to her Illinois Arts Council Grant winning cycle The Magic of the Christmas Bread.

We extend our warmest thanks to our partner Botev Academy, to our guests of honor Mrs. Kralevska-Owens and Dr. Gogova, to all the featured artists, and to our enthusiastic and generous audience for making this event such a memorable and enjoyable celebration of Bulgarian-American friendship, culture, and artistic elegance.