Help Create a Viable LGBTI Community in Bulgaria!

The Community Center – a Social Enterprise

On September 27, 2019, we purchased a property in downtown Sofia which will be the venue of our multifunctional community hub, run as a social enterprise. This is the culmination of several years of working tirelessly to finance such a major endeavor. We received bank financing in the form of a social impact loan from a big Bulgarian bank (the very first such financial instrument in the country). We will be setting up a separate fundraising project on GlobalGiving to help raise the remaining capital needed to renovate and furnish the center.

Boy Erased

We partnered up with Colibri Publishers to publish the acclaimed “Boy Erased” in Bulgarian and with the Cinelibri Film Festival to screen the movie (featuring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Lucas Hedges, directed by Joel Edgerton) in Bulgaria.  We invited the author of the book, Garrard Conley, to visit Bulgaria for the movie premiere in four cities.  All partners agreed that the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to support the only comprehensive services for LGBTI youth in Bulgaria, provided by Single Step.

VentureOUT

In May 2019 we launched a career center for young LGBTI people who are just starting their career.  To date, our VentureOUT Manager has had 29 unique clients (60+ consultations), which have resulted in 18 job placements and 6 people continuing their education. In our efforts to scale the initiative, we have partnered up with Capital, the most prominent Bulgarian business publication and the Bulgarian Venture Capital Association.

CampOUT

The CampOUT week-long workshop provided an opportunity for young LGBTI artists, who have already begun their development in one of five genres (music, dance, visual arts, fashion and photography), to gain knowledge and inspiration from successful Bulgarian and international mentors, to feel free and express themselves and to create a joint project within the workshop.  Over 40 works, created during CampOUT – the first summer workshop for LGBTI artists, will be showcased at an exhibition in Sofia between October 17th and 25th in Sofia.

Since my last update, we have continued our efforts to support, motivate, and empower young LGBTI people in Bulgaria.  Below are some of our notable initiatives / accomplishments.

• In 2018 we had 565 online chats with LGBTI youth from 85+ towns and cities across the country. We expanded our network of psychologists to 10 major cities in Bulgaria.  The online chat and toll-free telephone line is now staffed by 20 trained volunteers and supervised by our psychologist-supervisor;
• We launched a new initiative VentureOUT: a career center for young LGBTI people who are just starting their careers. VentureOUT helps address many of the questions which may trouble young LGBTI people in Bulgaria, such as: How do I launch my career? Who is the right employer for me? How do I do my best at an interview?
• As part of our #endHIVbg initiative, we are launching a psychotherapeutic support group for people living with HIV in the beginning of May 2019, led by a group psychotherapist with vast experience in the field of HIV. The group will provide support and will help its members adapt to living with a chronic disease, such as HIV, and the resulting effects;
• Kosta Karakashyan, a Bulgarian professional dancer, choreographer and director, created a “Waiting for Color”, a film inspired by testimonials of the arrests, torture, and genocide that gay Chechens were subjected to throughout 2017. We organized numerous events including media appearances and a launch event at Gallery 2.0;
• We just announced our inaugural annual CampOUT, a major initiative targeting young LGBTI artists in the country, who would like to grow professionally, create and be themselves. CampOUT is a five-day artistic workshop focused on five genres: visual arts, photography, music, dance, and fashion design, led by Bulgarian and international artists – mentors.  It will be held in early July at a picturesque venue in the mountains;
• In March 2019 we created GenerationArt to give young LGBTI artists space, opportunity and a stage to express themselves and to show their art. At the end of every month, our team will select one artist to present and to show their work through GenerationArt. We will publish their works on our website as well as at our social media profiles;
• I was honored to be invited to address the America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF) “Celebrating Bulgarian Superheroes” annual forum, which gathered 500+ grantees and partners of ABF.  The video from the event is in the link below and is a very special project for me, personally.
• We are still working on financing our ambitious project to establish an LGBTI community center in Sofia, as a social enterprise. Please let me know if you have any ideas / thoughts on potential donors / investors, who would like to participate in a social impact investing project, such as ours.  We will really appreciate it!

Thank you so much for your continued support!

Links:

• Ivan's address at the American for Bulgaria annual conference
• Launch of CampOUT
• Kosta Karakashyan's "Waiting for Color"