At the beginning of May 2015 has been started the implementation of a project with the financial support of BG 08 Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Arts Programme of the EEA financial mechanism. The main focus of the  project is organizing and conducting the sixth edition of The Old School residency on the topic of Ritual Art – Time and Space.

Cultural events, especially those with international participation, often occur in cities. The project aims to overcome the cultural oblivion of villages as regards cultural events, especially those with international participation, by bringing modern artists and making of modern art back to villages and to enable local people to get in touch with it. The project promotes creation and dissemination of innovative cultural products and attraction of a wide range of viewers and cultural exchanges and multicultural dialogue between Bulgaria, Europe and the world. The project also contributes to the objectives of EEA Grants of decreasing social and economic disparities by social and cultural inclusion of local people and ensuring equal access of them to cultural achievements, and promoting Gorna Lipnitsa as a tourist and cultural destination.

The project objectives will be achieved by organizing the Old School residency in 2015 in the village of Gorna Lipnitsa, when there will be children’s school for the village children, including those of Roma origin, to work together with artists from around the world. The residency will be held with the active interaction between the local community and the participating artists – all events and workshops will be open and freely accessible to visitors and local people will take an active part in them. The residency will have a parallel program with various cultural events. At the end of the residency a closing exhibition will be organized purposed to present the works created by the artists during their stay in the residency.

In the next six months after the end of the event the exhibition will visit six cities in Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora), with accompanying workshops, presentations and performances. The project is targeted at residents of Gorna Lipnitsa village, and all citizens (Bulgarian and foreign) – artists, visitors, tourists, researchers.