2014/2015

In March 2014 Plovdiv 2019 Foundation released the first open call dedicated to the district thus marking Phase I in the implementation of the project. Its aim was to help the establishment of businesses in the area. It consisted in covering the rent for 12 month of 10 venues which were given to evolving cultural industries, selected through an open call procedure.

The aim was to assist various cultural entrepreneurs to invest their energy in the place, feel it and make it as their own and thus help them begin and develop their creative activities precisely here, thus helping to transform the neighborhood into the first in Bulgaria the creative district- to support the development of the Bulgarian creative sector by helping to launch and further develop the creative environment; To help the economic and social development of Kapana and Plovdiv through the growth of local business and tourism; To contribute to Plovdiv’s candidacy for European Capital of Culture in 2019 and to the overall development of culture in the city.

The result is the fact that different cultural entrepreneurs have begun to rediscover the place. Galleries, workshops, ateliers, bars and restaurants opened up next to the few existing. For the 12 months of the Phase I, the winners initiated dozens of exhibitions, attracted a variety of (new) audiences, the project became recognizable, and the actors themselves began to identify themselves as “ambassadors” of the idea of turning Kapana into a district of the creative industries.