The first Artist of the Month selected in the BE OPEN Regional Art competition for emerging artists

LONDON, Feb. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BE OPEN Art, an online art gallery set up by BE OPEN think tank, a humanitarian initiative founded by international philanthropist Elena Baturina, summarized the first month of a new regional competition for emerging artists.

With the beginning of year 2023, BE OPEN expert team started selecting those of the artists who best represent the cultural and artistic identities of the Eastern Mediterranean region. The region that encompasses Cyprus, Turkey, the Greek Dodecanese islands, and the countries of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Egypt is the first stage of the competition that will run for the first three months of the year.

By the majority of votes made by the visitors of BE OPEN Art online gallery in January, the title of Regional Artist of the Month goes to Christina Kyriacou, Cyprus. In 2019, Christina graduated from the Aristotle University, School of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki; in 2022 she was selected to represent Cyprus in the 4th International Art Camp Malta 'Colours for Peace' organised by UNESCO.

Two more Artists of the Month will be selected by the public in February and March, while the winner of the Eastern Mediterranean stage will be chosen out of the three by BE OPEN's expert jury. Each regional winner will be awarded a money prize of 500 euros, while a selection of artwork best representing the region will be publicly exhibited and the artists celebrated.

Each regional stage lasts 3 months, therefore 4 stages will be run a year, with a winner named for each. Next, the focus of the competition will move to the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Central Africa at the end of the year.

The regional competition will run along the regular ongoing work of BE OPEN Art, whose experts select 20 artists every month, using online voting to name the Artist of the Month and the Artist of the Year.

Aiming to showcase and support emerging talents, BE OPEN Art selects artists at an early stage of their career - the project sees its mission in looking for the new influencers in the art scene.

Being featured in BE OPEN Art is an opportunity for the emerging artists around the globe to be seen, and a starting point for connections to be built between the new creators and collectors of today.