With the beginning of year 2023, BE OPEN expert community team started selecting those of the artists who best represent the artistic tradition of a certain region to feature in the BE OPEN Art gallery and offer them greater visibility.
The fourth stage of the programme this year covers the countries of Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic – Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé & Principe.
The stage will last three months, and the reginal winner will be named and awarded 500 euro at the end of the year. In the meantime, artworks by 20 emerging artists from the listed countries will be posted at the online gallery every month, and a public vote will select the Regional Artist of the Month. At the end of the stage, one of the monthly winners will become the Artist of the Region, based on the amount of votes by the public and the BE OPEN art community members.
There have been three regional winners in the programme so far. The first stage of BE OPEN Regional Art was dedicated to the art of the Eastern Mediterranean. A selection of works formed an exhibition that was held in June 2023 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The second stage celebrated the artists of the Caribbean; the third was focused on Southeast Asia.
The regional competition runs alongside the regular ongoing work of BE OPEN Art, whose experts every month select 20 new artists for the gallery, using online voting to name the Artist of the Month and the Artist of the Year.