Antoanetta "Annie" Ivanova ( bg, Антоанета Иванова;

Chinese Traditional Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took at ...

: 易安妮 ''Yì Ānnī'') is an Australian

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

Education

Annie Ivanova holds MA qualifications in Foreign Affairs and International Trade from Monash University, Graduate School of Business and Economics in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Ivanova's first academic degree is from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA Hons.) in 1998. In the late 1980s, Ivanova studied at the

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n National College of Polygraphs and Photography. The college was one of the most progressive professional schools in the country at that time, preparing students for careers in film and TV. She majored in photography, specializing in

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

Career

Ivanova is a Fellow of the

Australian Institute of Company Directors The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is a non-profit membership organization for directors. The AICD is a founding member of the Global Network of Director Institutes (GNDI). History The origins of the AICD can be traced ba ...

and

Australian Institute of International Affairs The Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) is an Australian research institute and think tank which focuses on International relations. It publishes the ''Australian Journal of International Affairs''. It is one of the oldest act ...

. She has chaired and produced three major international conferences, and has been a keynote speaker on wide-ranging Culture & Creative Industries topics. Ivanova was a co-founder and executive director of the media arts agency

Novamedia Novamedia was started in 1983 by Boudewijn Poelmann and his wife Annemiek Hoogenboom. In 1989, Poelmann joined forces with Simon Jelsma, Frank Leeman en Herman de Jong to establish the Dutch National Postcode Lottery. In 2002, Novamedia took over ...

Ltd. In 2012, Australia Unlimited featured Ivanova's blockbuster exhibition 'Wonderland: New Contemporary Art from Australia' at MOCATaipei. Ivanova is the reportedly first foreign curator to work with the

Taiwanese aborigines Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

, researching artists from every tribe. She has become an advocate for the preservation of local indigenous heritage. Her work was recognized in the inaugural Australian Arts in Asia Awards. In recognition of her cultural work in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, Ivanova received a scholarship from the Taiwanese government to undertake Chinese Language studies at the

Mandarin Training Center Mandarin Training Center (MTC; ) is one of the world's oldest and most distinguished programs for Chinese as a second language study. It is run by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei, Taiwan and located at NTNU Daan Campus. ...

National Taiwan Normal University National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU; ), or ''Shīdà'' is an institution of higher education and normal school operating out of three campuses in Taipei, Taiwan. NTNU is the leading research institute in such disciplines as Education and Lin ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. In 2016, Annie Ivanova became the first cultural representative to receive the ANZ Chamber of Commerce Business Award for "outstanding contribution the Australia-Taiwan Relationship". Annie Ivanova is also the Regional President of Asia Designer Communication Platform, which helps designers show their work and has held events in cities within Asia. Annie Ivanova is the author of "Taiwan by Design: 88 products for better living." The project took two and a half years to complete and ran a successful

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign raising NT 1,500,000.

Personal life

Annie Ivanova was born in

Tryavna Tryavna ( bg, Трявна ) is a town in central Bulgaria, situated in the northern slopes of the Balkan range, on the Tryavna river valley, near Gabrovo. It is famous for its textile industry and typical National Revival architecture, featuring ...

to an artistic family. Her father was an industrial designer and her mother drama teacher. During the 1989 revolution Ivanova worked as a junior reporter, assisting

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

photographer Oleg Popov. After witnessing the events that led to the collapse of communism in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, she moved to London with the help of a colleague where she studied design at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, in London, England. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses, study abroad courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therap ...

. Ivanova immigrated to Australia in 1994 and identifies herself as an Australian of Bulgarian heritage. Following long term interests in Asian culture, since 2010 she has been living between Melbourne and Taipei. The Chinese name given to her by a friend is 易安妮 (Yì Ānnī) and was reportedly taken from the character in

I-Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou ...

"Book of Changes."

Significant exhibitions

International curator-in-residence

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanova, Annie Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century births Australian curators Australian expatriates in Taiwan Bulgarian emigrants to Australia Bulgarian expatriates in Australia Eastern Orthodox Christians from Australia Eastern Orthodox Christians from Bulgaria Fellows of the Australian Institute of Company Directors People from Melbourne People from Tryavna University of Tasmania alumni Australian women curators