Transforming societies through arts.

Belgrade Opera Foundation (“BOF”) was founded in 2011 by a group of students from Boston schools (Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern University) with the mission to support transitioning societies through promotion and support to the arts.

Our goal is to provide assistance and create opportunities for artists and communities around the world to express their creativity, promote community dialogue, and encourage civic work.

Free expression of artists is a key to bringing innovation and pushing societies forward.

The BOF is based in California and is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Why should we support ART?

    • Art stimulates creativity and innovation in society
    • Art gives every individual a unique and rich identity
    • Art gives distinctiveness to a community
    • Art makes us more human
    • Art brings people closer
    • Art connects us to the rest of the world
    • Art is a universal language
    • Art inspires us and gives us hope that we have the power to improve our world

     

  • BOF supports ideas, initiatives and projects that have measurable, clear and positive impact on local communities.  By supporting the BOF,  you are becoming an integral part of the BOF fabric and are making a direct contribution to our success.  Some of the programs the BOF initiated and supports are:

    • BOF supports performing arts in Serbia by providing financial assistance to art organizations that work with artists to ensure artists have tools necessary to succeed
    • BOF gives preference to requests for sheet music, materials for sets and costumes for scheduled performance.  The preference for these types of funding requests reflects the BOF’s limited resources
    • By making grants for items such as sheet music, materials for sets and costumes, the BOF provides support that directly facilitates the accomplishments of the specific artistic mission

  • Donor Impact

    • $10 – supports one music lesson (piano, violin, cello, flute, piccolo…)
    • $50 – supports purchase of art supplies
    • $100 – supports “Promoting local culture and art scene through Active Life/Healthy Life program”
      • Motivate seniors and local communities to be more active and to learn about the local culture and art scene
        • $40 – local art teacher/art student
        • $60 – two athletic coaches
    • $200 – supports one month of afterschool art classes for one student
    • $300 – supports a Teacher Choice project for an entire classroom
    • $400 – supports the program of connecting the power of music and art in making the difference in life and memory of senior people living in public retirement homes (program is based on the Sydney Opera House pilot program launched in 2020)
    • $500 – supports an independent artist/arts worker affected by the current situation with one-time Relief Assistance
    • $3,000 – supports annual tuition for an art student in Belgrade
    • $30,000 – $80,000 – supports underwriting of a theatrical play
    • $150,000 – supports underwriting of an opera play

  • Future Art Complex

    • The BOF supports the city of Belgrade to develop a multifunctional complex to house opera, ballet and orchestral organizations
      • The ultimate goal of this endeavor is to create an environment where every child in Serbia can be exposed to art and to have an opportunity to create art: to draw, to sing, to play instruments, to dance and to write
      • The art complex will promote international exchange of artists and boost innovation, audience development and new business models
      • Work with city’s representatives and the Belgrade’s Faculty of Architecture to launch an international competition for a conceptual architectural solution
      • Launch a 10-year fundraising campaign once the future site and conceptual design have been selected

Belgrade Opera

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

Pablo Picasso

We have a dream. The future art complex is a crown symbol of our effort to provide a home and supportive environment to arts in transitioning societies.

This project is not just about creating a building; it is about changing a national perspective.

The new multifunctional arts complex, with its performances, workshops, plays, and exhibitions will act as a catalyst to inspire and to encourage new generations to create and innovate.

At the same time, it will open a new chapter for the entire region of South-Eastern Europe, demonstrating its capacity to overcome the burdens of the past and build a better future together.

While building of Belgrade Opera is our guiding long-term mission, on a day-to-day basis our focus is on helping artists and supporting local cultures and communities to not only survive economic and political challenges, but thrive and inspire the entire societies.

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

Pablo Picasso

Friends of
the Foundation

Morris Soued

Boston University Alumni
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Ozren Zagmester

Boston University Alumni
Zagreb, Croatia

Basar Ulusoy

Boston University Alumni
Istanbul, Turkey

Summer Nasief

Boston University Alumni
Dubai, UAE

Monica Yaputra

Boston University and Boston College Alumni
Jakarta, Indonesia

Arman Argingazin

Boston University Alumni
Almaty, Kazakhstan

Ljubomir Djurovic

Boston College and Bentley College Alumni
Belgrade, Serbia

Bojan Mitic

Santa Monica College and John Cabot University Alumni
Belgrade, Serbia

Alex Micic

University of Arkansas and Columbia Business School Alumni
Los Angeles, California

Mihael Milunovic

Artist
Paris, France

Fundraising
Goals 2022

50+
new annual donors

The power
of art

Art has the power to build the future, transform societies and bring people closer.

It knows no boundaries.

Freedom of artistic expression is one of the basic human needs that makes us grow as individuals and inspires us to see the world and our role in it differently, as active creators of reality.

That is why by supporting the arts today, we support the future wellbeing of entire societies.

“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.”

John F. Kennedy