LUGANO, Switzerland, Jan. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Art Limitless is a new programme within the BE OPEN Art online gallery tailored specifically to display the competitions, webinars, master-classes and other sources of knowledge and guidance on sustainability in arts.
In 2025, the Art Limitless project within BE OPEN Art has been dedicated to inclusivity in arts. For the Art Limitless Competition, from May to October 2025, BE OPEN expert community have been researching and selecting artwork by artists with disabilities that demonstrate the beneficial power of creativity and inclusivity.
Selected artwork has been posted at the online gallery every month, and a public vote helped select the Artist of the Month. One of them has now become the winner based on the amount of votes by the public and the BE OPEN art community members. Our congratulations and the 1000 euro grant go to Ash Milne, a multidisciplinary artist whose work centers on themes of identity, self-acceptance, and queer joy. Their high-contrast paintings challenge societal norms and advocate for the visibility of marginalized bodies and experiences. They are currently studying at Sheridan's Visual and Creative Arts program, class of 2025.
The artist who will receive the 500 euro as the winner of the Founder's choice grant is Fotini Michalidi, a visual artist and curator from Cyprus. Her multidisciplinary practice explores themes of embodiment, memory, and identity through painting, installation, and collaborative projects. As a disabled artist and board member of the Cyprus Myopathy Association, Fotini uses her work to challenge societal perceptions of disability and advocate for greater inclusivity in the arts.
An online public vote has selected another grantee - 300 euro will go to Alexis Neumann, a US artist, scholar, and curator whose interactive installations and mixed media works explore the intersections of Disability Studies, Theology, and Intersectionality. Drawing on her lived experience with multiple invisible illnesses, her practice centers themes of interconnectedness, resiliency, and complexity within the body and the world.
BE OPEN Founder Elena Baturina commented on the outcome of the project: "As an important artistic tool, inclusive arts can help people realize their creative potential, enable self-advocacy among people with disabilities, raise awareness and empathy, improve communication and inspire a positive change. For BE OPEN, supporting inclusive artists means providing new perspectives and visions of and for the society. We hope that these grants will empower artists to keep dreaming, to keep creating, and to keep following their hearts, while involving the audiences in a meaningful and much needed dialogue."
BE OPEN will continue exploring the topic of sustainable art in 2026 with a programme dedicated to sustainable ways of art-making.
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