LUGANO, Switzerland, Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ --BE OPEN Art, an online gallery set up by Elena Baturina's humanitarian think-tank BE OPEN, continues to run BE OPEN Regional Art for the fourth year in 2026. The regional competition for emerging artists aims to support those whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities, for the third year now.
For the purpose, the BE OPEN expert community selects those artists who best represent the artistic tradition of a certain region to feature in the BE OPEN Art gallery and offer them greater visibility. Thus, artworks by 20 new emerging artists appear in the online gallery every month, and a public vote selects the Regional Artist of the Month. At the end of the stage, one of the monthly winners gets the title of the Artist of the Region and a grant based on the amount of votes by the public and the BE OPEN art community members.
From January to April 2026, the competition will explore art of Northeastern Africa, featuring artists from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Egypt and Madagascar.
In 2026, each regional stage will last 4 months, with a winner named and awarded €500 euro at the end of month four. Additionally, the Founder's favourite will be awarded €300. Elena Baturina explains that "the regional competitions help us support even more young people. We hope that these additional resources will assist them in their continued pursuit of a successful career in the arts."
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.
Aiming to support emerging talent, BE OPEN Art selects artists at an early stage of their career who emphasize social consciousness and aesthetical solutions to the wrongs of the contemporary world. The project sees its mission in looking for new influencers in the art scene, and invites everyone to contribute.
BE OPEN is a global initiative to foster creativity and innovation, promote people and ideas today to build solutions for tomorrow. It is a cultural and social initiative supported by Austria-based international philanthropist and businessperson Elena Baturina.
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