Today, the National Academy of Art (NHA) is opening its ninth academic year at its Burgas branch, held at the school building in the Burgas Port Complex. The academy announced the news.

The date also marks another milestone – 130 years since the founding of the National Academy of Art as the State Drawing School in 1896.

Rector Prof. Georgi Yankov will greet students, faculty, and guests to mark the start of the year. Prof. Svetozar Benchev, head of the Burgas branch, will hand out student ID booklets to first-year students in the bachelor's and master's programs.

As is tradition, the ceremony will include a solemn water-blessing ritual. Music will be provided by graduates of the "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" National School of Music and Stage Art in Burgas.

Following the Burgas event, the official ceremony will take place at the National Academy of Art's main building in Sofia on September 28. There, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Regina Dalkalacheva, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, and Prof. Dr. Arsen Minkov, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Arts and Design, will present the student booklets to first-year bachelor's students.

The National Academy of Art's Burgas branch has been operating since 2018, after the Council of Ministers decided to open it under a decree issued on January 31 of that year.