Annie Ivanova

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

Ivanova's first academic degree is from the University of Tasmania, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA Hons.) in 1998.

In the late 1980s, Ivanova studied at the Bulgarian National College of Polygraphs and Photography. The college was one of the then most progressive professional schools in the country, preparing students for careers in film and TV. She majored in photography, specializing in photojournalism.[1]

Ivanova is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Australian Institute of International Affairs. She has chaired and produced three major international conferences,[2][3][4] and has been a keynote speaker on wide-ranging Culture & Creative Industries topics.[5]

Ivanova was a co-founder and executive director of the media arts agency Novamedia Ltd.[6][7][8]

In 2012, Australia Unlimited featured Ivanova's blockbuster exhibition 'Wonderland: New Contemporary Art from Australia' at MOCATaipei.[9]

Ivanova is the reportedly first foreign curator to work with the Taiwanese aborigines, researching artists from every tribe.[10] She has become an advocate for the preservation of local indigenous heritage.[11] Her work was recognized in the inaugural Australian Arts in Asia Awards.[12]

In recognition of her cultural work in Taiwan, Ivanova received a scholarship from the Taiwanese government to undertake Chinese Language studies at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei.

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".[13]

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.[14][15][16][17]

Annie Ivanova is the author of "Taiwan by Design: 88 products for better living."[18] The project took two and a half years to complete and ran a successful crowdfunding campaign raising NT 1,500,000.[19][20][21]

Annie Ivanova was born in Tryavna, Bulgaria 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 photographer Oleg Popov. After witnessing the events that led to the collapse of communism in Sofia, she moved to London with the help of a colleague where she studied design at the London College of Fashion.

Ivanova immigrated to Australia in 1994 and identifies herself as an Australian of Bulgarian heritage.[22]

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 "Book of Changes."[23][24][25]