Music Department. The beginning of Music Department goes back to 1948 with the founding of the academic music research institute with a museum. The first members were Petko Stainov and Andrei Stoyanov. The first director was Acad. Petko Stainov; the first regular staff member: Ivan Kachulev (since 1950). Initially the institute has two departments: one of folk music and another for academic research and publications. During the years some very famous Bulgarian scientists work at the Music Institute: Raina Katzarova, Elena Stoin, Nikolai Kaufman, Andrei Andreev, Venelin Krastev, Stoyan Stoyanov, Todor Dzhidzhev, Agapia Balareva, Gencho Gaitandzhiev, Elena Kuteva, Bozhidar Spasov, Mikhail Bukureshliev, Vergilii Atanasov, Lilyana Vitanova-Staleva, Anna Ilieva, Violeta Konsulova, Ilia Manolov, Leon Moskona, Dimitrina Kaufman. Until 1988 the Music Institute was part of the Academic Society for Art Studies which included three additional institutes: The Institute of Art Studies, Folklore Institute, Institute for Theory and History of Urban Planning and Architecture. During that same year with a decree of the Council of Ministers the Music Institute and the InstituteArt StudiesInstituteArt Studies. of merge: the Institute on Problems of Art Studies is created which later is renamed to Institute of Art Studies.
Fine Arts Department. The Fine Arts Department was founded in 1948 when a group of academicians initiated the beginning of the Institute for Fine Arts at the Arts and Culture Sector of the BAS : Acad. Ivan Lazarov, Acad. Stephan Ivanov, Acad. Nikolay Rainov and Acad. Alexander Bozhinov. In the 50s the academic research centred mainly on the history and theory of Bulgarian fine art. Collaborators were some of the most important figures in Bulgarian art studies. Later the research scopes was widened and at the Institute of Art Studies now work art historians and critics specializing in different periods of art: Antiquity, Meddle Ages, Renaissance, modern art.
Theater Department. The Theater Department began to function in 1963 when as small academic group for specialized theatrical and film studies in the framework of the Institute of Fine Arts. The first full time collaborators were Nevyana Indzieva, Lada Paneva, Alexander Alexandrov, Chavdar Dobrev. From 1966 till 1973 there is a separate department ‘History and Theory of Bulgarian Theater and Cinema’. Head of Departments were Prof. Gocho Gochev (from 1966 till 1981), Prof. Nevyana Indjeva (from 1982 till 1989) and Prof. DSc Vasil Stefanov (from 1989 till the beginning of 2006). Initially the small group of scientists and later the department laid the grounds of the scientific study of the history of the Bulgarian theater. Discussed were also the theoretical problems of the aesthetic of theater. The department was founded by some of the most noted Bulgarian theater critics, representatives of different creative generations – Prof. Gocho Gochev, Prof. Ljubomir Tenev, Prof. Nevyana Indjieva, Prof. Chavdar Dobrev, Prof. Georgi Saev, Prof. Stephan Tanev, Prof. Vasil Stefanov, Ass. Prof. Dr. Kristina Tosheva, Josef Konforti, Prof. Margarita Bradistilova, Ass. Prof. Liliana Stancheva, Yana Mutafchieva, Prof. Vladislav Todorov, Prof. Elena Vladova, etc.
Screen Arts Department. The Screen Arts Department was founded in 1973. Its main academic fields of studies are: film studies and media studies, history and theory of audiovisual arts – cinema, television, video, history and theory of mass media, modern technologies in audiovisual arts, documentation and information archives about screen arts in Bulgaria. The subject of scientific research in the sphere of film studies and media studies are among the most dynamically developing spheres in modern society and are inseparable part of the contemporary cultural processes.The researchers working in the department of Screen Arts are members of international professional organizations and institutions, such as FIPRESCI, the Society of Animation Studies (with a head office in California – USA), the European Cultural Center (with a head office in Geneva), etc. Numerous research studies and monographs by the members of the Department have been published in Bulgaria and abroad during the last decade.
