Ana Tzarev Announces the Launch of a USD 1 Million Grant to Pratham for Girls' Education

NEW YORK, June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ana Tzarev today announced the establishment of Ana's Children -- a global initiative that funds education for underprivileged girls in the developing world. Ana Tzarev also announced the initiative's first grant will be USD 1 million to Pratham, a non-governmental organization working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India.

Ana's Children is a program established by the artist Ana Tzarev which places a special focus on empowering girls and young women, who, because of economic pressures and social discrimination, struggle to attend and stay in school. Ana's Children works to help young girls overcome the obstacles that Ana Tzarev experienced for much of her early life.

Over the next three years, together with Pratham, Ana's Children will support 10,000 girls to remain in school. Access to quality education yields measurable and significant improvements in the lives of children. This is especially true for young girls, for whom one extra year of secondary schooling can increase average future earnings by almost 20%.

Although India is reaching gender parity in primary school enrolment, girls trail behind at secondary levels. Through the Ana's Children grant, Pratham will reach girls who are either at risk of dropping out of secondary school, or have dropped out recently. The Pratham Open School model is designed to enable children to complete their secondary schooling, making it possible to pursue higher education as well as specialized vocational training.

Announcing the establishment of Ana's Children and its first grant, Ana Tzarev commented: "Women, and young girls especially, have so much light to share with our world today. We need to keep pushing back the boundaries that stifle their brilliance and hide their light. Much of my early life was defined and limited by my gender; I know what it means to have to struggle to get an education, to get the same opportunities in life. I created Ana's Children so that these young girls are able to paint their greatest work of art -- their own life -- with all the opportunities which the world offers."

Dr. Madhav Chavan, CEO and co-Founder of Pratham, commented: "Ana Tzarev has provided a great opportunity and an inspiration to change not just the educational status, but the lives of thousands of girls. Her art will undoubtedly lend a new dimension to our program, which aims to open doors of opportunity for girls. It is because of the contributions and support from people such as Ana Tzarev that our programs were able to reach more than 3 million children in 2011, and continue to reach millions today."

About Ana Tzarev

Ana Tzarev was born in Croatia in 1937, surrounded by the inspiring presence of Renaissance art and the heritage of centuries of deeply rooted culture, but also with the hardships imposed on the region during the Second World War. Her work reveals her formal, classical education and a natural empathy for the dispossessed, but her early struggles have been subjugated to her passion for life, her strength of character and the joy of painting. Tzarev's work is widely recognized for its unique vibrancy of color and abundant use of texture. She has taken a new approach to painting, bringing a freshness and vitality to her canvasses seldom seen in the art world today. Her unique new style builds lush sculptural surfaces that give the total experience of the artist being in the moment, fused with the subject.

In 2012, Ana Tzarev premiered her ongoing global sculptural campaign, entitled Love & Peace, which has garnered worldwide attention and acclaim. Conceived as a conduit for conversation among all people, the massive floral sculptures of Love & Peace have been installed in London, Shenzhen, Rome, Prague, Venice, and New York, with plans to place more of these flowers in cities across the world. Tzarev wishes to foster feelings of unity and the bond of one community through art, in all the diverse ethnic groups that comprise the Earth.

The appeal of Ana Tzarev's vibrant and expressive work is apparent in the breadth of exhibitions that have showcased her art worldwide. Her paintings have been featured in galleries, museums, and public spaces across Europe and Asia, including the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, the Gildo Pastor Centre in Monaco, the Santralistanbul Museum of Contemporary Art in Istanbul, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, the National Museum Palazzo di Venezia in Rome, and the Museo Diocesano di Venezia Sant' Apollonia in Venice where she will be featured in a special solo exhibition during the 55th Venice Biennale, beginning May 2013.

For more information please visit www.anatzarev.com

About Pratham

Pratham is the largest non-governmental organization working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children and youth of India. Established in 1994 to help children in the slums of Mumbai, the initiative has now grown to 17 states of India covering over 150 rural districts and 30 cities.

From 2012 to 2013, Pratham served about 1 million children directly in its Learning Camps and volunteer classes through its Read India program with the goal that every child should be able to read, write and do basic math. Although primary education is the main focus area, Pratham is also growing in the areas of secondary education and vocational skilling.

Pratham has been recognized nationally and internationally for its on-scale work and innovativeness in the field of education. It has been awarded the Kravis Prize for Leadership, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and most recently the WISE Prize 2012 -- known as the Nobel Prize for Education -- was conferred upon its founder-CEO.

For more information visit www.pratham.org

For enquiries please contact

Melanie Hui
Email: mh@anatzarev.com 
Phone: +65-8318-1906

SOURCE Ana Tzarev