The Bread Houses Network started as part of the global network of national networks of community cultural centers called International Council for Cultural Centers (I3C), www.international3c.org, uniting more than 50 countries on 6 continents where people find meaning through social arts and local traditions. Nadezhda Savova, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology at Princeton University, founded I3C during her work as a consultant to UNESCO at the headquarter in Paris, where upon meeting various ministers of culture she realized what was missing is a global organization to unite all the unconnected national association of community arts organizations around the world, dedicated to non professional arts for social transformation. Since its registration as a non-for-profit in 2008, I3C has been recognized at various UNESCO and other UN, EU, and trans-continental conferences as the global network of community arts.

Nadezhda then imagined what could be a universal art forms attractive to all people and she imagine it might be bread-making in a group, since it does not require any talent, education, physical capabilities, not even linguistic proficiency for immigrants! Bread could speak any language!

This is how on May 9th, 2009, Nadezhda ceded her old family house in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, to test a community cultural center, and the vision for it that inspired wide community volunteer support was that the house was to be a place where all could come together around the warmth of a wood-fire oven and make, bake and break bread together! The Bread House in Gabrovo (www.bread-art-house.org), registered already as a cultural center (chitalishte), became an innovative enterprise kneading together the space of a community cultural center and a community bakery, where people engage with art while the bread is being baked in the traditional fire oven