Armenia: celebrating local culture in Ijevan with EU support

Ijevan Municipality in Armenia last week organised a two-day cultural community festival, with the support of the EU4Culture project. The event sought to celebrate the city’s cultural heritage, community spirit, and innovation, and to reflect the achievements of the city’s Cultural Development Strategy, funded by the EU through EU4Culture. 

On the first day of the festival, local businesses and craftsmen exhibited their work at a craft market. There was also a trip to the nearby village of Lusahovit which hosted a series of cultural masterclasses, performances, a movie screening, and traditional games from the Tavush region. 

Next day, the Ijevan municipality organised a trip to village of Sevkar, where local communities exhibited the harvest and handicrafts along with a tightrope walker and theatre performance and the Varvadar water splashing festivities – a uniquely Armenian tradition. 

Ijevan was selected under the EU4Culture project to receive a €300,000 EU support package to implement its Cultural Development Strategy. Local communities taking part in the festival are among the beneficiaries of the strategy. Through training modules, cultural grants, improved access to market, and cultural community events, hundreds of the city’s local creatives are now better equipped to support the development of their creative industries as an engine of economic growth. 

Through the EU’s support, EU4Culture has also provided mobility grants to 60 Armenian creatives to support them in expanding their professional networks and knowledge, as well as bringing innovative initiatives to fruition in and beyond the country. With project implementation grants, the EU4Culture project also supported the country’s artists and cultural professionals in implementing three cultural and cross-innovation initiatives in regional cities of Armenia, in line with their Cultural Development Strategies. 

With a budget of €7.85 million, EU4Culture is a four-year project funded by the European Union to support the culture and creative sector with a special focus on non-capital cities and towns in the Eastern Partnership Countries. The project is implemented by Goethe-Institut (Lead), Czech Centres, Danish Cultural Institute, and Institut Français de Géorgie. 

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