Creative Armenia and Ucom celebrate Armenia’s creative future
President Sarkissian, Lilit Makunts join hundreds of artists to honor challenge winners and launch the Creative Armenia Network
April 29, 2019 | by Creative Armenia
The President of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sarkissian, Nouneh Sarkissian, and Lilit Makunts joined more than a hundred emerging musicians, filmmakers, writers, and artists at Pahest33 in Yerevan for a celebration of Armenia’s cultural future. The event, hosted by Ucom, served as a launching pad for Creative Armenia’s new programs and opportunities for Armenian artists.
“We are proud of our new partnership with Ucom,” said Creative Armenia’s founding director Garin Hovannisian. “Together with our founding partner JHM Foundation, strategic partner AGBU, and cultural allies across the world, we are developing a cultural coalition that will empower Armenian creativity for generations to come. Ucom joins us as our communication and digital partner to ensure that Armenia’s creative voices can reach global platforms and audiences.”
In addition to honoring the recipients of the Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellowships and the East-West Residency at the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels, the gathering celebrated the more than 100 artists of the Creative Armenia Network, a new program which offers creative minds a wealth of opportunities to receive funding, industry connections, and promotion. This growing community, powered by the JHM Foundation, offers the first global support system for Armenian artists.
Thereafter, Ucom announced the much-anticipated winner of the Art of Shadows photography competition. “There were so many submissions from across the globe,” said Ucom Director General Hayk Yesayan, as he awarded the $2,000 top prize. “But Tigran Madoyan’s photograph stood out as an example of genuine creativity and taste.”
As one competition closed, another was opened. Creative Armenia and Ucom announced their new Movie Poster challenge for designers. With a June 30 deadline and a $2,000 top prize, the competition invites designers to submit a poster for a fictional movie called Creative Armenia. For complete rules and regulations, visit creativearmenia.org/challenges.
But the evening wasn’t over. President Sarkissian took the podium one last time and surprised the artists with the announcement that he would 1) open the presidential gardens to an annual Creative Armenia Day and 2) host a prize, on behalf of Armen and Nouneh Sarkissian, in partnership with Creative Armenia.
