Ard Yevs. The Armenian Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is launching a new grant program to encourage cultural creativity in Western Armenian. The aim of this new initiative is to strengthen the intrinsic and authentic bond between language and culture: Western Armenian is the primary medium of creation.
Cultures and identities are always evolving and changing, especially in the reality of the diaspora. Each generation creates its own cultural reality, building on the achievements and experiences of those before it. The Foundation wishes to foster these currents of development, renewal and (re)construction of identity, offering the opportunity for Armenian creative minds to express themselves in any form, on subjects relevant to their own realities.
There is an urgent need to develop a vibrant and contemporary culture in Western Armenian. The first prerequisite for ensuring the vitality of an endangered language is to create culture through it — culture that is relevant to young people and created by them. The Armenian language and culture cannot remain insulated from international currents, especially as we witness daily shifts in global power dynamics, rapid technological innovations, environmental disasters and the evolution of identities. The imperative to connect language and culture with the world will keep them vital and relevant.
The Ard Yevs program will stimulate creative minds to produce cultural modernity and develop innovative initiatives conceived in Western Armenian.
The Ard Yevs program encourages any creative practice, expression or presentation in which language is the essential factor. Projects may be interdisciplinary and may employ various means of expression, including literature, music, visual arts, innovative broadcasts, as well as any other medium of expression.
For further information, visit: https://gulbenkian.pt/armenian-communities/ .
