Armine Avetisyan

Dialogue in Motion ber_A_ber

Gyumrie, Arménie → Kars, Turquie (2010)

Théâtre, interdisciplinaire

Pouvez-vous expliquer comment cette bourse a contribué à la réalisation de vos projets d’échanges artistiques et/ou de développement culturel local et/ou de promotion de la diversité culturelle ?
It’s an audio-visual workshop and documentary shooting to create a platform for the youth of the two border cities to meet their peers from the other side of the border, to get artistic intercultural education thus sustaining the recognition and dialogue in between the conflicting societies. During the visit to Kars I met my main partner of ber_A_ber project Ozge Celikaslan from Koza Visual Audiovisual research group based in Ankara, Turkey. Together we specified the short and long-term strategy for the project implementation depending of the financial flows available. We have also met local Kars-based NGOs and cultural operators, including Community Volunteers Foundation (representatives in Kars), Kars Art Center, Ihsan Karayazi (MDG-F Alliances for Cultural Tourism in Eastern Anatolia Project, UNDP), Municipality of Kars. Together with the entities and people we met, we have developed the logistical and conceptual details of the project: recruiting the participants, creating the communication plan, logistics and technical equipment, etc. A month after the visit to Kars the first phase of the project has been implemented in Kars and Gyumri.

Qu’apportent l’échange, les réseaux et les contacts à l’international pour le développement de votre activité artistique ou culturelle ?
The region where I come from – Armenia with its neighbors (Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran- is the place where the cultural and artistic processes just started to emerge (with some precautions this is true for all the countries listed). So far supporting any initiatives stimulating the artistic exchange between those states and with the Europe is vitally important for the for our communities. I would desire to see more stimulation of the artist and cultural communities for contact, exchange and common creativity, which I believe the best way for reconsolidating our conflicting societies.

Pouvez vous élaborer sur l’apprentissage et les connaissances que vous avez obtenu / partagé à travers cette expérience ?
Meeting with our partner in Kars will provide a solid background not only for this particular project but also for further going cultural cooperation. During the meeting all the details were elaborated for the best implementation of the project. Moreover, life shows that correctly built partnership through meetings of the partners face to face and discussing things openly can guarantee the success of the cooperative initiatives and long-term partnership. The project that we will put together and will implement in Gyumri (Armenia) and Kars (Turkey) – the border cities which are far from central cities and cultural mainstreams, will provide platform for the youth of these cities to receive art education, have possibility for collective creativity, experience communication and work with the international experts, open up their horizon, etc. The cultural cooperation established during the project will also stimulate the cultural development of the region.