Arts & Culture

Jazz and Armenia have a complicated history. From its early beginnings under Soviet rule to contemporary interpretations of jazz, the genre is part of the fabric of Armenian cultural life.

In the context of autocratic, oligarchic or committedly neo-liberal regimes which continually propagate a coercive and incarcerating model of urban planning, the multiplication of such spaces as the 2800th Anniversary Park of Yerevan is organic, writes Vigen Galstyan.

Nora, a 94 year old refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan no longer wants to show her face to the world. Her forced exile following the pogroms against the Armenians 29 years ago has left her paranoid and yet as strange as it may sound, somehow hopeful.

This year, more than 60 percent of submissions to the Golden Apricot Film Festival (GAIFF) feature women directors, while the global average of female directors is a dismal 7 percent. GAIFF has organically found itself in a situation many European film festivals and international organizations dream of being in, writes Karen Avetisyan.

The fire that severely damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris highlighted how indispensable art is for humanity and exposed the fragility of all cultural legacy. It also indicated the profoundly unbalanced ways through which the global community has come to evaluate the intellectual production of different cultures and nations.

A family dispute left Emma Sahakyan homeless. After failing to find justice, she has staged a protest in front of the President’s office on Baghramyan Avenue for the past seven years.

Artistic Director of the Hover State Chamber Choir and first woman Rector of the Yerevan State Conservatory, Sona Hovhannisyan is a trailblazer who lives, exists and creates between sweeping times of change and transformation.

Western Armenian writer and editor Mari Beylerian perished during the 1915 Armenian Genocide. While there is scarce information about her life, she left behind the legacy of Ardemis, a monthly magazine published in Egypt and devoted to women’s rights.

An artistic collaboration spanning continents and generations is attempting to turn stories into colorful murals throughout rural communities in Armenia.

Armenian culture and tradition, once subsumed into Byzantine or medieval studies, now has its own separate but important place in the history of art and civilization along with others such as Venice, Rome, and Greece thanks to a groundbreaking exhibition entitled Armenia! at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.