New Armenian voices in creating culture

In View (Image by Silvina Der Meguerditchian)

արդ եւս|in view is the only grant program dedicated to cultural creativity in the Western Armenian language.

Culture constitutes an essential resource for the development of a language and a people. Culture, as well as heritage, are vehicles for identities and values, and should be used to build stronger and wider frameworks promoting long-term, people-centered and climate-resilient development paradigms.

As a medium for _expression_, communication and reflection, culture plays a crucial role in provoking thought and inspiring action, thus shaping and renewing itself constantly. It highlights truths, inspires resilience, builds new narratives, challenges norms and sparks social change. Cultural and artistic practices have helped address issues such as inequality, corruption and discrimination, and have acted as catalysts for change. As a powerful medium for raising awareness, it is imperative to use culture and the arts to trigger engagement with local and global issues in the Armenian language for the benefit of the Armenian people.

The driving forces behind positive social change are ideas and actions with real-world implications. Culture accelerates resilience and rootedness, enabling participation and community empowerment; through արդ եւս|in view, the Armenian Communities Department is creating the conditions wherein it will be possible to achieve this in the Armenian world and in the Armenian language.

This year, the արդ եւս|in view Western Armenian culture grant program will enhance the immense potential that culture has to influence, challenge and transform society, at the same time bringing renewal to the language through which it is transmitted and to culture itself. The Western Armenian language will be used to create culture that is a driver for sustainable progress, a source of meaning and vitality, a wellspring of creativity and a resource to address challenges. The aim is to have a vibrant Armenian language and culture, and stronger communities, institutions and individuals around the world.

For more information, visit the grant page and read the call for applications. The deadline for applications is Jan. 31, 2024.




Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS