The meetings between the first person of the country and the intelligentsia (actors of culture, art) have always passed under the same scenario. In autumn, 1993, I was present at the meeting of the first president of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian and the intelligentsia, about which newspaper “Yerkir” (The Earth) wrote an article entitled: “President-Intelligentsia – 0:0”, on the next day. Since that moment, nothing has changed essentially. (What it was like before that, I do not know, but I suppose that in the “Central Committees” (of the USSR) the intelligentsia was speaking the same.)
The 3 main topics of suchlike meetings are: 1. Flatter, 2. Asking money for personal projects, 3. Giving others away – with “why do you allow this shame?” contradictory intonation.
Not addressing the first two “directions”, I want to say two words about the Soviet habit of applying to the “bosses” and thereby solving cultural issues. The culture should not be “managed” by the state. Not a sole president, prime minister or a minister should allow or ban anything. I think, that they should express their personal opinion very cautiously, inasmuch as in our country it can be viewed as an order: the assessment of a high ranked person in France of Germany on this or that performance, painting and TV program will not have any “organizational” consequence, within us – it can, for now.
The mentality of our cultural actors is very similar to the approaches of the main character of a wonderful Soviet comedy, “Carnival Nights”, Ogurtsov, who believed, that the culture should be “steered” by bureaucratic instructions. If it was funny in 1956, then in 2018 it is even not funny. For dozens of years the cultural concerns of those people are limited by: “oh, those low-class TV series” or “oh, those rabises” exclamations.
Meanwhile the true worker of the culture thinks of not criticizing the bad, but creating good within the limits of his/her strength. I have never heard Tigran Mansuryan complaining of TV series or rabises at all, moreover, complaining of them to the leaders of the country.
In short, this format of the meeting is not meaningful. Which is the correct format, I do not know. A thing is evident – the age census of the “cultural actors” participating in the meeting should be reduced by some 20 years. Otherwise, the majority of the “actors” are 50 plus people. It is good that the Minister is young, at least.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
