On July 16, the Gyumri: City of Masters festival was held, which hosted a large number of folk masters from different regions of Armenia, as well as CIS countries, bringing bright colors and an indescribably high mood to the city. Sixty stalls were set up, where various works of national crafts and arts were displayed: silversmiths, potters, puppet makers, embroiderers, carpet makers, woodworkers, potters, as well as delicious dishes of the national cuisine.
Armenian was mixed with Russian and Belarusian culture, their national song and dance, as well as string playing. The festival was also accompanied by master classes. Such festivals aim not only to promote the popularization and transmission of intangible cultural heritage of communities, but also to develop cultural tourism in our country.
Astghik Marabyan, head of the Department of Cultural Heritage and Folk Arts of the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, spoke about this in a conversation with journalists. The festival will be organized every year in different communities of Armenia. According to Lilit Tovmasyan, the head of the culture department of the Gyumri municipality, the number of participating masters is much more than the organizers initially planned, the interest was very high.
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“They are mainly craftsmen from Gyumri, but there are also craftsmen who came to Gyumri from various parts of Armenia and communities, who present folk art and handicrafts in all their colors and possible forms of expression,” said Lilit Tovmasyan.
She mentioned that she imagines the development of Gyumri with the development of festival life. “There should be fixed calendar days, both the visitors, the guests, and the residents of the city should know that during that period of the year, on that day of the calendar, they have a specific event to hold. They should invite the guests on that day and this is what awaits them.
Moreover, the festival life should be possible with the manifestation of all genres and in the most diverse ways. You know about the jazz festival, we had a rock festival in the city, there is a classical music festival, this is a folk festival, we are going to have a folk music festival as well. A folk festival, because only with the clarity of fixed festival days and the development of festival life is it possible to keep the rhythm of the pulse that our city lives by today,” said Lilit Tovmasyan.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
