Supported by the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the presentation of the program “The Birth of Crafts” was held at Hovhannes Sharambeyan Museum of Folk Art.
ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan and Deputy Minister Alfred Kocharyan attended the event.
As part of the project, 6 short animation films were created, which depict the crafts used in Armenia from ancient times to the present day: rug and carpet weaving, embroidery and lace making, felting, pottery, blacksmithing, and woodworking.
ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan thanked the participating structures, groups and individuals for the outstanding effort: “Work is successful when a healthy creative environment is provided in which everyone is concerned about a good outcome. The result of this project requires the field to remain consistently in the spotlight, disseminating knowledge about folk art on both international platforms and among the general public. The program can also serve as an outstanding educational resource for schools. This will enhance the visibility and comprehension of textbook knowledge for our children. I would like to express my special gratitude to our folk artists, whose work we must make visible. I am glad that thanks to the successful collaboration with the museum, their work is gaining value and significance.”
Zhanna Andreasyan emphasized that the Ministry is willing to promote concepts meant to disseminate and popularize the national.
The film series is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and is represented under the UNESCO logo.
Specialists of the “Invisible Friends” animation studio from different countries worked on creating bilingual films in Armenian and English: Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Israel, and France.
When producing the visual content for the films, both the collections of Hovhannes Sharambeyan Museum of Folk Art and the History Museum of Armenia, along with the personal archives of individual masters were used.
As part of the event, the ceremony of cutting a carpet of the Khndzoresk type dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the Museum was also held. It was weaved by Margarita Khachyan, forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, who has been working at the Museum of Folk Art since 2023. The newly created museum choir “Manel” also performed at the event.
Accompanied by Museum Director Lusine Toroyan, Minister Zhanna Andreasyan toured the museum and got acquainted with the main exhibits, temporary exhibitions and educational programs.