It’s been 2 years since I was appointed as the Director of the Armenian Institute – an immense honour and responsibility. These were difficult, different, wonderful, tiring, rewarding years. We worked through Covid lockdowns, and horrible news about wars and conflicts.
But one thing was clear – people always need arts and culture. There was always a need for a poetry reading, a film screening, a lecture about medieval music, a challenging discussion about human rights and mante recipes.
So we worked. We ran more than 100 events on zoom and in person; catalogued and shelved thousands of books, opened our archives, published 2 magazines, produced podcasts, grew our language classes, wrote blogs, made films, organised film festivals and online concerts.
There were so many moments which were special - impossible to list them all. But a few stand out and will stay with me forever - seeing our first book on WorldCat, Garo Paylan joining us to commemorate Hrant Dink; Ara Dinkjian curating the most beautiful online concert for us; seeing Hratch Martirosyan hugging Acharian’s handwritten dictionary; being so overwhelmed when Anoushka Berberian and Olivia Melkonian made the incredibly emotional Unseen Singers in a day; receiving the valuable Harry Koundakjian archives from his children; one of our supporters telling me ‘I could never imagine an event like this at an Armenian organisation' when we held an discussion about the Queer Armenian Library; receiving a call from the very excited Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian and Sahika Erkonan when they found unpublished translations of Narek in the Kudian archive; my phone ringing nonstop after the success of We Are Our Mountains as our festival’s opening film – and many many more.
But you know what else makes me happy? Raising funds to enable all this work. We are constantly working to receive grants from institutional sources and raise revenue via activities. Still, one of the most critical strands of our income is our followers’ generous donations, (especially with our National Lottery grant ending soon), which support and empower us to make the Armenian culture relevant, exciting and accessible for everyone. So if you liked what the team and I have been doing for the last 2 years, click this link and see how you can be a part of our future and support us.
Tatevik Ayvazyan, Director