24 culture news headlines from 6 countries in November

The latest arts and culture news from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Armenia

Culture minister initiated the creation of pan-Armenian symphony orchestra. Armen Amiryan shared this idea with Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan while presenting a report on the development of Armenian culture domestically and abroad and received his support. A newly founded pan-Armenian symphony orchestra will include Armenian compatriots from around the world. Its first concert is planned for 24 April 2017 in Yerevan. News.am

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Paintings of Armenian students are being exhibited in Munich. Painting are features at the group exhibition of professional artists organized by ArtNations, an international non-governmental charitable association. According to the report, works of Armenian students have attracted many visitors and are not inferior to the paintings of professional artists. Panorama.am

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Author of books about culture: creative ideas should go beyond the borders. Lidia Varbanova emphasized during the training within the framework of Culture and Creativity workshop with the support of British Embassy as part of EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme that creative and innovative ideas are very different. “For the innovative projects and organizations it is important that artists and cultural managers need to look “beyond the box,” to explore the uniqueness of the local resources, to explore the trends and opportunities in the society,” Varbanova noted. Civilnet.am

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Azerbaijan 

Azerbaijan took part at “World civilisations and creative tourism” congress. The congress took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 29 November till 1 December. Nazim Samedovdeputy culture and tourism minister, lead the Azerbaijani delegation. Participants addressed on how tourism can bring world civilisations to life through the collaboration with creative industries. Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan

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Paris hosted a presentation of “The Dreamlife of Yvonne Botto” book. The presentation was organised by a Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO and the European Azerbaijan Society and took place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Yvonne Botto is a French woman who had left her native country during the Second World War and chose hardships to be side by side with her Azerbaijani husband, a prisoner of war. Azertac 

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Estonian expert: “We are going to develop Azerbaijani film industry together”. Ragnar Siil, an expert of the EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme, stressed in an interview with vesti.azthat the Programme will cooperate with Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan to support the cultural development of Azerbaijani society. In this regard, film industry was named as a priority. vesti.az

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Azerbaijan developed dramatically since soviet times, expert says. In a conversation with vesti.az, Simon Ellis, an expert of the EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme, expressed his fascination by social and economic development Azerbaijan had after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, he noted, there was no such progress in cultural sphere, which remains a second-tier priority for the government. vesti.az

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How cultural projects can apply for support from Creative Europe Programme. Egle Deltuvaite, head of the Creative Europe Lithuania Desk, and Tarlan Rasulov, Azerbaijani culture expert, explained that it is vital to explain one’s idea as clearly as possible. However, they say, only one of ten genius ideas receive financing, so failure should not demotivate—it should encourage to craft a better application next time. vesti.az

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Jewelry brand could become an element of creative industries in Azerbaijan. Rеsm jewelry brand was founded four years ago and has become well known in Azerbaijan and beyond, 1news.az reports. Rasmina Gurbatova, the creator of the brand, said that she had such a success because she managed to combine culture and business. This is another proof to the fact that globalization and digital technologies has created a new type of economy—creative economy. 1news.az

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Belarus

Manager of educational project on how to talk with children about contemporary art. Sofia Sadovskaya, who is a manager of “Ў” Gallery of contemporary art, stressed in an interview that almost any artist can be presented in a way to be interesting to a child. “Children are fascinated by art. For example, kids like les Fauves – bright colours, clear forms, as well as the work of Marc Chagall – it is fabulous and there is a lot of magic in his works,” Sadovskaya pointed out. EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme

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Belarus’ culture minister: Belarusian choreography is gaining more admirers. Boris Svetlov noted at the opening of the 29th International Festival of Modern Choreography IFMC 2016 in Vitebsk that the festival that has brought together dance companies from nine countries from Europe and beyond. The festival was founded by Belarus' Culture Ministry, the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater, the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee and Vitebsk City Hall. BelTA

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Culture is becoming a part of economy, Tim Williams says. Team leader of the EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme stressed in a conversation with citydog.by that creative industries have already been structured and develop independently. According to him, creative industries should be independent from the state; they prosper when they are free. citydog.by

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Belarussian start-uppers on how to launch creative spaces. Margarita and Denis Lazarenkov noted that in order to create a unique atmosphere in creative space, its creators should not use common materials and furniture; one should follow a DIY (do it yourself) path. Another vital aspect is location—creative space should be situated near the city centre, but as far from competitors as possible, Lazarenkov say. Tut.by

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Georgia

Tim Williams: Creativity will be the key to a successful economy. EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme Team Leader noted that Georgia needs to think about investment and training programmes. In this regard he stressed that Creative Georgia Forum organized by Culture and Creativity Programme has the potential to be a launchpad for the recognition of the potential of creative industries in Georgia, the South Caucasus region and wider. EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme

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Ragnar Siil: Creative Georgia Forum will be essential for both Georgia and EaP region. Sharing his expectations about forthcoming Creative Georgia Forum, Ragnar Siil, culture and creative industries expert of the EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme, points at the fact that the event will be important for the country and Eastern Partnership as a whole. According to Siil, Forum will act as “a platform to raise awareness about the role of culture and creativity in local and regional development.” Concerning how EaP could benefit from the event, the expert says it may become “a launching platform for discussing how countries could develop joint programmes, bilateral and multilateral initiatives to support exchange of professionals and clustering of creative companies.”. EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme

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Culture experts shared their expectations from the upcoming Creative Georgia Forum. All the experts who spoke to EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme agree that the Forum could provide a major boost for the development of Georgia’s creative industries. Jaanus Juss, the CEO of Telliskivi Creative Citynoted that it would be impossible to tell what Georgia will need to do to implement fully its creative potential without knowing the current status of Georgia’s creative industriesCristina Farinha, a freelance policy expert from Portugal, pointed out that Forum will be a unique moment to discuss and connect with diverse stakeholders interested and acting in the sector and region. All the experts are excited to take part in the Forum, as it will push the development of creative sector which is one of the most dynamic ones worldwideEU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme

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Lithuanian artist conducted an exhibition at Tbilisi History Museum. A personal exhibition of Aidas Rytis Vasiliauskas titled “Pulses of Creation” was offered to all the visitors from 19 to 26 November. The exhibition in Tbilisi was organized in cooperation with the Embassy of Lithuania in Georgia.  “Pulses of Creation” will also be on display in Batumi later this year. Georgia Today

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EU invites Georgian students to take part in business development workshop. TeamLabGeorgia workshop is organized jointly by Georgia's culture ministry and EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme and will be held on 10 December in Tbilisi. The event is aimed at developing co-operation between representatives of different sectors with the view of elaborating common creative products, projects and services. Workshop participants will share their business ideas, as well as discuss and assess them with experts and speakers. Newsgeorgia.ge

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Moldova

Young moviemakers from nine countries participated in film festival in Chisinau. Sixth edition of the “ClassFest” international film school festival was organized by the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in collaboration with Moldova’s Ministry of Culture, “Mihai Eminescu” Romanian Cultural Institute, “Akzente” cultural center in Moldova, Polish Institute in Bucharest and Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Poland. Moldpres

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Everything to know about Creative Europe online course. The course consists of 5 lectures that can be completed in 15 minutes. All the participants will learn how to obtain funding for their initiatives and will receive a certificate. Egle Deltuvaite, head of the Creative Europe Lithuania Desk, and Yvelin Karu-Veskioja, head of the Estonia Desk, will teach how to put together a successful application, submit it to Creative Europe and find international partners. Local.md

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Everything to know about advocacy online course from EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme. It will take 30 minutes to complete 5 lectures of the course, during which one will learn how to create an advocacy campaign. The communication and advocacy expert Anush Begloyan examines real cases of successful campaigns and explains how to achieve social change through lobbying, pressure and information campaigns. Local.md

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Ukraine

Ukraine, Germany discussed the cooperation in cultural sphere. Yevhen Nyshchuk, Ukraine’s culture minister, met with Ernst Reichel, Germany’s Ambassador to Ukraine. The sides discussed past commemorative events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Babi Yar tragedy and agreed on the deepening of cooperation between Ukrainian government and Goethe-Institut Ukraine. Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

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Ukrainian government agreed a 90% increase in spending for culture. “Ukrainian culture will not be a second-tier priority anymore. Ukraine will dedicate 3,8 million hryvnias to cultural events, preservation of cultural heritage and filmmaking,” the statement of Ukrainian government reads. 455 million hryvnias from this fund will be allocated to Eurovision-2017. Ukrainska Pravda

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Culture experts advised on first steps in culture industry. Olesya Ostrovska-Luta, Head of Mystetskyi Arsenal, stressed that one cannot do something effectively for a long time, if there are no resources—culture manager should earn while working on the mission. Sasha Smetanenko, creative partner at Garage Gang, noted that any idea should be discussed with 3-4 people. Zhenia Kuleba, the founder of Misto-Sad NGO, shared that newcomers to culture industry should be good at communicating, as many projects fail just because there was not enough communication. The Ukrainians

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