Armenia Provided with International Assistance for Safeguarding Folklore of Syunik Province

• 09.22.2022, 18:11
•  World,  Armenia

In 2022 Armenia received a grant (74,855.00) USD by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund of UNESCO for the project of “Community-Based inventory, documenting and safeguarding folklore of the Syunik region”, the ministry of education, science, culture and sport said, Armenpress reports. 

Armenia requested an international assistance from the Fund for the aforementioned project.

The application has been prepared at the initiative of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia with the consulting support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.

This twenty-four-month project aims to inventory, document, safeguard and promote the oral heritage of the Syunik region of Armenia. As a response to this lack of documentation and to the dwindling practice of and interest in local folklore, the project seeks to identify, collect and record the folktales, myths, legends, traditions, sayings and ritual songs of the region in order to ensure their transmission to future generations. The main objective of the project is to raise awareness of and promote Syunik folklore among local communities and to create favourable conditions for its transmission, with a focus on the roles of youth and elder community members.

Specifically, the project will include fieldwork to inventory folklore from eight communities and a series of capacity-building workshops to spread awareness about the importance of intangible cultural heritage and to promote community members’ participation in safeguarding and transmitting their intangible cultural heritage. Activities entail digitalizing the collected materials and compiling a new Syunik Intangible Cultural Heritage database. The activities will take into account the topographic and ethnographic features of the region as well as its geographical, linguistic, economic and lifestyle specificities.

On the sidelines of the project, Dr. Janet Blake, Global Facilitator for UNESCO's Capacity-building under the 2003 Convention, will visit Armenia on September 25 to provide consultancy to the team members and have meetings in Yerevan and Goris to ensure the straightforward and well-ordered implementation of the Project.