Gulbenkian Foundation Announces Grant Program Dedicated to Progressive Cultural Practices in Western Armenian

LISBON — The Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is launching the fourth edition of արդ եւս|in view —a grant program dedicated to cultural creativity and progressive cultural practices in the Western Armenian language. Through this flagship program, the Department will continue supporting initiatives that aim to create new culture in Armenian. արդ եւս|in view aims to inspire, facilitate, and support innovation and contemporaneity in the cultural and creative sectors in Western Armenian, in order to sustain future generations through a vibrant language and culture. It brings support to cultural changemakers and strives to inspire people and communities to experience, reimagine, and share culture through the development and implementation of fresh ideas that matter for envisioning a vibrant future for the Western Armenian language and culture.

As a fundamental aspect of human expression, culture inherently influences the very fabric of our societies and determines their futures. It is not a luxury, but a necessity to build cohesive, equal, sustainable and free societies, and a better future.

Culture cannot be the answer to solving all problems all at once, but none of the big issues facing our world today can be critically addressed without culture. Threats to democratic practices, the climate catastrophe, digital challenges, rising inequalities, and even war, all have deeply cultural dimensions.

As opposed to the pragmatism and short-term thinking in strategies developed in the face of rapid changes and crises challenging the world today, culture’s true impact is deeper, broader, and less immediately measurable. The cultural sector can be a catalyst for critical thought, pluralism, society transformation, and civic engagement. It is thus vital for progress.

Armenians have always been at various intersections of cultural exchange and plurality. արդ եւս|in view identifies this pluralism and celebrates it, by allowing for various voices to be heard, and by creating the conditions for these diverse experiences to be transported to the Western Armenian language, helping it thrive and grow as a language of the world. This would simultaneously help consumers of culture enrich their citizenship, develop resilience, and find creative solutions to challenges.

Through this grant program the Foundation wish to harness the power of culture and craft new Armenian narratives, ones that are rooted in creativity, human dignity, solidarity, and universal values.

To apply, follow the link: Apply.