On July 13, the participants of the first “Armenia. Create Together” youth forum for students and alumni of the world’s top universities visited Komitas Museum-Institute where they participated in the session entitled “Art in the Service of Advocacy”. The youth forum is organized by the RA Ministry of Diaspora, in association with the Armenian General Benevolent Union, Luys Foundation and Ayb Foundation.

The session was moderated by RA Deputy Minister of Culture Arev Samuelyan.

Samuelyan briefly touched upon the history of the Komitas Museum-Institute and the growing number of people visiting museums. The speaker also presented the current issues in the cultural sector in Armenia and the activities that are being carried out to solve those issues.

Afterwards, Merited Art Figure of the Republic of Armenia, Professor Mher Navoyan delivered a speech entitled “The Legacy of Komitas in the Context of Identity Issues”, stating that Komitas is not only the founder of the school of Armenian composers and Armenian classical music, but also one of the most interesting, the most innovative and the most significant phenomena of the early 20^th century in the context of European music and one of the key components of Armenian identity.

Afterwards, monument expert, expert Samvel Karapetyan delivered a speech entitled “Advocacy in the Context of Preservation of Armenian Historical Heritage”.

Through a slide show, the speaker presented the state of Armenian historic and cultural monuments in Western Armenia and in the Republic of Armenia. He also touched upon the state of the Armenian cultural heritage in Georgia and Iran and stressed the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran generously restores and preserves Armenian monuments in Iran.

Director of the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Vahe Gabrielian delivered a speech entitled “Armenian Heritage in the UNESCO”. Through a slide show, he presented the tangible and intangible Armenian assets that have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List to this day.

After the session, the speakers answered questions from the participants of the session.

The youth toured the Komitas Museum-Institute and were introduced to the exhibits in different halls.

After the second half of the day, the participants watched a film that was being shown as part of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival.