Byurakan Art Academy, Byurakan

Byurakan is a major villague at 35km from Yerevan. It is the home location of the Byurakan Art Academy which was opened by our host, the Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival. We couldn't have imagined a better space to host our Youth Evening.

We will all take the bus to go to Byurakan. Starting at 18.00 PM, the programme includes the presentation of many interesting projects in which festivals can take an active role and contribute to:

Byurakan Arts Academy was opened by the Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival in April 2015. Its mission is to promote young and accomplished Armenian musicians as well as other art professionals and their foreign partners providing them necessary conditions and opportunities for closer cooperation in sake of development of art in Armenia. Meetings with Armenian intellectuals and discussions on modern relevant topics are being organised in Academy as well as master classes concerts presentations and demonstrations for all artists.

Sona Hovhannisyan, the General Manager of the Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival will present the scholarship programmes of the Byurakan Art Academy for young musicians and artists.

Perhaps the Byurakan Art Academy will inspire you to start similar activities for emerging artists?

EFA launched The Festival Academy to offer various training formats on festival management to young, dynamic and passionate festival makers worldwide. Today, it is composed by a global community of 1100 festival managers from more than 95 countries. It generates direct links among people and civil societies creating awareness about festivals and their role today, as well as of their capacity to be vehicles for social change, social cohesion and strengthen human rights values and global diversity.

During this session The Festival Academy participants are offered work placements in EFA Member festivals. This is a hands-on opportunity on festival management as well as skilled work and intercultural opportunities.

This is a system that uses festivals as an instrument to offer emerging artists a platform to develop their career on an international level.
Festivals are explorers of unknown or not-yet known talents, originality, innovation, and risk-taking artists to present to their audiences. These festivals serve and define themselves as the guardians and the intermediate springboard for artists in all arts disciplines. In this way, EFFEA gives per year for three years 150 festivals the chance to take 50 emerging artists (EFFEA Fellows) per year under their wings by offering them the opportunity to increase their presenting and producing opportunities and to make vital industry connections. EFFEA offers festivals an incentive to take the time to find and work with those artists that are not yet in this market but have the talent, the capacity, and the vision to develop an international career.

The Fund is based on fair, inclusive and diverse principles at all its levels. It ambitions to become an effective tool to fight imbalances of programming and accessing arts on Europe’s festivals stages. The EFFEA Jury will select the festivals and will be responsible to develop and implement the common artistic and editorial selection mechanism for the fund to be balanced, inclusive, sustainable, and diverse.

15 EFFE Hubs all over Europe extend the communication efforts towards the festivals community. FestivalFinder.eu will serve as the platform for registration as well as making artists accessible to the wider public.

In the framework of the European Year of Youth, Europe’s festivals Associations EFA and YOUROPE have joined forces with the European Commission and launched the campaign Impossible without you/ Impossible without Youth.

Festivals are unique platforms that are in touch with millions of young people every year. For young people festivals are places for international encounters, for self-fulfillment and the development of their lifestyle and personality. Festivals play an important role: audiences are often introduced to the arts through festivals and festivals are often the first stages to launch the careers of emerging artists.

This campaign invites festivals to promote the objectives of the European Year for Youth and to increase the visibility and recognition of festivals and their unique role towards youth. Next to the campaign, the actions also include festival visits, articles written by young reporters, a call for stories, and the final event of this special year dedicated to youth taking place on Tuesday, 6 December 2022 in Brussels.

The presentations will be followed by a reception in the beautiful garden of the Byurakan Art Academy, accompanied by a jazz music concert. It will also be the perfect place to enjoy traditional Armenian cuisine and taste delicious local wines.