A series of ‘Days of Performing Arts’ events being held in Yerevan, Armenian provinces and Karabakh these days (July 22-29) as part of the fourth cultural festival ‘One Nation, One Culture’ have elicited a mix reaction from Diaspora and local people attending the events, with some expressing their satisfaction and others complaining about the level of organization.

A lack of due advertisement of events that participants had hoped would attract larger audiences appears to be a major sources of discontent for some festival delegates.

When an artist stops taking risks, he stops being an artist; and art stops being art, when it is mixed with politics.

So were the viewpoints expressed by Canadian-Armenian film Director Atom Egoyan and his actress/wife Arsinee Khanjian at “Politics of Culture”, a dialogue presented in Yerevan by the Civilitas Foundation and Counterpart International.

The administration of the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia, after a long struggle, will finally be provided with a new Germany-produced Steinway grand piano, which would give world-famous grand piano players an opportunity to have concerts in Armenia from September 19.

The grand piano costs 62 million drams ($170,000); the Ministry of Culture of Armenia has allotted the money.

Turkish director Reha Erdem has taken the top award for his “Kosmos” film (Turkey/Bulgaria) in the international feature film competition at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival, which ended in Armenian capital Yerevan on Sunday.

As many as 500 applications from around the world had been made for participation in the seventh international film festival held in Armenia annually since 2004. In the end, a total of 120 of these applications had been selected for shows, including 45 films for participation on a competitive basis during the festival held July 11-18. Competion was held in three sections, with a five-member panel of international judges deciding which films to award prizes.

A Turkish director sitting on the five-member panel of judges for international feature films at the ongoing Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan believes the Armenian-Turkish border will open already this year.

Semih Kaplanoglu even gives the exact date, September 19. This is the day when a liturgy is planned at the 10th-century Armenian Surb Khach (Holy Cross) Church situated on a lake island in Turkey’s Van province. (There is a speculation that authorities in Ankara may temporary open the country’s border to allow Armenians planning to attend the related events to visit Turkey).

Armenian songwriter, singer and rock musician Vahan Artsruni, at a meeting with journalists on Thursday, told about his plans to sing some of his songs with Komitas’ lyrics at his concert on July 25. The musician believes Komitas may become the visiting-card of the Armenian nation in the whole world and adds that the Ministry of Culture is doing nothing in this respect.

“It is a paradox, but Komitas is one of the most performed composers, his songs are sung at churches during liturgies, they are broadcast on the Armenian Public Television and Vem radio station all the time, however, the public is not privy to Komitas’ art,” says Artsruni, who released a CD entitled ‘Komitas. Ten revelations’ in 2002. The musician believes that the reason is the preaching of pop or low-quality music on Armenian TV channels for more than 20 years.

An Armenian historian and researcher has warned that another Armenian church in Georgia is being Georgianized – St. Gevorg of Mughni Church in Tbilisi, which collapsed last year, and which is currently being reconstructed through the efforts of Georgian authorities, now is proclaimed to be Georgian.

“This is a deliberate act of destruction, which is being implemented by the Georgian Church, whereas our Church is silent: they [Armenian Church representatives] are active when a new church is to be constructed,” Samvel Karapetyan, head of the Yerevan branch of the Research on Armenian Architecture NGO, told ArmeniaNow.

Apricots are not affordable to many in Armenia this year because of their unnormally high price, but cinema lovers can enjoy instead Golden Apricot, an international film festival held in Yerevan every year since 2004.

Three days into the weeklong event that commenced on Sunday, Yerevan has turned into a real cinema city. A total of 120 international and Armenian films will have been shown at cinemas and other halls in the Armenian capital by the time the international festival ends on July 18.

Armenia’s Golden Apricot International Film Festival announced today that the European Commission Delegation in Armenia, the British Council have signed on as sponsors for the seventh annual festival which starts Sunday in Yerevan. Also joining as sponsors are the Brazilian Embassy to Armenia, and Brazilian-Armenian film critics, writer, and film director Leon Cakoff (Shataryevian), who founded the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in 1977.

Every year the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation (IBF) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) grant the title of UNESCO World Book Capital to one city. This year the World Book Capitol is is Ljubljana, Slovenia. Next year it will be Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in 2012 — it has just been announced — Yerevan, Armenia will be given the honor.