From July 17th to July 26th around 35 participants from 7 countries came together for a youth exchange “Cultural Art Gene” which took place in Telavi, Georgia. Main topic of the project was sharing cultures and traditions through music and dances. There were held many different activities like intercultural nights, workshops, group works, discussions, energizers, excursions and study visits. Participants had the chance to be a part of Georgian traditional festival called “Art Gene” where each country represented their songs (‘Menk enk mer sarery’ by Inga and Anush Arshakians was chosen as Armenian representative song). The project also helped to break the stereotypes about countries and nations so very friendly atmosphere was created. Besides teaching each other their cultural dances and music, participants also learnt some basic words and sentences in different languages. Another fun activity was making Georgian ‘churchkhela’ and trying what they’ve made after. As Telavi is considered to be the best ‘wine-town’, participants also had the opportunity to drink different types of white and red wines.
Armenian team consisted of 5 participants-Harout Badeyan, Aghas Baghramyan, Alvina Harutyunyan, Nelly Harutyunyan and Marine Khachatryan. They were actively participating in all the events and even suggested some extra activities which were accepted. According to our representatives the project was one of the best projects they have participated and they enjoyed every day in Telavi.
The project was hosted by Youth Nexus in Georgia. Armenian partner was Future in Our Hands Youth Organisation.
Below you can read some comments by the members of Armenian team.
“Everybody was impressed by the Armenian culture night event which included several Armenian national folk dances and also short quiz about Armenia”. –Aghas
“I feel very lucky because I got the opportunity to be on Nino Katamadze’s concert and to be very close to her. Another thing I want to mention is that I really made very good friends and do already miss them. We have our group chat and talk there every day after the project. Isn’t it cool?”-Nelly
The participants took part in the Art Gene festival where they enjoyed Nino Katamadze’s live concert. They also had a trip around Tbilisi and Telavi, met local people and communicated with them and got acquainted with the treasures of Old cities.-Marine
