With cooperation between the French National Center for Music Creation, Grame, and Armenian Tumo Center for the Creative Technologies, new technologies meet art. Here is how it is going to happen.

The hot topic in the business sphere in Armenia now – is the opportunities of the +180m market opened up by the signing of EEU agreement. Russia, a 4-trillion$ economy, that only for the last couple of years has stagnant growth rates, has the potential to reshape Armenia’s businesses and the economy as a whole.

Around the world, the role and power of the private sector is increasing in both global, as well as local markets. Businesses are increasingly being seen as important players in social and economic development on every level. Armenia is no exception.

Very often, we don’t pay proper attention to the things that are close by. We will never plan a visit by our own to a museum in our home country and enjoy it when we have enough time, enough options and enough possibilities. Why we should always hurry to visit a museum? The recent example. Crossing over the Victory Bridge in Yerevan in the hard day’s evening and I caught myself that I had never visited the Yerevan Brandy Company’s museum, one of the most visited tourist attractions in Armenia. After all, it is better late than never, right? The hour that I spent there was an hour of Revelations that what it was.

French-Armenian entrepreneur and philanthropist Manoug Pamokdjian and Italian doctor, the founder of Family Care Foundation Antonio Montalto met in 2009. Since then they have launched several large-scale and ambitious projects together, aimed at shedding new light and giving hope to the second largest city of Armenia, Gyumri. We talked to Mr. Pamokdjian and Mr. Montalto about the projects that have already been implemented and about the upcoming plans.

Gyumri Project Hope (GPH) is a non-profit urban planning foundation established in 2015, focused on the improvement of Gyumri in various sectors to eliminate the depopulation crisis of the city, by restoring social and economic stability for the region. In October 2016 GPH presented its concept paper “Strategic Redevelopment of Gyumri”. This concept is a joint initiative of GPH main donors: AGBU, ARS, IDeA Foundation and the Kololian Foundation. Below are some excerpts from the report about renovation of Gyumri’s some significant sights.

The COMUS (Community-Led Urban Strategies in Historic Towns) project is a joint Council of Europe and European Union initiative that is part of the second Eastern Partnership Culture Program. It aims to stimulate social and economic development by strengthening cultural heritage in nine historic towns in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. We spoke to the Project Officer and architect Sarhat Petrosyan about the project in Gyumri.

First of all, Gyumri is famous all over the country for its people – highly talented, incredibly witty, friendly and hospitable. There are so many things to do and see in Gyumri, that it’s quite hard to sum it all up in one article. Here is our list of 10 things one should do in the city first of all.

Shirak region. What is it associated with? Good food and humor? Or maybe an earthquake, poverty and harsh climate? How about rucola, green basil, sage and other food items, mostly seen in the upscale restaurants and supermarkets of Yerevan. Or even tomato, cucumber and pepper. The latter seems especially significant to Shirak – the locals call Yerevan residents ‘bibar krtsogh’ or ‘pepper gnawers’, and the legend says that this is because no peppers grow in Shirak and locals are simply envious! But just a few months ago the situation has changed dramatically: new and experimental greenhouses built in Shirak seem to have caused an agricultural revolution in the region.

Opened in 2015, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies’ Gyumri branch became one of the symbols of the city’s technological renaissance.