YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Sunrise Stepanakert multimedia art festival will launch in Artsakh on June 24.

The festival, which is being held for already the second time, includes photo, digital art exhibition, musical performances, film screenings and creative master classes.

The festival was co-founded by Diaspora-Armenian girls, who came to Armenia within the frames of the IGorts program of the Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs and stayed here.

In an interview to ARMENPRESS, co-founder of the festival Shushan Keshisian said that there was a big desire to do something for Artsakh. Initially, a charity event was organized in Yerevan, and the funds raised were directed to assisting the people displaced from Artsakh.

“The charity event was in the form of an exhibition – photos, graphic design, illustration. We started working with Lilit Hakobyan on the sidelines of this initiative. After successfully holding the event, we thought to hold it in Artsakh. And this idea united us and we started working. We visited Artsakh, discussed and understood that it should not merely be an exhibition, but a festival that will involve a concert program, a film-watching, master classes and so on”, she said.

This year the program of the festival, as well as the team have expanded. Co-founder Lilit Hakobyan said that last year the festival was attended by around 800 people, but this year 1200 visits are expected. Artists from both Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora will participate in the festival. The works of foreign artists will also be displayed at the exhibition.

“By uniting Armenians of Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora, we want to emphasize that the dawn begins after every sunset. The message is that life continues, we should be reborn and do that through art. For us it’s important that Artsakh feels itself a part of the international platform. It is not isolated, but a part of the whole. We are happy to have participants from abroad, whose works will also be displayed”, Lilit Hakobyan said.

The festival will last until July 3.

Free transportation from Yerevan to Stepanakert will be available.

The organizers plan to hold the festival annually.

Interview by Anna Gziryan