Creative Incubator Artbox of cultural foundation Creative Armenia has launched it activities.

Artbox aims at supporting commercially viable art projects, which can be of interest for investors. In other words, to teach the artists not only to create, but also package and sell the art they make, in an investable manner.

Creative Incubator has been developed by the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia” project, which is co-funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by German Development Cooperation GIZ.

“We set Artbox to motion with high expectations and would, therefore, like to express our gratitude to both those who supported its implementation, and also those artists without whom nothing would happen otherwise”, - said Anush Ter-Khachatryan, the Project Director of Creative Armenia Cultural Foundation, as she heralded the program launch during the virtual event.

As she mentioned, 29 artists have been selected for the first ever Artbox featuring various projects in music, fashion, tourism and other industries.

Anush Ter-Khachatryan

Photo: Mediamax

“This is a unique opportunity for the participants to promote their ideas and a great pleasure for us to support them in this striving”, - stated Frank Hess, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Armenia.

“Armenia possesses a huge potential in creative industry. The resourcefulness and creativity of Armenians is boundless, but in the meantime, it is a very competitive industry in the world. Therefore, all presented ideas and businesses have to be fairly competitive. It is often challenging for an artist to make sure they are sufficiently viable. This program, as such, aims at supporting artists in as much as possible to succeed and contribute to the development of a financially sustainable art in Armenia,” said Frank Hess.

He also highlighted the fact that there were many women artists among the selected 29 artists.

“Economic empowerment of women is among the priorities we are keen on supporting”.

“Today we are setting off a long journey with our colleagues at Creative Armenia, which key focus is to develop viable art industry in Armenia. We believe that this initiative will, inter alia, support sustainable development of tourism,” noted Wilhelm Hugo, Team Leader of EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia’’ project.

Wilhelm Hugo

Photo: Creative Armenia

He mentioned that while creative ideas were important, it was crucial to develop business skills as well.

“These skills are instrumental for success. Thence, the whole process will be guided by the internationally famed specialists with extensive sector-specific experience. I hope that the skills you acquire will be used to endorse your projects.”

Photo: Creative Armenia

Garin Hovannisian, Founding Director of Creative Armenia expressed his gratitude to the partners for their comprehensive support.

“Artbox program was launched through the endeavors of artists like you as they strive to create a cultural infrastructure. While we all realize the key role that art, muse and the connections they generate, which is rather personal, nowadays being creative and innovative is not sufficient. We need to have the capacity to frame it correctly, make it viable and investable. This is where our incubator, this box of art – the Artbox, is spearheading,” said Garin Hovannisian.

Garin Hovannisian

Photo: Creative Armenia

As he pinpointed, Artbox was not simply a program, but rather an infrastructure:

“This is a cultural driver. It is our ambition that it serves not only Armenia, but rather grows into a paradigm covering the region, and why not, the whole world.”

Creative Incubator Artbox put its operations into motion with a workshop lead by David Parrish, a mentor with a 30 years of experience in the culture business and creative industry.

Photo: Creative Armenia

“I look forward to our joint work. Together we need to understand how can we combine business with art thus shaping a business art and an art business,” said David Parrish.

Over the course of 12 weeks, Creative Incubator Artbox will work with the selected projects and presented those to the potential investors.

Yana Shakhramanyan