The Armenia: Creating Home board standing before the United States Capitol.
ANCA Endowment #KeepThePromise Initiative Sponsoring Narrative Sessions and Film Screenings about the Preservation of Cultural Identity and Heritage through Crises
WASHINGTON D.C. — This summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s landmark program, Armenia: Creating Home, will feature a robust focus on the theme Cultures of Survival: From Displacement to Resilience, highlighting the central role of culture in preserving identity and promoting resilience for tens of millions worldwide displaced by genocide, war crimes and other violence.
The ANCA Endowment Fund #KeepThePromise initiative serves as a major sponsor of the Folklife Festival and, along with the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, is supporting narrative sessions, presentations and film screenings around the theme of food, music, crafts and the arts contributing to cultural resilience and survival.
A roadside vendor in Armenia selling traditional Armenian dried fruits and other foods. (Source: The Smithsonian)
Among the themes that will be explored are: Making Meaning: Economic and Healing Power of Crafts, Giving Voice: Language and Cultural Survival, Tastes of Home: Food Enterprises, and Storytelling: History, Healing and Hope. Two films screenings — The Promise and Intent to Destroy — will explore the role of culture in preserving identity and national survival in the face of genocide.
“The ANCA Endowment Fund is pleased to serve as a major sponsor of this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Armenia: Creating Home programs exploring the global role of cultural heritage, remembrance and rebirth in building resilience and ensuring survival in the wake of genocide, war and forced displacement,â€
