RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee signed today a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration within the framework of the “ArtNexus” program.

From the Armenian side the Memorandum was signed by Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia Arthur Martirosyan, and from the Swedish side –by Director-General of the Swedish Arts Grants Committee Anna Soderback. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Armenia Patrick Svensson, and Director of the “ArtNexus” program Neda Mansouri remotely participated in the signing ceremony of the Memorandum.

This new Swedish initiative, the ArtNexus program, aims to develop the capacities of cultural institutions and individual artists through providing expert and advisory assistance and advancing the state-society dialogue in the field of culture. This will create an opportunity to contribute to the transformation of art and culture in Armenia, and will also foster the strengthening of cultural ties between Armenia and Sweden, and cooperation development.

In his speech, RA ESCS Deputy Minister Arthur Martirosyan highlighted the importance of implementing the program in Armenia in the context of the development of cultural policy and the advancement of cultural dialogue and cultural ties with Armenia and Sweden and, in a broader sense, with European countries. He expressed gratitude to his Swedish colleagues for choosing Armenia as the second country to implement the program with Albania.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding will be followed by a consultative phase, which will last until June 2022․ The “ArtNexus” program will last in Armenia for 3 years with the possibility of extension for up to 5 years.