Artsakh Fest Contemporary Art Festival

Artsakh Fest is the first international contemporary art festival in Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh. This initiative aims at strengthening cultural development at the local level, decentralizing arts and cultural events from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia and helping Artsakh evolve into a thriving international cultural center. The festival's second edition will take place in the abandoned building of Stepanakert drama theater on October 4-6, 2019. This year's edition includes film screenings & discussions, artistic interventions, music program as well as open workshops/master classes and an international potluck dinner.

The theme of Artsakh Fest‘19 dubbed “Nakhshun Baji” (Definition: beautiful sister) is about women and conflict. The post-war syndrome deals with bringing in conflict realities into peaceful living and the adaptation to it. Women showcased their abilities in the field of war thus changing the established boundaries, roles and hierarchies of society. By examining the prevalent gender component in modern conflict and through demystifying the basis of patriarchal policies this year’s Artsakh Fest will try to bring to the surface the role of women in neo-conservative society in times of armed conflict. Stepanakert State Drama Theatre being the “Nakhshun Baji” amidst the city, built by Tamara Petrosyan resembles the society who’s temporal dimension has cracked and is going into transformations. The role of women has also transformed and those transformations are so vivid that you can track them in a generation’s lifespan. The theatre, just like a woman doing “men's” roles, self-sustained, without the help of relatives providing nourishment (space to create art) to its artist-kids gains subjectivity.



Artsakh Fest’ 18 was a multidisciplinary art event aimed at showcasing the glorious past of the Stepanakert State Drama theatre and drawing the attention of the local and international public to the abandoned theater building. In collaboration with the local community, the theatre troop and invited art practitioners, we  revitalized the abandoned theater building and gave the ownership back to the local community for three full days. Last year over 40 local and invited artists from the US, Iran, Israel, Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Turkey participated in the 3 days' event aimed at reviving the past glory of the theater building which is referred to as "the Beauty of Stepanakert" by locals. The pilot edition of the festival was an event of creative interactivity encompassing all aspects of contemporary arts, such as contemporary dance, audio-visual installations, interactive public art, performances and much more. Alongside the public events there were open workshops including documentary photography, calligraphy and contemporary dance. The core of the festival was a research based exhibition showcasing archival documents, posters and costumes, highlighting the glorious history of the theater. Over 2000 locals had the chance to participate in the creation of public art projects and masterclasses organized in the frames of the festival, and enjoy music by world-class musicians on the open-air stage, reconstructed by the students of Yeznig Mozian vocational school in the frames of the festival.  Watch the documentary about Artsakh Fest'18  (director Willi Andrick).


After Artsakh Fest'18 public attention was drawn to the theater building, and several documentaries and art projects were made in and about it,  the issue of conserving the building is still not resolved, and the building is crumbling down after every heavy rain. We intend to continue raising awareness about this in order to generate public demand to save the "Beauty of Stepanakert".


This year Artsakh Fest will take place on October 4-6, and we need your support to make this happen! The funds will be used for production materials, travel of artists from Yerevan and accommodation in Stepanakert. The sooner we have the materials, the earlier we can start organizing the festival.  We need the funds for the following:

Production materials and tools - 3500 $

Sound and video equipment rental - 1500$

Travel from Yerevan to Stepanakert  and back for participating artists - 1000$

Accommodation in Stepanakert for participating artists and organizers - 1000$

Catering for participating artists - 1000$

Administrative expenses - 500$

Total: 8500$

Every little contribution counts! Thank you in advance for making this happen!


About the venue
The old building is located on a beautiful central historical street in Stepanakert. It is currently left vacant and awaiting renovation, though it continues to be a favourite meeting point for the locals. From outside the “beauty of Stepanakert” as it used to be referred to, still looks great and it has preserved its initial charm with carved doorways and magnificent arches.

The Theatre building in Stepanakert was built in 1952 and played a significant part in the cultural development of the city and Artsakh as well as contributed to the education of people during Soviet Union. Many significant actors and troops have been invited to stage performances there, in total 395 performances, both classic and contemporary, were created staged in the theatre during its 83 years of existence. In no time the theatre became a popular and beloved cultural hub in Nagorno Karabakh oblast as well as in the neighbouring countries. The theatre had an artist studio, the graduates of which worked either in the theatre or in other cultural institutions of the region. The theatre functioned during the war in the 90s and staged many plays rekindling the spirit of the locals. The building survived the war but due to lack of funding for refurbishing it the theatre moved to a new building in 2015 and the old one is abandoned.

About the organizers

Institute of Contemporary Art, Yerevan (ICA) is an open hub for the design of cultural and contemporary art projects development and production. ICA promotes the operation of art economy in Armenia, develops and implements art collection, exhibition, archiving and disseminating projects, conducts research and organizes teaching programs in the field of curatorial practices, theory, and art education.Structured as an open cross-functional network of people and ideas/concepts, the ICA School, Project and Research Labs provide a comprehensive set of resources, facilities and tools for understanding and operating in the contemporary art scene in Armenia and the wider global art contexts.

Anna Kamay is an independent curator and cultural manager hailing from Yerevan, Armenia. Anna organizes community-based art projects with the goal of using public space and art to meet local needs, and manages Nest Artist Residency and Community Center at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Yerevan. Her most recent activist work in Nagorno Karabakh (Republic of Artsakh), has further evolved into a community engagement project “ARTsakh Fest”(2018) - Stepanakert’s first ever contemporary art festival aimed at overcoming the isolation of the conflict-ridden region and revitalising the abandoned State Drama Theater which once used to be the community center of the city.