Supporting the Arts in Lori: Inside the Third Year of COAF’s Arts Program with the Vahé & Lucie Foundation

For the third consecutive year, the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) and the Vahé & Lucie Foundation partnered to bring a year-long arts program to the COAF SMART Center in Lori.

As in previous years, the program gathered artists from across Armenia and around the world to Lori where they led intensive workshops with SMART Students. The program also included field trips to creative sites, and a region-wide arts competition. 

This year, COAF also conducted informational visits in 20 new communities across Lori, introducing the arts competition to teenagers who had not previously participated. These outreach efforts contributed to a broader and more diverse pool of applicants, further expanding the program’s regional impact.

To date, the partnership has uplifted nearly 1,000 budding young artists in Lori, helping young people strengthen their creative skills, express themselves, and imagine new possibilities for their futures.

Workshops Led by Inspiring Artists

Visiting artists guided SMART students through intensive workshops throughout the year, empowering youth to learn directly from accomplished creative professionals across several disciplines.

Digital Drawing

In digital drawing, artist and game designer Ara Poghosyan worked with students on character design and visual storytelling, encouraging them to reinterpret familiar narratives in new ways.

Music

Musician Ara Dabandjian, founder of Element Band, led a music workshop focused on collaboration and live performance, culminating in a concert where students performed as a full band.

Dance

Choreographer Jan Abrahamyan led an intensive dance workshop that ended in a final performance assembled in just a few days.

Theater

Theater director Sargis Manukyan guided students through storytelling, character creation, and stage presence in a theater arts workshop.

Sound Design

Sound designer and composer Armen Papyan introduced students to sound as a storytelling tool, showing how audio shapes atmosphere, emotion, and meaning in film and animation.

Visual Arts

Artist Krikor Tchayelian (Tchay) led a drawing masterclass rooted in experimentation, freedom, and self-expression and improvisation on the topic of organised chaos.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Complementing the workshops, students also took part in SMART cultural visits, offering exposure to professional artistic environments and real-world creative expression. Visits to the National Gallery of Armenia, the Opera and Ballet Theatre, and the Gyumri Theatre allowed students to experience visual art, music, dance, and performance at a professional level — deepening their understanding of storytelling, discipline, and artistic collaboration.

Confidence Through Creation

These experiences offered students space to collaborate, experiment, and create with confidence.

“Before the workshop, I didn’t feel confident playing at all, because I hadn’t studied anywhere formally,” said SMART student Nane Margaryan after the music workshop. “Over these four days with Ara, I got much more comfortable playing.”

A student from the dance workshop shared a similar feeling: “We’re all involved in the dance. The teacher is kind and funny. In my opinion, everything was awesome and I’d love to continue.”

The visiting artists, too, were struck by the students’ growth. Reflecting on the music workshop, Ara Dabandjian noted, “These are original songs they’re going to perform. So you see how far they pushed themselves.”

Jan Abrahamyan added, “The kids are showing a lot of potential… They learned a one-and-a-half, minute dance with transitions in just two to three days — something that would typically take much longer.”

A Resounding Finish

The year culminated in the “Stories That Change the World and the Future” Arts Competition and Awards Ceremony, held at the SMART Center in Lori. Open to teens ages 11–18 from across the region, the competition invited participants to tell stories through seven categories: dance, vocal, digital drawing, sound design, painting, theater arts, and music.

Topics ranged from Thomas Edison’s inventions to AI, Frida Kahlo, Coco Chanel, and the music of Michael Jackson. In total, the competition received 560 applications, and 89 winners were recognized during the final ceremony. The competition’s winners also received monetary prizes — an intentional part of the program’s design to encourage young people to see art not only as a form of expression, but also as a possible future path and profession.

As Sevak Mikayelyan, Director of the COAF SMART Center in Lori, noted, the program continues to serve as an important platform for young people in Lori to explore their talent, gain confidence, and see art as a meaningful part of their future.

In partnership with the Vahé & Lucie Foundation, we look forward to building on this momentum—bringing world-class artistic opportunity to a region rich with untapped creative potential.

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