AraratBank is supporting the digitization of the extensive archive of the “Karin” Scientific Center for Research and Study of Armenian Traditional Culture, preserving it for future generations. The archive has been created over approximately 30 years of ethnographic fieldwork. 

Gagik Ginosyan spent decades traveling throughout all regions of Armenia, visiting villages and recording both well-known and newly discovered Armenian traditional songs, dances, dance songs, and rituals that had never been archived before. Ethnographically valuable materials have also been collected from Artsakh and abroad.

“We began our collaboration with the Academy of National Song and Dance Educational and Cultural Foundation several months ago. Through this partnership, we have been supporting the “Karin” Scientific Center in digitizing its cultural heritage archive. AraratBank’s support has enabled the acquisition of essential equipment and software. Around 600 songs, dances, rituals, and traditions - collected over approximately 30 years of fieldwork - are now undergoing digitization. To date, the scientific center has successfully digitized around 90 dance samples,” said Anna Allahverdyan, Head of Communication and CSR Programs Coordination Division at AraratBank.

Digitization of the dances - collected in various formats and recorded through years of ethnographic fieldwork – was embarked upon by “Karin" Scientific Center years ago - to prevent what Gagik Ginosyan described as their irreversible destruction by the ravages of time. However, the work was suspended during the pandemic and war.

Today, digitization of this invaluable collection has resumed thanks to AraratBank’s support. From the entire archive subject to digitization, Ginosyan alone collected 400 dance samples from Armenian communities across the United States.

“In the first phase, we worked to archive and categorize all available materials in order to understand what we have and what types of content we're dealing with. Through AraratBank’s financing, we acquired equipment to digitize these materials, which had so far been preserved on old videotapes vulnerable to the effects of time,” noted Ani Ginosyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of National Song and Dance Educational and Cultural Foundation, highlighting the significance of the bank’s support.

“The preservation of cultural heritage represents one of AraratBank’s core directions of social responsibility, and this is not the first project where the bank has invested in the vital mission of preserving national identity and passing it on to future generations. A recent prominent example is the collaboration with Matenadaran on restoration, digitization, and preservation of manuscripts.

Together with its partners, AraratBank continues its important mission of preserving and digitizing culture that originates from the people, ultimately returning it to them in an unbroken cycle,” the bank said in a news release.