The directors and employees of 9 Cultural Centers from 8 regions of Armenia participated in a two-day training in Gyumri
During the first day, participants learnt about cultural industries and social entrepreneurship. The training aimed at developing social entrepreneurship in regions through community-based institutions such as the cultural centers.
Invited experts spoke about the legal opportunities and mechanisms of social entrepreneurship for non-commercial organizations.
To make social entrepreneurship more visible, participants met with the founder of the “Herbs & Honey” Café in Gyumri, Artush Yeghiazaryan, and talked about the challenges of creating and developing social entrepreneurship and ways to overcome them.
Participants also made a study visit to the Gyumri Youth Palace CNCO, where director Lilit Makaryan described the palace's activities and the programs.
The second day of the training was focused on skills on working with youth and empowering them. Anna Yeghoyan, an expert on youth work and policy at the "Gyumri Youth House" open youth center, provided a seminar on methods of cooperation with young people. In the second part of the training, the directors and employees of the cultural centers also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the work done by the center and visited the "Gyumri Youth House" open youth center and talked to local young volunteers and experts.
At the end of the training, the MY STEP Foundation team and the employees of cultural centers summarized the results of the two-day training. They discussed an agenda for further action and steps to increase the effectiveness of cultural centers by using the knowledge they had gained during the training.
The coordinator of the MY STEP Foundation’s cultural programs, Gayane Gharagyozyan, stressed that the location of the training was not chosen by accident. It was chosen because in Gyumri participants were able to see successful examples of social entrepreneurship and Gyumri has the first youth center in Armenia.
“Gyumri Youth House” was a good example for the project participants because here they could see how the center works with the beneficiaries and young volunteers who conduct various programs in the center”.