The pan-national festival My Armenia is kicking off in Yerevan’s Cascade Complex on Friday.

Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan convened today an inter-agency session in this connection and later talked to reporters to introduce outcomes of their final discussions and arrangements. She said that both the Ministry and regional administrations are prepared to host the participants and organize the event in an appropriate manner.

Hakobyan told journalists that they are launching art events, with the Writers’ Union of Armenia having completed the Pan-Armenian Conference of Writers.

My Armenia is the continuation of the annual cultural festival One Nation, One Culture; this year, it is scheduled to last six months, instead of just a few weeks.

“While there were 400-700 participants in the previous years, their number has now reached 1,300 this year. Overall, around 2,000 Diaspora Armenians – the parents and relatives of the participants – are due in Armenia,” Hakobyan said.

Samvel Harutyunyan, the festival director also attending the news conference, briefed on the peculiarities of the event. He said they are scheduling Choreography Days (June 29 – July 10), Choir Art Days (July 30 – August 5), Individual Performances (July 30-August 5) and a Pan-Armenian Duduk Festival (September 14-18).

Tomorrow’s opening will see a solemn parade to be attended by the participants of the first round (dance groups from different countries).

Different events are scheduled in the regions and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) as well. They will be organized in the open air to attract more and more people.

The prize for the participants is a small statue containing a lyre, a crane, the colors of the Armenian flag and a pomegranate.