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“I cannot understand the competition in art. For me, it is important whether your art is up-to-date and based on the ethical standards. It is also important whether it is familiar to people, who see it”, said Armen Elbakyan, People’s Artist, artistic director of the National Academic Theatre after Gabriel Sundukyan. He was answering to the question raised by Panorama.am on why the theatres are not active and do not apply for the RA State prize.

Elibekyan said that he does not know by which standards the commission chooses the winners. “There were performances which could get the prize, but did not. Conversely, some of the winners in my opinion did not deserve the prize. It depens on the objectivity of the commission and on the standards by which the commission makes its decisions.

Ruben Babayan, People’s Artist, artistic director of the State Puppet Theatre after H. Tumanyan noted that there are much more interesting things to do than seeking state prize. “I do not have a desire to participate in competitions. Artists should not think about prizes. They should be concentrated on creating new valuable works. We should divide artist’s functions from state’s functions. The goal of each artist is to create a work and not to think about the destiny of that work. He should also think about making his next work interesting and up-to-date. Artist should not assess his work. Some structures should assess it.

Unfortunately, after creating a work, artists start to pursue some assessments for it. But our job is to convey spiritual satisfaction to the people watching your work.  There is no other assessment for the real artist. There is no recipe for creating a masterpiece. It is good. Something needs to be kept in secret. The way how the work of art is being created is mysterious even for the artist. Evalution of the art is not important and is related to the artist but to the evaluator”, said Babayan.