Youth Entrepreneurship Academy project participants’ next stop was “Boheme” studio-teahouse, located in Sevan town. This studio-teahouse, established in 2017 by “Sevan Youth Club” NGO, is a social enterprise with a goal of boosting the cultural life in Sevan, connecting young artists and discovering creative individuals – thus serving as a unique platform for uniting everyone.
The founder of “Boheme” studio-teahouse and president of “Sevan Youth Club” NGO Gohar Mnatsakanyan happily spoke about how they came up with the idea of creating such platform, and how, together with several devoted volunteers, they worked hard to turn this idea into reality and a place, which has its unique niche in the cultural life of Sevan. Gohar also spoke about the challenges which came up on this path and how they overcame those. She emphasized the importance of fundraising activities and those being even more effective when the accent is placed on the social change taking place in the community.
“By establishing “Boheme” social enterprise, we not only created new employment opportunities, but also a cultural development strategy, which is also very important for the community. Apart from serving as a unique space for hosting concerts and cultural events, the studio-teahouse provides an opportunity for creative individuals to sell their works, and most importantly – we invest 50% of our income in implementation of cultural projects in the community, with the most significant one being “Sevan” music fest”, shared Gohar Mnatsakanyan.
She very much emphasized the importance of having furnished and equipped youth centers in our beneficiary communities, which already serves as a great motivation for youth to implement interesting and innovative ideas. All they need to do is to unite around an idea, which will be of benefit for their community, and to do everything possible to keep the youth in their homes and utilize their potential for their own community development.