Spin the magic: Junior Eurovision 2022

I am Gayane Ghazaryan (Bayatyan), a Birthright Armenia/Դեպի Հայք volunteer since November 2022. I am very happy that the beginning of my volunteering in Armenia coincided with the preparation and opening ceremony of the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

As a fashion designer, I was able to join the Junior Eurovision stylist team led by fashion designer Aram Nikolyan. The success of Eurovision in Armenia lies in the fact that the best specialists were involved in the organization and rallied to do their job at the highest level. This is a real victory: the victory of the Armenian mind, creativity, unity, love, and devotion to their work. I was proud of those around me. These people worked day and night and helped each other so that millions of people worldwide could see this wonderful fairytale. I came away with unforgettable impressions of this work and, of course, a tremendously professional experience.

MY EXPERIENCE AS A FASHION DESIGNER IN ARMENIA

I started volunteering at Aram Nikolyan's fashion house, where we were preparing for the Opening Ceremony and the contest itself. We made costumes for dance groups, acrobats, and the competition hosts. In the week leading up to the Opening Ceremony, we spent our days at the Karen Demirchyan sports complex, where we worked from morning until night with the participants discussing their images, preparing the costumes for the performance, and altering costumes if necessary. We had a great responsibility as the outfits of each person performing on the stage had to be perfect.

Before fashion design, I studied linguistics and cultural studies. In all of my projects, my specialties and interests have complemented each other. This was also the case while volunteering in Armenia; when working with delegations from different countries, my language skills helped me communicate directly with diverse people.

The Opening Ceremony of the Junior Eurovision song contest 2022 occurred in Republic Square. That evening, the square turned into a magical fairytale town with Santa Claus, elves, a huge Christmas tree, and thousands of Armenians and foreigners gathered together.

The ceremony included a concert and musical performance. Aram Nikolyan's fashion house designed the costumes for the entire Opening Ceremony. Our stylist team was in the square throughout the opening day and helped backstage with all the artist costumes.

SHOWING OUR TALENT TO THE WORLD

An interesting fact about Eurovision 2022 is that one of the hosts was the Armenian robot Robin the Robot - a testament to the achievement of the Armenian technological industry. The slogan of the contest this year was "Spin the magic." The logo was the famous toy, in Armenian called հոլ, a typical attribute of Armenian culture. It was manually decorated with national ornaments by local Armenian craftsmen. Since I practice architectural style in costume design, I appreciated the ceremony's venue. Republic Square's unique architecture fully fits the contest's fairytale theme.

Once again, Armenia showed the world our talent, professionalism, organization, and solidarity. I am sure that in the history of Eurovision, the 20th contest will be one of the brightest and most outstanding. I am glad I had the opportunity to participate in such a great event in Armenia.