Shoushan Keshishian is a specialist in post-war recovery and development. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, she relocated to Armenia in 2020 to work in post-conflict Nagorno Karabakh. She is the Founding Director of Hub Artsakh, a co-working space and NGO based in Stepanakert. The mission of Hub Artsakh is to build human capital and resilience through fellowship programs, entrepreneurship incubators, informal education, and fostering collaboration. Shoushan is also the Co-founder and Director of the Sunrise Stepanakert Art Festival, an annual multimedia art festival that has taken place in post-war Nagorno Karabakh every summer since 2021. The festival brings together local and international artists through a rich programme that includes concerts, film screenings, workshops, and an exhibition. The overarching goal of the festival is to promote the practice of art/culture as a tool for post-war recovery. Sunrise Stepanakert aims to revitalize public spaces through cultural events, support arts and culture education, and link cultural heritage with contemporary art. Over the past three years of activity, the festival has highlighted the unique transformative impact of arts/culture in fragile post-conflict environments through increasing social cohesion and strengthening communities.

Participant in: August 2023 Fellowship: The Arts as a Tool for Peacebuilding