Building a theater of their own
Armenians join forces for project
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

February 13, 2005
Los Angeles Daily News

Sunday, February 13, 2005 – GLENDALE– Several Armenian-American
doctors, lawyers, businessmen and artists have gotten together to
realize a dream: building the first Armenian arts venue in Los Angeles.

The force behind the project is Aram Kouyoumdjian, who got a group
of friends together in November to attend a critically acclaimed
play in Los Angeles. The group has now grown to 56, and they have
five plays under their belt, including “The Goat, or, Who Is Sylvia?”
at the Mark Taper Forum, Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming” at A Noise
Within and “Doubt” at the Pasadena Playhouse.

The success of the outings confirmed what Kouyoumdjian — a civil
litigation attorney by day and a theater buff by night — had known
all along: The theater-loving Armenian community needed a place to
call home.

“I think we have the sense that not only it’s time for something like
this, but that it’s overdue,” said Kouyoumdjian, 36, who co-founded
a theater company in Sacramento in 1999 and worked as its artistic
director.

“People sense the importance of filling the void and doing so
in a way that will have permanence. Our predecessors have been
successful in building schools and churches, and many of us who are
now in our mid-30s feel that it’s our turn to step up and make a
contribution. It’s sort of picking up the responsibility.”

Feeling the need and the importance of the endeavor, this group,
which includes an architect, a poet, a scientist, the CEO of a
software company, attorneys and businessmen, is not approaching the
task willy-nilly.

“The combined efforts of everybody makes this ambitious project
far more realistic,” Kouyoumdjian said. “We’re making sure that the
project is rooted in the best foundation possible.”

The architect in the group has already started the initial
drawings for the group’s vision of the facility: a building with
two performance spaces — a 400-seat performance hall and a 99-seat
theater — an exhibition gallery and space for workshops, labs and
rehearsals. Initial estimates put the cost at between $4 to $5 million.

At a time when theaters are struggling to stay afloat, Kouyoumdjian
said, all the group’s members are all aware of the financial challenges
of opening and operating a theater.

They have created an aggressive fund-raising plan to get started on
a building, and they plan to create a center with multiple uses that
they would be able to rent out to the artistic community.

Members of the organizing group, many of whom regularly write,
produce and perform plays, have no doubt there is a demand for an
Armenian arts center in Los Angeles. There are an estimated 400,000
Armenians living in Los Angeles County.

Betty Berberian, a film set decorator, recalled that, when she, her
husband and friends formed the Armenian Experimental Theater in the
1980s, they always played to full houses, but they had to spend up
to $10,000 each month to rent spaces to perform.

But when they tried to raise money to build a theater, the support
simply was not there.

“I think the community would be much more open to it now,” Berberian
said. “I think we’ve shown the audiences and Armenian people that
this is a necessity.

“Theater is the lifeblood of the community. For a small community,
especially an ethnic community, theater is the pulse, and it keeps
the youth together.”

But so-called ethnic theater in a diverse Los Angeles is now
experiencing an interest and reception it never had before.

Jose Luis Valenzuela, theater professor at the University of
California, Los Angeles, said the group of young Armenians is
responding to its community’s needs, which is always how ethnic
theater is created.

“Ethnic theater is in response to the needs and aspirations of their
communities, a need to express something of your own history, of who
you are,” said Valenzuela, the artistic director of the 19-year-old
Latino Theatre Company. His group, which currently rents a space in
downtown, is currently in discussions with the city of Los Angeles
to renovate the Los Angeles Theater Center.

“When you have a lack of opportunity for ethnic theater in Los
Angeles, you have groups responding to the needs of the community
because nobody else is giving them access.”

But financially, it’s not going to be easy, said Tim Dang, producing
artistic director of the East West Players, an Asian-American theater
that has been in Los Angeles since 1965.

The Players’ main source of financial support is the Asian-Pacific
community, Dang said. But what happens over time is that, as the
audience grows, drawing non-Armenians to the facility, the donor base
slowly diversifies.

It took 20 years for the theater to get financially comfortable. They
started out in a 99-seat theater in Silver Lake until they moved into
their current 240-seat theater in downtown.

But what ultimately drives an ethnic group’s desire to have its own
theater and take on the struggles is that need to share its culture.

“It’s a double perspective in that, yes, we want to do this for
our community to see ourselves on the stage because we rarely see
ourselves on the stage or in the media, but we also want to enlighten
the greater community about us,” he said.

For more information on the Armenian Center for the Arts or to get
involved, e-mail [email protected] .

Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 [email protected]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
PRESENTED AT SIAMANTO ACADEMY

by Gilda Buchakjian-Kupelian

NEW YORK, NY-Students at the Siamanto Academy of the Armenian National
Education Committee recently had the privilege to attend a most edifying
lecture by ethnomusicologist Krikor Pidedjian, and participated in the
second session of a theatrical workshop with acclaimed actress and producer
Nora Armani.
Mr. Pidedjian’s lecture focused on the work of Gomidas Vartabed on the
occasion of his 135th birthday. A Gomidas specialist and the author of
several authoritative books and articles on the various expressions of
Armenian music, Mr. Pidedjian introduced Gomidas Vartabed as the cleric who
rescued ancient Armenian songs from extinction by gathering them from remote
villages. A special part of the presentation included Mr. Pidedjian’s own
collection of books, awards and original music by Gomidas, including a
recording in his own voice and a sample of his handwriting.
Siamanto Academy students attended the second session of the highly
awaited theater workshop conducted by Nora Armani. Principal Krikor
Lakissian introduced the renowned guest, who hails from Egypt, and who has
had an auspicious presence on the European, Middle Eastern and American
stage and silver screen, garnering several awards for her work. Ms Armani
divided the students into small groups and led movement and vocal exercises.
An enthusiastic question and answer period followed.
The above programs are indicative of the rich, cultural exposure given
to the students of the Siamanto Academy. In an effort to benefit a larger
circle of Armenian youth, the Academy is seeking to include students from
Philadelphia and alumni from the New Jersey Nareg Saturday School in
sessions conducted by guest lecturers. Furthermore, Siamanto Academy
students have been invited to participate in the Hamazkayin of New York
chorus in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Genocide.
Mr. Lakissian thanked the presenters on behalf of the Armenian National
Education Committee and the Siamanto Academy. “Your expert and captivating
presentations, which will be remembered by the students with pride, are an
important part of their education,” he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

State Magazine (U.S. Dept. of State)
Feb 2005
page 11-15

P O S T O F T H E M O N T H
By Kimberly Hargan

YEREVAN
U.S. Helps Land of Noah’s Ark Steer Toward Future

Armenia is a young country in an ancient land. The Republic of
Armenia has been independent in its present form only since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

But the earliest mention of the region dates to the 13th century
B.C., in Assyrian descriptions of the kingdom of Urartu, which was
succeeded by the kingdom of Armenia in the 6th century B.C. The
biblical book of Genesis refers to Noah’s landing on Mt. Ararat,
visible directly to the south of the capital, Yerevan. (As a result
of the shifting sands of history, Mt. Ararat, located near the center
of the ancient Armenian kingdom, is now just across the border in
Turkey.)

Archaeological evidence indicates there were settlements in the
area of Yerevan from the 6th to the 3rd millennium B.C. The name
Yerevan derives from a fortress settlement, Erebuni, established in
783 B.C. The ruins of Erebuni can still be seen on a hilltop in the
city. In 301 A.D., King Trdat (Tiridates) III was converted to
Christianity by St. Gregory the Illuminator and decreed that his
kingdom would follow suit, making Armenia Armenia the world’s first
Christian nation. Around 400, Bishop Mesrop Mashtots devised an
alphabet for the Armenian language for his translation of the Bible.
The resulting literary and religious traditions have remained at
the core of Armenian identity.

Current U.S. involvement in Armenia got started in 1988 with relief
efforts following a terrible earthquake. After independence, the
country lost most of its Soviet industrial base and economic
connections. It also faced the closure of its borders to the east
(with Azerbaijan) and west (withTurkey) as a result of the conflict
in Nagorno-Karabakh. In those years, most buildings were without
central heating or electricity, so trees were cut down and a
spiderweb of overhead electrical lines grew as Armenians borrowed
electricity where they could find it.

While the first years of U.S. assistance concentrated on humanitarian
needs, it’s now aimed at development. Armenia was once considered the
Silicon Valley of the Soviet Union, providing advanced avionics for
Soviet aircraft and supercomputers. Literacy is nearly 100 percent,
reflecting the high priority placed on education. But the Armenian
economy collapsed. Recent annual growth rates from 8 to 12 percent a
year should allow the gross domestic
product this year to return to its 1991 level.

A unique factor in the U.S.-Armenian relationship is the
Armenian-American diaspora, which consists of several generations of
Armenians who fled from troubles in this corner of the world and now
call the United States home. Earlier immigrants settled around
Fresno, Calif.; Boston and Detroit. Many of the post-Soviet
immigrants have created a Little Armenia in Glendale, Calif., a
suburb of Los Angeles.

With their penchant for business, they have adapted well to life in
America, including politics. They lobby Congress enthusiastically on
behalf of their homeland. So the embassy works not only with
audiences in Armenia, but with an American “constituency” with
considerable interest in U.S. policy and actions in Armenia.

The U.S. Mission focuses on improving regional security
and stability, fostering the development of democratic institutions
and encouraging broad-based and sustainable economic
growth. State’s non-proliferation and border security
program office helps prevent the movement of materials for
weapons of mass destruction. The Bureau of International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs works with
Armenian authorities to combat transportation of narcotics,
money laundering and trafficking in persons. The
U.S. Agency for International Development works on
democracy and social reform, public health, economic
restructuring and energy. The Department of Defense handles
military-to-military relations and some humanitarian
assistance. The Department of Agriculture has introduced
an American-style extension service and created a marketing
assistance program. Treasury assists and trains government
officials in modern methods of budgeting and financial
control. More than 90 Peace Corps volunteers teach
English, advise small and medium enterprises, and develop
environmental awareness.

A new chancery
overlooking Lake
Yerevan, with a beautiful
view of Mt. Ararat,
is being completed.
There is no clearer
demonstration of U.S.
long-term commitment
than this state-of-theart
facility.
”

The staff required to manage all these programs has grown
tremendously over the last decade. The embassy building, the
former Communist Youth League headquarters, is overcrowded.
Located on a major thoroughfare, it doesn’t meet
current security or earthquake safety standards, crucial in this
seismically active zone. A new chancery overlooking Lake
Yerevan, with a beautiful view of Mt. Ararat, is being completed.
The move is scheduled for early April. There is no
clearer demonstration of U.S. long-term commitment than
this state-of-the-art facility.

Yerevan continues to be a hardship posting. Public buildings
are often minimally heated during winter, if at all.
Visitors to schools and offices will see students or staff bundled
up in thick coats, scarves and hats. Most imports come
overland through Georgia or Iran, which makes for short
supplies, high prices and some petty corruption.
International flights to Yerevan involve long layovers and latenight
arrivals.

In spite of these difficulties, an assignment to Armenia can
be rewarding. The people are warm and hospitable, often
inviting foreigners to join them in family celebrations. The
culture is rich. Traditional music and dance flourish even in
the face of competition from MTV and other sources of
global influences. You can hunt for paintings, sculptures and
handwoven carpets in open-air markets. Classical music,
opera, ballet and jazz all thrive. As the economy improves,
restaurants, cafes and clubs in Yerevan expand. The mountainous
countryside is spectacular and churches,monasteries
and other monuments from prehistoric times onward are
sprinkled throughout the country.

In a country the size of Maryland, with a population of
around three and a quarter million, it’s easy to see changes
and meet the people who benefit directly from U.S. programs.
Armenians at all levels eagerly look to the United
States for support in moving from their Soviet past into the
community of modern democratic nations. ¦
The author is the public affairs officer in Yerevan.

AT A G L A N C E
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook 2004
Country name: Armenia
Capital: Yerevan
Government: Republic
Independence: September 21, 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Population: 3.2 million
Languages: Armenian and Russian
Total area: 29,000 square kilometers
Approximate size: Slightly smaller than Maryland
Currency: Dram (AMD)
Per capita income: $3,500
Unemployment rate: 20%
Export commodities: Diamonds, minerals, food products and energy
Export partners: Belgium (18.2%), United Kingdom (16.8%) and Israel
(15.7%)
Literacy rate: 98.6%

–Boundary_(ID_9jxECNXiKVf1ZOj4oN49cg)–

Russian company buys Armenian power grid

Gateway 2 Russia, Russia
Feb 15 2005

In November last year Regnum news agency reported about talks between
the British trade and industrial concern Midland Resources Holding Ltd
and the RAO UES (Russia) [Russia’s power grid monopoly Unified Energy
System] on the sale of the Armenian power grid. The press secretary of
the Armenian power grid, Margarita Grigoryan, officially denied reports
from a well-informed source in the company that the Russian holding
would become the owner of the Armenian power grid in January 2005.

Meanwhile, Yerevan-based newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak reported on 12
February that a subsidiary of the RAO UES of Russia, Inter RAO UES,
has bought the Armenian power grid from Midland Resources for 80m
dollars. The deal will be officially made public in April 2005, the
newspaper noted. Aykakan Zhamanak noted that the World Bank is roundly
against handing over the Armenian power grid to Russia. The newspaper
also alleged that “after the sale of the Armenian power grid, Russia
will not be the only one to control them”. [Sentence as published]

To recap, an agreement on the sale of the Armenian power grid was
signed in Yerevan on 26 August between the Armenian government and
the British trade and industrial concern Midland Resources Holding
Ltd. In accordance with the document, 80.1 per cent of the Armenian
power grid shares were sold to the concern for 37.15m dollars. The
British company was to pay 12.15m dollars for the shares and to
allocate another 25m dollars to the Armenian budget to cover the
Armenian power grid’s debts and to pay wage arrears.

The RAO UES of Russia owns the Sevan-Razdan cascade of hydro-electric
power plants and the Razdan thermoelectric power plant and controls
finances of the Armenia Nuclear Power Plant. The RAO UES set up the
International Energy Corporation closed-type joint-stock company in May
2003 for the management of the Sevan-Razdan cascade of hydro-electric
power plants, which was handed over to Russia to cover part of the debt
for the nuclear fuel delivered for the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.

Finances of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant have been placed in
trust management of Inter RAO UES, a subsidiary of the RAO UES,
(60 per cent of shares) and Russia’s state nuclear power holding
Rosenergoatom (40 per cent) for five years.

Probably, the sale of the Armenian power grid should be viewed in
the context of the RAO UES’ attempt to synchronize the power grids
of the entire region, including Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Taking account of the fact that after the commissioning of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, Armenia will export electricity to Iran
in exchange for the supplied gas, which is outlined in the major
agreement, the issue of synchronizing the Armenian and Iranian power
grids could also emerge on the agenda. Since the RAO UES is also the
owner of Georgia’s major power facilities, one can say that the RAO UES
is striving to synchronize the work of the power grids of the whole of
the region, including Armenia, Georgia and even Turkey in the future.

Source: Regnum, Moscow

Christian Today
Feb 15 2005

WCC Central Committee Meeting Focuses on Reconciliation & Healing

Catholicos Aram I, Lebanon (Left) and WCC General Secretary Rev. Dr.
Samuel Kobia (Peter Williams / WCC)

Opening Worship (Peter Williams / WCC)

Opening actions: Introduction, consensus procedures (Peter Williams /
WCC)

The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee meeting opens
on 15th February and will continue until February 22. The meeting
aims to prepare for the ninth assembly of the Council, which meets in
Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February 2006, with the theme “God, in your
grace, transform the world”.

The WCC central committee this year gathers under the overall theme
of “Healing and reconciliation”. On 15th February, the Moderator,
Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, called on the worldwide
church to rediscover healing as a comprehensive ministry that
transforms, empowers and reconciles.

Citing the tragedy that happened ninety years ago when the Ottoman
empire began to kill the Armenians within its borders, a million and
a half Armenian lives were claimed, Catholicos Aram urged the church
worldwide to take responsibility for recovering the history.

“The past haunts the victims,” Aram I said, “We cannot free ourselves
from the past unless that past is duly recognised.”

“God’s mission calls for a healing church in the midst of a broken,
fragmented and alienated world,” he continued.

According to Aram I, this reconciliation is something more than
political issue, “It is a change of consciousness, transformation of
attitudes, healing of memories.”

As churches reconcile with God, it also means reconciling with one
another and the whole creation, building bridges across religious,
social and cultural divides.

In addition, he emphasised the importance of confession in the
process of reconciliation. “Guilt must be admitted; truth must be
told”, Aram I said. Recognition and confession open the way to
forgiveness.

Through recognition, confession and forgiveness, both victim and
perpetrator can “liberate themselves from the bitterness of the past”
and, by looking for “restorative and transformative justice”, commit
themselves to “life together in peace with justice”.

In conclusion, six tasks were outlined as continuing priorities for
the ecumenical movement and the WCC in the years ahead:

– exploring what it means to “be church”;
– caring for life in all its forms;
– addressing contemporary ethical issues;
– viewing ecology as a moral, theological, and spiritual question;
– promoting reconciliation as a key element in mission; and
– challenging the dominant concepts and practices of power.

“God’s healing power transforms the ambiguity of human power, moving
the world from power that is absolute, centralised, violent and
self-sufficient to power that is vulnerable, accountable, non-violent
and shared,” said Arma I.

Eunice K. Y. Or

Armenia Diamond Sector Declined in 2004

IDEX Online, Israel
Feb 15 2005

(February 15, ’05, 10:14 IDEX Online Staff Reporter)

Armenian government plans to advance the country’s diamond cutting
industry, which suffered a major setback last year with an almost 20
percent slump in production when measured in the Armenian currency,
the dram.

The fall in production is largely due to the decline of the U.S.
dollar on international money markets according to government
officials, the eurasianet.org website reported.

Armenian officials remain optimistic, however, saying the industry,
which employs around 4,000 workers, will bounce back this year.
Diamonds are Armenia’s top export item, accounting for close to 40
percent of exports.

There are more than 50 diamond cutting firms in Armenia, although the
sector brings little benefit to the government since most companies
are owned by foreign investors meaning it is exempt from excise and
value-added taxes.

At the end of 2003, Armenia approved a multi-year plan with a target
of almost doubling annual cut-diamond production to $500 million and
creating about 10,000 new jobs. Government estimates suggest diamond
production last year fell back from the 2003 level in dollar terms
to about $280 million last year.

Deliveries of rough diamonds from Russia that fell short of
expectations have also compounded Armenia’s problems. Most rough
supplies came from Israel and Belgium.

ARF sets up two groups

Yerkir/arm
11 Feb 05

The Armenia organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF) has set up two groups to work on amendments to the Armenian
Constitution and Electoral Code, Levon Mkrtchian, National Assembly’s
ARF faction leader told a briefing at the NA.

He said: â~@~We have already discussed in our party our
recommendations on the issue of the Constitutional changes, which
are to be discussed tomorrow.

In fact, the attention should be made to the work on local
self-governance aspect, balance between the judiciary, executive and
legislative bodies. We have created two work groups in our party,
who are dealing with the issues of the Constitutional amendments
and the Electoral Code, since we already have the conclusions of the
international experts.â~@~]

–Boundary_(ID_G8vjNgcgzrReRAfegINvSg)–

Time to jump off crashing train

Yerkir/arm
11 Feb 05

The Turkish Daily News published on February 9 an article of the
famous Turkish journalist Mehmed Ali Birand on the Turkish policy on
the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The article is entitled â~@~We have
already missed the train.â~@~]

Birand states that Armenians were successful in proving to the
international community, and especially the West their viewpoint on
the genocide.

â~@~Armenians have been pursuing their goal consistently for 75
years. They have published thousands of books and articles. They have
organized faculties at universities and convinced the international
community. And eventually they reached an international recognition,
despite the fact their information was not sufficient and did not
reflect the reality,â~@~] writes the Turkish journalist.

In this respect, Birand outlines a new way for the Turkish policy. He
calls on the government to set up a new policy chapter, acting in
accordance with todayâ~@~Ys situation and minimizing losses.

As a matter of fact, Turks do not or do not want to understand that
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide took place not so much due
to the work of Armenians, but due that the civilized world denounced
the crime not only to Armenians but to the whole humanity.

And so Turks should think not about missing a train but about jumping
off the deception train.

–Boundary_(ID_i0yYqDf6hyKvfEkM/fhPZw)–

Value orientation
Editorial

Yerkir/arm
11 Feb 05

On different occasions one may hear the questions of whether Armenia
can normally develop without normalizing relations with Turkey and
Azerbaijan or whether it is not in Armeniaâ~@~Ys interests to have
good relations with these countries.

Of course, any country will be more secure with friendly
relations with neighbors. But these relations should be based on
certain principles. It is not correct to oppose territorial or
property-demanding norms to good relations. Each country has its
national values, its history which serves as basis for existence to
the country. The Roman proverb says: â~@~Those who look at their
history with negligence are doomed to look at the future with fear
and doubt.â~@~]

What is the price of those good relations? If the price includes our
national dignity, loss of motherland, and if we pay a price that will
turn us into a group of biological units carrying their existence,
then what is the worth of living on this land at all? We can all go
to more prosperous countries live on better conditions there. What
is the point of preserving the Armenian statehood, if we do not have
certain goals and principles?

And when our neighbors demand that we lose all that and condition it
for good relations, we say that we refuse to live as slaves. We want
to have equal relations, based on justice. The Armenian nation has
undergone a historical injustice and this injustice is recognized by
the whole world. The current process of the Genocide recognition proves
that the actual civilization recognizes the right of Armenian nation.

Let the Turks and Azerbaijanis think of being interested having
good relations with us, a nation that has suffered greatly from
them. Moreover that Armenia has announced to be ready to start
diplomatic relation without any pre-conditions. Turkey, in turn, sets
its conditions for regulating relationships, referring to relations
with a third country, which really violates our rights.

We must admit that each union, especially the one called a nation has
its values. The history does not know a nation without a values system,
a system that enables it preserve its existence. On the other hand,
the history has many examples of nations being destroyed for losing
their own values.

–Boundary_(ID_MB8ycw3xMOSz7EGaRll0fA)–

ARMENIAN YOUTH DEMAND ARMENIAN GENOCIDE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

A1+
15-02-2005

31 Armenian youth organizations issued a common statement on the
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

The necessity of such statement was conditioned by the fact that
during his visit to Turkey Chairman of the Youth Party of Armenia
Sargis Asatryan said that in order to establish dialogue with Turkey
Armenians should forget about the Genocide.

Although upon arrival in Armenia Sargis Asatryan has refuted this
news, the adopted statement says, â~@~We condemn the organizations,
individuals and institutions the activities of which are directed
to concealment of the fact of the Armenian Genocide and impede the
international condemnation of the crime against humanity”. The
Armenian youth will press for the recognition of the Genocide by the
international community.

–Boundary_(ID_bfWUAGOzEa9aV/MkK8tbhw)–