Wednesday 1st of December, 7.30-9pm UK time 

ONLINE ONLY

Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian, Armenian Institute Librarian

Ani Babaian, NAASR Library Curator

Boris Adjemian, Director of the Nubarian Library, Paris

Khatchig Mouradian, Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist at the Library of Congress

Moderated by Tatevik Ayvazyan, Director of the Armenian Institute 

Join us for a special panel on Armenian libraries and collections worldwide. A part of our dedicated event programme celebrating AI's 20th anniversary, the AI library and archives have been our core pillar since our founding two decades ago. Now, as we look to the next twenty years, we've joined forces with our friends at NAASR to gather an all-star panel of librarians and specialists on Armenian collections, including the US Library of Congress, the Nubarian Library, Paris, and the AI and NAASR's very own librarians. We'll discuss the ins and outs of Armenian collections, the importance of dedicated libraries, and how we can work together to ensure this crucial part of global Armenian heritage stays alive and innovative long into the future.

GAGIK STEPAN-SARKISSIAN is also the Head of the Language Department and East Armenian teacher of the Institute. He is a retired biochemist, who has taught and led research groups at Teheran State University and University of Sheffield. He developed the first Armenian syllabus for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and taught there over several years. 

KHATCHIG MOURADIAN is the Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress and a lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. He also serves as Co-Principal Investigator of the project on Armenian Genocide Denial at the Global Institute for Advanced Studies, New York University. Mouradian is the author of The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria, 1915-1918, published in 2021. 

ANI BABAIAN is an independent researcher and artist and art conservator and serves as the Library Curator at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

BORIS ADJEMIAN  is a historian and the director of the AGBU Nubar Library, in Paris. He defended his PhD in 2011 at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, France) and Università degli Studi di Napoli (Italy). He is the co-founder and co-editor of the academic journal Études arméniennes contemporaines and an editorial board member of 20 & 21: Revue d’histoire.

TATEVIK AYVAZYAN is the director of the Armenian Institute and will be moderating the conversation.

Value our work? See here how you can support us and get involved! https://www.gofundme.com/f/20yearsatai

N.B. This event is blended in person and on Zoom. To attend online follow the link above, to attend in person contact our programme manager at nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk

Join us for the latest AI Film Club, a screening of “Sculpting the Void” by Sergo Ustyan, a 17-minute documentary about the key projects and working methods and philosophy of a London-based Armenian architect Michel Mossesian. Michel says “As a proud citizen of the world, I am deeply inspired by the different people, places and cultures I engage with. These differences inspire my work and are reflected in my designs as I perceive and distill the uniqueness of each place and offer a fresh way of capturing and communicating its essence.
For me, architecture is a medium for conversations around people, life and places, with a long term sustainable future. I believe in architecture that adds value and benefits society ‘beyond buildings’, focussing on the people that inhabit spaces, the local environment and public arenas.”

Bios:

Sergo Ustyan is a film director and producer. In 2015 he graduated from the Film Directing Department of the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK, Sergey Soloviev's workshop). He is currently a Film Distribution and Marketing MA student at Birmingham City University. Since 2016 is writing and developing his debut feature film project called ‘’The Exchange’’ which he is planning to shoot in Armenia.

Michel Mossessian is a world-class architect whose London based practice delivers award-winning projects around the world. He studied philosophy and architecture in Paris, was a Villa Medicis fellow at Cooper Union, NY, and completed his masters at Harvard. He became the youngest Associate Director and Senior Designer in the history of leading US practice SOM, where he led design on projects including the new Brussels NATO headquarters. Michel founded his own practice in London in 2005. Current projects include: the main square and 26 buildings for Doha’s downtown Msheireb development; a regeneration of the artisan quarter in Fez’s medina; and a major office complex for Argent at King’s Cross, London.
***
JOIN US ON ZOOM HERE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81680978901
***
This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

N.B. This event is entirely online.

Since the Armenian Institute’s 2019 town hall there have been significant changes in Armenia. The euphoria of the change that came to happen has dissipated and now, some would argue, there is more uncertainty than the days prior to the 2018 revolution.The Armenian Institute will be hosting a new series exploring the post-revolution period from 2019 with leading individuals and organisations in the diaspora, and how the war and the pandemic have reshaped our views, outlook and priorities.

***
As part of our new series we are hosting a discussion with four leading analysts who will share their thoughts on this post-revolution era, the impact of the war and the latest elections. How are these affecting the rule of law? What has changed since the revolution? Is Armenia facing an existential threat? Are citizens really having to choose between civil liberties and national security? How can Armenia break the current deadlock?

Bios:

Moderator: Tatiana der Avedissian

Lara Setrakian is the CEO of News Deeply, now publishing in collaboration with The New Humanitarian. She also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Fresco Capital, a venture capital fund based in Hong Kong. Lara spent five years as a foreign correspondent covering the Middle East for ABC News and Bloomberg Television. Inc Magazine dubbed her one of the “Women Who Could Own the Future,” while Fast Company named her one of its “100 Most Creative People in Business.” Lara is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She currently sits on the Global Future Council on Media, Entertainment and Culture.

Armen Kharazian runs his own law firm representing clients in white-collar criminal defense and investigations, national security law, and anti-corruption. Armen is a former member of Armenia’s foreign service, where he held senior positions, including Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington, DC, and Head of the Foreign Ministry’s Arms Control & International Security Affairs Department, with prior postings in Armenia’s missions to the OSCE, IAEA, & CFE Treaty Joint Consultative Group in Vienna, and Armenia’s delegation to the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Talks. Following his career in diplomacy, Armen served in a government affairs role as the Research & Analysis Director for the Armenian Assembly of America.

Vicken Cheterian is a lecturer in history and international relations at the University of Geneva and Webster University Geneva. He started his career as a journalist covering the conflicts in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East, writing for major European and Middle Eastern papers. He received his PhD from the Graduate Institute in Geneva. He is the author of several books including War and Peace in the Caucasus, Russia’s Troubled Frontier (Hurst and Columbia University Press, 2009), and his latest book is Open Wounds, Armenians, Turks and a Century of Genocide (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2015).

Lilit Gevorgyan is responsible for analyzing the macroeconomic, political, security, and business environment of Russia and the former Soviet republics. She has lived and worked in Armenia, Russia, Ukraine and the US. As a regular contributor to major media outlets, including frequent guest appearances on BBC Radio Four's Today Show and newscasts, she participates in broadcasts by CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera, among others. Prior to joining IHS Markit in 2009, Lilit had gained knowledge of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) risk environment during her time at the Eurasia House at Cambridge University, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), LSE Enterprise and the United Nations. Earlier in her career, she worked for the ministries of foreign affairs and economy in Armenia and she was also a press relations officer for the Armenian Diplomatic Mission in London.
***
JOIN US ON ZOOM HERE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86134312628
***
Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution

N.B. This event is entirely online.

Join us, Ara Dinkjian and friends for a musical celebration of 20 years of the Armenian Institute. Bringing together friends from Armenia, across the diaspora, and our neighbours historic and present, the evening will resonate with “The Notes That Bind Us”: those melodies, rhythms and instruments that bring the global Armenian diaspora and all the communities of the region together.

Each performer has chosen pieces which reflect this musical evocation of AI’s mission to make Armenian history and culture a living experience, and reveal and renew our deep interconnection with our neighbours. Each will be introduced by Ara, and we’ll hear from his own intercommunal musical collective, The Secret Trio, with Tamer Pinarbaşi and Ismail Lumanovski. We’re also honoured to be joined by:

Eleftheria Arvanitaki
Collectif Medz Bazar
Suna Alan
Norah Shaqur
Erdal Erzinjan
Haig Yazdjian
Miqayel Voskanyan

***
The evening is part of series of events celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Armenian Institute’s founding, and is a fundraiser so that we can continue our mission into the next 20 years.
***
Value our work? See here how you can support us and get involved! https://www.gofundme.com/f/20yearsatai

N.B. This event is entirely online.

We are delighted to welcome author Nadia Owusu to talk about her memoir, ‘Aftershocks’.

Her moving, intimate and unsettling memoir was published earlier this year, immediately receiving excellent reviews and reactions from readers all over the world. It was selected as a best book of the year by Vulture, Amazon, and Time, and included on British Vogue’s “Absolute Best Summer Reads for 2021” list. Her lyrical, soft storytelling and raw, painful honesty immerse the reader into her life: endless travels with her UN-diplomat Ghanaian father, abandonment by her American-Armenian mother, boarding school memories from Britain, a web of complicated relationships and struggle with depression, and lots and lots of heartache and love.

Structuring the book around the metaphor of an earthquake, triggered by her own memory of hearing about the 1988 Spitak Earthquake, Nadia leads the reader through a fairytale-like journey of a young girl, searching for a place, for identity, for peace of mind.
“When I picture an earthquake, I picture an earthquake. And, I picture my mother’s back and my father’s tumor and planes crashing into towers. When I picture an earthquake, I picture orphans in Armenia and child soldiers. I picture myself, safe, behind guarded walls. I picture an absence. I hear thunder and silence. An earthquake is trauma and vulnerability: The earth’s, mine, yours”.
From Aftershocks: A Memoir

About Nadia:

NADIA OWUSU is a Ghanaian and Armenian-American writer and urbanist. She was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and raised in Italy, Ethiopia, England, Ghana, and Uganda. Her first book, Aftershocks, A Memoir, topped many most-anticipated and best book of the year lists, including The New York Times, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, TIME, Vulture, and the BBC. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.

Nadia is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award. Her lyric essay, So Devilish a Fire won the Atlas Review chapbook contest. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Lily, Orion, Granta, The Paris Review Daily, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Catapult, Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure, and others.

By day, Nadia is the Director of Storytelling at Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned consulting firm that helps social-change organizations to define goals, execute plans, and evaluate impact. She is a graduate of Pace University (BA) and Hunter College (MS). She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction at the Mountainview low-residency program where she now teaches. She lives in Brooklyn.

***
JOIN US ON ZOOM HERE
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84609861903
***
This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the online component of the event had to be cancelled today and will take place only in person. We will reschedule the zoom event soon and let you know asap. Our apologies to everyone who tried to join.

AI Team

N.B. This event is blended in person and on Zoom. To attend online follow the link above, to attend in person contact our programme manager at nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk.

The event is held at Gulbenkian Hall, Iverna Gardens London, England, W8 6TP

Join us for a day of talks and discussion about the initial results and analysis from the Armenian Diaspora Survey in the UK. ADS conducts surveys of public opinion in Armenian diaspora communities to inform the public, scholars, policy-makers and community leaders about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the Armenian world in the 21st century. ADS is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and carried out under the auspices of the Armenian Institute in London.

We return to AI’s longtime home in Gulbenkian Hall, to report and discuss directly with the community. Bringing together specialist researchers with community participants, the day is an opportunity to find out more about ADS and its work, and to reflect on the UK Armenian community in 2021 in a friendly setting. Food and refreshments will be provided, and the event will be followed by a wine reception.

For the full programme see below. The event will be blended, in person at Gulbenkian Hall and on Zoom, for the Zoom link follow the button above, to attend in person or ask any questions contact our programme manager at nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk.

Introduction - 12.00

Welcome Razmik Panossian (Gulbenkian Foundation)

Overview of the Armenian Diaspora Survey & the UK Results Hratch Tchilingirian (Armenian Diaspora Survey)

Methodology of ADS Hayk Gyuzelyan (Armenian Diaspora Survey)

Session 1 - 12.30

The ADS Results of the UK Armenian community, Susan Pattie (Armenian Institute)

Q&A

Lunch - 13.45

Session 2 - 15.00

Reflections on the UK Results & Comparisons with Other Diaspora Communities, Sossie Kasbarian (University of Stirling) & Vahe Sahakyan (University of Michigan)

Q&A

Break - 16.00

Session 3 - 16.15

The UK Results: A Community Perspective, with Members of the UK Armenian Community, Paula Melville, David Zakarian & Noemi Stepan-Sarkisian

Q&A

Closing - 17.15

Where next? The Armenian Institute

Wine Reception - 17.30

***

This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

N.B. This event is entirely online.

Celeste Nazeli Snowber will share from her recent book of poetry, The Marrow of Longing published by HARP Press in 2021:

https://www.harppublishing.ca/books/the-marrow-of-longing/

A descendent of Armenian genocide survivors, Celeste Nazeli Snowber explores the relationship between longing, belonging and identity. She traces intergenerational trauma, her own heartaches and yearnings, motherhood, lessons from kitchen conversations and Armenian food to uncover universal themes.

In doing so, she leads readers to discover what has shaped their own lives. Celeste is particularly interested in excavating fragments of ancestral memory—“Fragments can hold a world,” she says, and the poetic process breaks open insight and wisdom. Celeste will explore how writing poetry and dance can be a way of inquiry into one’s story, providing a fertile space for finding a voice and how the arts can be a space for wholeness.

Bio

Celeste Nazeli Snowber, PhD is a dancer, poet, writer, award-winning educator who is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Canada. She has published and performed widely and her books include Embodied Inquiry and three collections of poetry. Her latest book of

poetry, The Marrow of Longing explores her Armenian identity. Celeste creates site-specific performances and can be found dancing between land and sea and at www.celestesnowber.com

***

JOIN US ON ZOOM HERE:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83194280703

***

This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution

Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 6pm UK / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT

Live on Zoom. Registration is required and free. https://bit.ly/NAASRFranklin

Livestream on NAASR’s YouTube channel Armenian Studies. https://www.youtube.com/c/ArmenianStudies

PRESENTER

DR. KATE FRANKLIN, Director of the Masters Program in Medical History, Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birkbeck University of London

DISCUSSANT

DR. NIK MATHEOU, Historian of medieval Armenia, Programme Manager, Armenian Institute

Dr. Franklin will be in conversation with Armenian Institute’s Dr. Nik Matheou, a historian of medieval Armenia working on the same themes and materials, followed by a general Q&A.

Join NAASR and the Armenian Institute for a book launch and discussion of Dr. Kate Franklin’s groundbreaking study Everyday Cosmopolitanisms: Living the Silk Road in Medieval Armenia. While the Silk Road is widely studied, hotly debated, and often viewed as a precursor to contemporary globalization, the lives of ordinary people who lived on these nexuses of intercontinental exchange. Dr. Franklin sets out to correct this picture, guiding the reader through increasingly intimate scales of global exchange to highlight the cosmopolitan dimensions of daily life, as she vividly reconstructs how people living in and passing through the medieval Caucasus understood the world and their place within it.

With an innovative focus on the far-reaching implications of local practices, Everyday Cosmopolitanisms brings the study of medieval Eurasia into relation with contemporary discussions of cosmopolitanism and globalization and challenges persistent divisions between modern and medieval, global and local.

CO-SPONSORS

Armenian Institute

National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)

The Armenian Institute is privileged to have the leading Armenian linguist and etymology scholar Dr Hrach Martirosyan present this Book on Display event, where he will be in conversation with AI Librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian about the work and its importance.

The event will be blended in-person/online, if you would like to attend in person, please contact our program manager at nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk.

Our next Book on Display event will feature Hrachya Acharian’s Root Dictionary of Armenian Words. The Armenian Institute Library is the proud custodian of the very rare first edition of the dictionary, a facsimile publication of the author’s handwritten copy (8,000 octavo pages). Acharian spent decades studying the roots of Armenian words and compiled a list of around 11,000 detailed entries with their definition, variations in form, theory of origin and historic development of each word. Apart from Noam Chomsky, linguists and in particular etymologists rarely achieve national celebrity status. Another exception is Acharian (1876-1953), who became a prominent cultural figure and ‘public intellectual’ in his lifetime, a reputation that has endured in Armenia and the diaspora after his death.

***
Join us on Zoom Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85489986416
***
This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

AI Series with Dr. Hrach Martirosyan Celebrating 20 Years of Linguistic & Literary Heritage at the Armenian Institute.

Please email nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you are planning to attend in person.

Attendance of each ‘AI Studio’ seminar is £10 (£6 for concessions), or £25 (£15 for concessions) to book on all three.

Join Us Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84114800985
***

At present, Armenian is spoken in the Republic of Armenia (ca. 3 million people) and the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic / Mountainous Gharabagh), as well as in Russia, USA, France, Italy, Georgia, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, and many other countries. The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7-11 million. Historically, Armenian was spoken on a vast territory that basically included the Armenian Highlands (the Armenian plateau) and some adjacent areas of it. Historical Armenia (known as Hayk‘ and Hayastan, based on hay ‘Armenian’) was centred around Mount Ararat (Masis), Lake Van and the Araxes (Erasx) Valley.
The Armenian language is known to us from the fifth century CE onwards thanks to an unbroken literary tradition comprising three periods: Classical (5th to 11th centuries), Middle (12th to 16th), and Modern (17th to present).

Furthermore, one usually distinguishes around fifty or sixty modern Armenian dialects, a number of which have died out. Classical Armenian is named Grabar, literally: ‘written (language), book (language) / Schriftsprache’. The fifth century is regarded as the golden age of Armenian literature. The Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Maštocʻ and consists of 36 original letters.

The aim of this series is to elucidate the highlights of the history of the Armenian language and culture from Indo-European up to the modern period, and the significance of literary and dialectal linguistic data for the reconstruction of Old Armenian culture.

There are three seminars in this AI Studio series:

• AI Studio, Seminar 1: ‘The Historical Development of the Armenian Language’: Relationship with Indo-European languages of the Near East: Anatolian (Hittito-Luwian) and Iranian. Relationship with non-Indo-European languages of the Near East: Hattic, Caucasian, Semitic, Hurrian, and Urartian. The seminar will last 2hrs, Saturday 23rd October, 11am UK time.

• AI Studio, Seminar 2: ‘Classical & Middle Armenian’. The seminar will last 2hrs, Saturday 23rd October, 2pm UK time.

• AI Studio, Seminar 3: ‘Armenian Dialects’. This seminar will explore the various dialects of the Armenian language and their value for the reconstruction of Old Armenian language and culture, with particular emphasis on the dialects of Hamshen and Artsakh. The seminar will last 2hrs, Sunday 24th October, 6pm UK time.

***

Please email nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you are planning to attend in person.

Attendance of each ‘AI Studio’ seminar is £10 (£6 for concessions), or £25 (£15 for concessions) to book on all three

Join Us Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84114800985
***

Hrach Martirosyan is currently Lecturer in Eastern Armenian in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. After receiving his MA in Philology from Vanadzor Pedagogical Institute, he pursued graduate studies under the supervision of Prof. Sargis Harutyunyan at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. His dissertation “Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon” forthcoming from Brill (c. 1000 pp.) forms part of the larger project to compile an Indo-European Etymological Dictionary. Thereafter, he moved to Leiden University as a Guest Lecturer in the field of Classical Armenian from an Indo-European perspective (2011-2015). Subsequently, he held a postdoc at the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (2015- 2017), investigating Armenian personal names of Iranian origin under the supervision of Velizar Sadovski in the framework of an Iranian Prosopographical Dictionary. Most recently, he returned to his position at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics to continue etymological research on native Armenian vocabulary.

Dr. Martirosyan carries out an online course on the History of the Armenian language at his website “Hayerenagitut‘yan akademia (Հայերենագիտության ակադեմիա).” More information about his work is also up on his Facebook page. Since 2008 he has also been working on a project “HayaSSA: Hiking Summer School of Armenology.”

AI Series with Dr. Hrach Martirosyan Celebrating 20 Years of Linguistic & Literary Heritage at the Armenian Institute.

Please email nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you are planning to attend in person.

Attendance of each ‘AI Studio’ seminar is £10 (£6 for concessions), or £25 (£15 for concessions) to book on all three.

Join Us Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84114800985
***

At present, Armenian is spoken in the Republic of Armenia (ca. 3 million people) and the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic / Mountainous Gharabagh), as well as in Russia, USA, France, Italy, Georgia, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, and many other countries. The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7-11 million. Historically, Armenian was spoken on a vast territory that basically included the Armenian Highlands (the Armenian plateau) and some adjacent areas of it. Historical Armenia (known as Hayk‘ and Hayastan, based on hay ‘Armenian’) was centred around Mount Ararat (Masis), Lake Van and the Araxes (Erasx) Valley.
The Armenian language is known to us from the fifth century CE onwards thanks to an unbroken literary tradition comprising three periods: Classical (5th to 11th centuries), Middle (12th to 16th), and Modern (17th to present).

Furthermore, one usually distinguishes around fifty or sixty modern Armenian dialects, a number of which have died out. Classical Armenian is named Grabar, literally: ‘written (language), book (language) / Schriftsprache’. The fifth century is regarded as the golden age of Armenian literature. The Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Maštocʻ and consists of 36 original letters.

The aim of this series is to elucidate the highlights of the history of the Armenian language and culture from Indo-European up to the modern period, and the significance of literary and dialectal linguistic data for the reconstruction of Old Armenian culture.

There are three seminars in this AI Studio series:

• AI Studio, Seminar 1: ‘The Historical Development of the Armenian Language’: This seminar includes: the relationship with Indo-European languages of the Near East: Anatolian (Hittito-Luwian) and Iranian. & the relationship with non-Indo-European languages of the Near East: Hattic, Caucasian, Semitic, Hurrian, and Urartian. The seminar will last 2hrs, Saturday 23rd October, 11am UK time.

• AI Studio, Seminar 2: ‘Classical & Middle Armenian’. This seminar will discuss the beginnings of written Armenian, or Grabar, and the development of the language across antiquity and the Middle Ages. The seminar will last 2hrs, Saturday 23rd October, 2pm UK time.

• AI Studio, Seminar 3: ‘Armenian Dialects’. This seminar will explore the various dialects of the Armenian language and their value for the reconstruction of Old Armenian language and culture, with particular emphasis on the dialects of Hamshen and Artsakh. The seminar will last 2hrs, Sunday 24th October, 6pm UK time.

***

Please email nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you are planning to attend in person.

Attendance of each ‘AI Studio’ seminar is £10 (£6 for concessions), or £25 (£15 for concessions) to book on all three

Join Us Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84114800985
***

Hrach Martirosyan is currently Lecturer in Eastern Armenian in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. After receiving his MA in Philology from Vanadzor Pedagogical Institute, he pursued graduate studies under the supervision of Prof. Sargis Harutyunyan at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. His dissertation “Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon” forthcoming from Brill (c. 1000 pp.) forms part of the larger project to compile an Indo-European Etymological Dictionary. Thereafter, he moved to Leiden University as a Guest Lecturer in the field of Classical Armenian from an Indo-European perspective (2011-2015). Subsequently, he held a postdoc at the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (2015- 2017), investigating Armenian personal names of Iranian origin under the supervision of Velizar Sadovski in the framework of an Iranian Prosopographical Dictionary. Most recently, he returned to his position at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics to continue etymological research on native Armenian vocabulary.

Dr. Martirosyan carries out an online course on the History of the Armenian language at his website “Hayerenagitut‘yan akademia (Հայերենագիտության ակադեմիա).” More information about his work is also up on his Facebook page. Since 2008 he has also been working on a project “HayaSSA: Hiking Summer School of Armenology.”

AI Series with Dr. Hrach Martirosyan Celebrating 20 Years of Linguistic & Literary Heritage at the Armenian Institute.

Please email nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you are planning to attend in person.

Attendance of each ‘AI Studio’ seminar is £10 (£6 for concessions), or £25 (£15 for concessions) to book on all three.

Join Us Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84114800985
***

At present, Armenian is spoken in the Republic of Armenia (ca. 3 million people) and the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic / Mountainous Gharabagh), as well as in Russia, USA, France, Italy, Georgia, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, and many other countries. The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7-11 million. Historically, Armenian was spoken on a vast territory that basically included the Armenian Highlands (the Armenian plateau) and some adjacent areas of it. Historical Armenia (known as Hayk‘ and Hayastan, based on hay ‘Armenian’) was centred around Mount Ararat (Masis), Lake Van and the Araxes (Erasx) Valley.
The Armenian language is known to us from the fifth century CE onwards thanks to an unbroken literary tradition comprising three periods: Classical (5th to 11th centuries), Middle (12th to 16th), and Modern (17th to present).

Furthermore, one usually distinguishes around fifty or sixty modern Armenian dialects, a number of which have died out. Classical Armenian is named Grabar, literally: ‘written (language), book (language) / Schriftsprache’. The fifth century is regarded as the golden age of Armenian literature. The Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Maštocʻ and consists of 36 original letters.

The aim of this series is to elucidate the highlights of the history of the Armenian language and culture from Indo-European up to the modern period, and the significance of literary and dialectal linguistic data for the reconstruction of Old Armenian culture.

There are three seminars in this AI Studio series:

• AI Studio, Seminar 1: ‘The Historical Development of the Armenian Language’. This seminar includes: the relationship with Indo-European languages of the Near East: Anatolian (Hittito-Luwian) and Iranian. & the relationship with non-Indo-European languages of the Near East: Hattic, Caucasian, Semitic, Hurrian, and Urartian. The seminar will last 2hrs, Saturday 23rd October, 11am UK time.

• AI Studio, Seminar 2: ‘Classical & Middle Armenian’. This seminar will discuss the beginnings of written Armenian, or Grabar, and the development of the language across antiquity and the Middle Ages. The seminar will last 2hrs, Saturday 23rd October, 2pm UK time.

• AI Studio, Seminar 3: ‘Armenian Dialects’. This seminar will explore the various dialects of the Armenian language and their value for the reconstruction of Old Armenian language and culture, with particular emphasis on the dialects of Hamshen and Artsakh. The seminar will last 2hrs, Sunday 24th October, 6pm UK time.

***

Hrach Martirosyan is currently Lecturer in Eastern Armenian in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. After receiving his MA in Philology from Vanadzor Pedagogical Institute, he pursued graduate studies under the supervision of Prof. Sargis Harutyunyan at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. His dissertation “Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon” forthcoming from Brill (c. 1000 pp.) forms part of the larger project to compile an Indo-European Etymological Dictionary. Thereafter, he moved to Leiden University as a Guest Lecturer in the field of Classical Armenian from an Indo-European perspective (2011-2015). Subsequently, he held a postdoc at the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (2015- 2017), investigating Armenian personal names of Iranian origin under the supervision of Velizar Sadovski in the framework of an Iranian Prosopographical Dictionary. Most recently, he returned to his position at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics to continue etymological research on native Armenian vocabulary.

Dr. Martirosyan carries out an online course on the History of the Armenian language at his website “Hayerenagitut‘yan akademia (Հայերենագիտության ակադեմիա).” More information about his work is also up on his Facebook page. Since 2008 he has also been working on a project “HayaSSA: Hiking Summer School of Armenology.”

This event is blended in person/online. Please email nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you are planning to attend in person.

At present, Armenian is spoken in the Republic of Armenia (ca. 3 million people) and the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic / Mountainous Gharabagh), as well as in Russia, USA, France, Italy, Georgia, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, and many other countries. The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7-11 million. Historically, Armenian was spoken on a vast territory that basically included the Armenian Highlands (the Armenian plateau) and some adjacent areas of it. Historical Armenia (known as Hayk‘ and Hayastan, based on hay ‘Armenian’) was centred around Mount Ararat (Masis), Lake Van and the Araxes (Erasx) Valley.
The Armenian language is known to us from the fifth century CE onwards thanks to an unbroken literary tradition comprising three periods: Classical (5th to 11th centuries), Middle (12th to 16th), and Modern (17th to present).

Furthermore, one usually distinguishes around fifty or sixty modern Armenian dialects, a number of which have died out. Classical Armenian is named Grabar, literally: ‘written (language), book (language) / Schriftsprache’. The fifth century is regarded as the golden age of Armenian literature. The Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Maštocʻ and consists of 36 original letters.

Armenian is an Indo-European language and as such plays an important role for the reconstruction of the Indo-European protolanguage and protoculture. The aim of this talk, the first in a series with Dr. Hrach Martirosyan, is to elucidate the origins of the Armenian language and related cultural features in the Indo-European language family, and its relevance for the reconstruction of Old Armenian culture.

Join Us Here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89054920428

***

Hrach Martirosyan is currently Lecturer in Eastern Armenian in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. After receiving his MA in Philology from Vanadzor Pedagogical Institute, he pursued graduate studies under the supervision of Prof. Sargis Harutyunyan at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. His dissertation “Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon” forthcoming from Brill (c. 1000 pp.) forms part of the larger project to compile an Indo-European Etymological Dictionary. Thereafter, he moved to Leiden University as a Guest Lecturer in the field of Classical Armenian from an Indo-European perspective (2011-2015). Subsequently, he held a postdoc at the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (2015- 2017), investigating Armenian personal names of Iranian origin under the supervision of Velizar Sadovski in the framework of an Iranian Prosopographical Dictionary. Most recently, he returned to his position at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics to continue etymological research on native Armenian vocabulary.

Dr. Martirosyan carries out an online course on the History of the Armenian language at his website “Hayerenagitut‘yan akademia (Հայերենագիտության ակադեմիա).” More information about his work is also up on his Facebook page. Since 2008 he has also been working on a project “HayaSSA: Hiking Summer School of Armenology.”

One year on from the devastating 44-day war and the consequences are still unfolding, for Artsakh/Karabakh, Armenia, and the global Armenian community. The new “status quo” established by the 9th November ceasefire is yet to settle, with fresh instability at the borders of Armenia itself, sporadic fighting, and continuing provocations in words and deeds from the Aliyev regime. How are we to make sense of all this, and what can be done?

To ask exactly these questions, we’re honoured to be joined by His Excellency Varuzhan Nersesyan, newly appointed ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the United Kingdom. In his first public engagement following his move from a highly successful period as ambassador to the United States, H.E. Nersesyan will give his reflections and perspectives on the ramifications on the war, the current situation, and where we go next.

***

Value our work? See here how you can support us and get involved! https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/support-us

One year on from the start of the devastating Second Karabakh/Artsakh War, AI marks the occasion by focusing on the situation of historic Armenian monuments and heritage now under the control of the Azerbaijani state. We’re joined by Simon Maghakyan, a Denver-based political scientist, human rights advocate, and investigative researcher, who carried out a decade-long investigation into the covert erasure of medieval Armenian sites in Nakhichevan. Drawing on this experience, Maghakyan will discuss and analyze the politics of cultural erasure in post-war Nagorno-Karabakh and the wider region.

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Speaker Bio:

Simon Maghakyan is a Denver-based political scientist, human rights advocate, and investigative researcher. Maghakyan’s advocacy and public service tenure includes serving as Amnesty International USA’s primary specialist and campaigner for the ex-USSR, leading the Armenian National Committee of America’s community development in 18 Western Region states, managing civics education at Colorado’s legislature, and coordinating Save Armenian Monuments. His academic experience includes lecturing in international relations at the University of Colorado Denver and serving, in a newly-appointed capacity, as visiting scholar at Tufts University. Maghakyan is a PhD student in International Heritage Crime at Cranfield University. Since December 2005, when Azerbaijan’s army eradicated the world’s largest medieval Armenian cemetery at Djulfa, Maghakyan has been investigating and building awareness about cultural erasure. This work has resulted in numerous groundbreaking publications and collaborative initiatives, including the online project http://Djulfa.com; the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s pioneer satellite investigation into cultural destruction; the Colorado State Capitol replica Djulfa khachkar memorial; the widely-cited 2019 Hyperallergic exposé of Azerbaijan's covert erasure of over 28,000 medieval Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan; and the 2021 Art Newspaper investigation geolocating in declassified Cold War spy satellite imagery the now-destroyed churches of Agulis.

***

The event will take place on Zoom and will also be live-streamed on Facebook.

There is also limited space to attend in person at the Armenian Institute’s premises in London, if you are interested please contact the AI programme manager at nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk.

Value our work? See here how you can support us and get involved!

A Unique Site with Great Challenges: Historic Preservation Projects of Prominent Structures in Ani since 2006

Once a lively metropolis with “1001 churches” and over 100,000 inhabitants, Ani emerged at the crossroads of caravan trade in the Middle Ages. Despite all the challenges it had to endure after its abandonment starting in 1239 with the Mongolian invasion; from earthquakes to lightings, from exposure to elements to the years of neglect Ani has survived and seems to have challenged back with its undisputed architectural and engineering masterpieces.

Following its re-discovery through the first scientific research and excavations by Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr and the team from the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences between 1892 and 1917, Ani was declared a military zone by the Turkish authorities for a long time with limited excavations and research until 2006. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism resumed control of the site and initiated a comprehensive preservation program under the leadership of the Advisory Board of Ani together with experts from the Special Projects Unit of the General Directorate of the Cultural Properties and Museums.

This presentation, while talking on the historic preservation projects of some of the surviving structures since 2006, will particularly focus on projects of two outstanding monuments, Surp Amenap’rkich Church and the Cathedral of Ani, which are jointly managed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey and World Monuments Fund since 2011. The presentation will conclude by talking about the further research, collaborations and friendships flourished between experts over the globe together with the preservation efforts in Ani.

Join us on zoom here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84225124059

“When I was younger I read and heard stories about the ancient Armenian city of Ani and even dreamed I walked among its discarded ruins.” Thus writes Harry Harootunian, about experiencing Ani without ever setting foot in it. Since its modern rediscovery in the 19th century, Ani has attracted visitors, pilgrims, scholars, as well as poets and artists. This lecture examines Ani as an object of heritage and as an inspiration for artistic projects. Ani became a site to be excavated and preserved as a historical monument. However, for much of the 20th century Ani was difficult or impossible to access. Despite its inaccessibility, Ani remained an object of religious veneration and a cultural referent for a global diaspora. What does it mean to create cultural heritage about a site that is inaccessible? This lecture will present examples of cultural heritage about Ani from the late 19th century to the early 21st century.

Join us on zoom here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82532075932

This talks considers the place where the Bagratunis (likely) ate, slept, bathed, and made plans: the Citadel. Offering a brief survey and history of the site with special emphasis on the period up to the early 11th century, it focuses on the Church of the Palace, considering its architecture, sculpture, and epigraphy. Ultimately the talk asks: what did Ani Cathedral look like from the “royal windows” (to quote Lynch) of the Citadel and what can we learn by studying it from this vantage point?

Join us on zoom here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88681764420

Ani, the city of 1001 churches, jewel of the Armenian Middle Ages. The city’s story is as famous as its dramatic ruins, perched above the Akhurian river just within the borders of the modern Republic of Turkey. Much of the most spectacular remains speak to Ani’s period as capital of the Bagratuni shahanshahs, architecture equal to any in global history. Yet shortly after Ani would experience two separate conquests and a third transfer of power, heralding a period of apparent political turbulence that would last across the twelfth and into the thirteenth centuries, including Seljuq Turkish sultans, Shaddadid Kurdish emirs, Georgian Bagrationi monarchs and their Armenian-Georgian vassals, Mongol khans and their regional successors the Iranian Ilkhans. By the middle of the fourteenth century the city had entered its long, indistinct afterlife, that “Golden Age” a mere memory—if, indeed, it was even that.

A familiar tale for many, but is this the only story medieval Ani has to tell? In this first talk in the Armenian Institute’s series ‘Reintroducing Ani 900-2021’, AI programme manager and social historian Nicholas Matheou reveals a different story Ani’s remains wait to tell. This story has a new set of characters, more humble than the royal and aristocratic figures of the Bagratuni monarchy, and sets those familiar characters in a new light too. Maybe most importantly, it speaks to Ani’s place not only in Armenian or regional history, but in the transformations of the Global Middle Ages, and their resonance in the making of modernity over the long term.Join us on zoom here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81665960020

*** PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT WAS ORIGINALLY ON THE 24TH OF JUNE BUT NOW IS ON THE 29TH **

The second Karabakh war saw a new round of mass dispossession in a region long home to such humanitarian crises. Once again families fled, and homes were destroyed, leaving the dispossessed in temporary, transient situations in those areas of Karabakh/Artsakh outside of Azerbaijan's control, and in the Republic of Armenia itself. This, by any good sense definition, epitomises the experience of refugees seen worldwide, and yet legally speaking Artsakh/Karabakh's dispossessed cannot be termed as such. In a situation which mirrors other regional conflicts, from Cyprus to Palestine and South-East Turkey, they are denied the protections provided for refugees in international humanitarian law. So where does this leave people on the ground?

To mark refugee month, AI is hosting a discussion on Artsakh/Karabakh's dispossessed, their legal status, their current situation, and their future prospects.

We're honoured to be joined by Artak Beglaryan, former Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Artsakh and current Chief of Staff of the President of Artsakh, and Gulnara Shahinian, an international expert on human rights and slavery, with the discussion chaired and led by Dr. Armine Ishkanian, Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, based at the International Inequalities Institute, LSE.

***

JOIN US ON ZOOM HERE

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81985601266

Meeting ID: 819 8560 1266

***

This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/support-us

The Armenian Institute will host the worldwide premiere of a new multimedia collaboration, An Armenian Triptych: Retracing Our Steps, involving Aram Bajakian (guitar), Kevork Mourad (visual), and Alan Semerdjian (poetry) on Sunday, June 27th. The online event begins at 7pm (London) / 2pm (New York) / 11am (Vancouver) on zoom. Discussion follows the ten-minute video presentation of the work.

The collaboration is inspired by German writer Heinrich Boll’s notion that “the artist carries death with him like a good priest his breviary,” Armenian Genocide recognition, and 2020’s 44-Day War in Artsakh. This is the artists’ second collaboration. The first, a video made in conjunction with the release of Bajakian and Semerdjian’s The Serpent and The Crane in 2020, garnered hundreds of thousands of views and streams on various platforms and was supported on social media by a wide range of cultural and educational institutions and notable personalities such as Kim Kardashian and musician/activist Serj Tankian.

Aram Bajakian is a guitarist and composer who has toured and recorded with John Zorn, Lou Reed, Diana Krall, and Madeleine Peyroux. Kevork Mourad is a performance and visual artist and member of The Silk Road Ensemble whose work has been exhibited all over the world. Alan Semerdjian is an award-winning writer, musician, and educator.

Join here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87413725590

Meeting ID: 874 1372 5590

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86097202513

Our next book club is dedicated to I Ask You, Ladies & Gentlemen, Leon Surmelian’s personal tale of deep sorrow and profound gratitude, of terrible loss and a lively embrace of life itself. Long out-of-print, when first published in 1945 the book was a bestseller, internationally acclaimed and translated into many languages.

Last year the Armenian Institute, convinced of its relevance today, brought out a new edition for a new generation. With added photographs, a map, glossary and historical context, Surmelian’s memoir of his own experiences of surviving genocide and migrating to find shelter is a story that resonates strongly even today.

So join us to discuss this re-released masterpiece! You can order a hard copy through the Armenian Institute website here: https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/.../i-ask-you-ladies...

Or find the book available as a Kindle edition through Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Ask-You-Ladies.../dp/B08DQQTLGN/

For the evening itself we’ll open with a brief introduction about the book and the new AI edition, and then open for group discussion.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86097202513

***

This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/support-us

Most elusive and obscure have been Stalin’s early years – before he was Stalin. Here the lasting fascination with the demon dictator is matched by an irresistible temptation to make his childhood and youth “useful” by investing them with the first signs of the paranoid revolutionary-from-above of the 1930s, the arch criminal who presided over the death of millions.

Those who “know” the autocratic Stalin of totalitarian Russia have read back the characteristics of the General Secretary into the young Stalin, emphasising what fits --violence, paranoia, arrogance, and the need to dominate -- and rejecting what does not --romanticism, literary sensibility, love for his homeland, and revolutionary idealism.

Ronald Grigor Suny has attempted to illuminate the formation of Stalin as a revolutionary by placing him in his Caucasian setting, his Georgian upbringing, and the various cultures he moved through.

Bio

RONALD GRIGOR SUNY is William H. Sewell, Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago.

He was the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan, where he foundedand directed the Armenian Studies Program. He is author of numerous books including Looking toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History; The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union; “They Can Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else”: A history of the Armenian Genocide; Red Flag Unfurled: History, Historians, and the Russian Revolution; Red Flag Wounded: Stalinism and the Fate of the Soviet Experiment; Stalin: Passage to Revolution; and co-author with Valerie Kivelson of Russia’s Empires.

He is currently working on a book on the recent upsurge of exclusivist nationalisms and authoritarian populisms, Forging the Nation: The Making and Faking of Nationalisms.

***

JOIN HERE

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88121392674

Meeting ID: 881 2139 2674

***

This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

From 25 May 2021 until 1 June 2021, the Armenian Institute in partnership with Klassiki, the world’s first ever streaming platform dedicated to classic cinema from Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, will host UNDER SOVIET SKIES, an online film festival spotlighting recently restored and newly subtitled classics of Armenian cinema and celebrating the theme of neighbourliness with films from Russia, Georgia and Ukraine.

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Please email info@klassiki.online with Registration for Under Soviet Skies in the subject field, alongside your email address and proposed user name and you will be registered for a free festival pass for a week.

***

Thursday 27 May 2021, 7pm BST

Join us for a live panel discussion exploring the theme of Soviet identity and film, how identities have been shaped and reshaped in the Soviet and post-Soviet space, with Emeritus Professor of Film Studies at Birkbeck College, Professor Ian Christie, prize winning Armenian author Nourtiza Matossian, researcher and curator Dr Maria Korolkova and Gareth Evans, film curator for the influential Whitechapel Gallery; moderated by Tatevik Ayvazyan, AI Director.

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Professor Ian Christie
Professor Christie is a renowned British film scholar, author and current Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London and a Fellow of the British Academy. He has researched and published on many aspects of film history, including Eisenstein and Russian cinema, Powell and Pressburger, Gilliam and Scorsese, and is a regular broadcaster on cinema.

Nouritza Matossian
Nouritza Matossian is a writer, actor, broadcaster and human rights activist writing on the arts, contemporary music, history and Armenia. Matossian published the first biography and critical study of the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis and ground-breaking biography, Black Angel, A Life of Arshile Gorky in 1998. Honorary Cultural Attache for the Armenian Embassy in London from 1991-2000, Nouritza Matossian broadcasts on the BBC and contributes to newspapers and magazines: The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist, The Observer.

Dr Maria Korolkova
Dr Korolkova is an interdisciplinary researcher and curator. Studying Screen Media and Cultures at the University of Cambridge, Maria gained her doctorate degree from the University of Oxford, specialising in early Russian cinema and space. She worked in the creative industries sector as a producer, journalist, broadcaster, and script editor at Mosfilm Studios, BBC World Service, Sony Pictures, Forbes, and the TLS, before joining the University of Greenwich in 2017 as a Senior Lecturer in Media. She has curated public events internationally, including Barbican Centre, London, and Centre Pompidou, Paris.

Gareth Evans
Gareth Evans is a London-based writer, editor, film and event producer and Whitechapel Gallery’s Adjunct Moving Image Curator. He co-curated the UK's first Armenian Film Festival in 2005 and served on the Fipresci jury at the 2017 Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival.

***

Join us here:

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4316770577
Meeting ID: 431-677-0577

***

This event is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support Us page to make a contribution. https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/support-us

From 25 May 2021 until 1 June 2021, the Armenian Institute in partnership with Klassiki, the world’s first ever streaming platform dedicated to classic cinema from Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, will host UNDER SOVIET SKIES, an online film festival spotlighting recently restored and newly subtitled classics of Armenian cinema and celebrating the theme of neighbourliness with films from Russia, Georgia and Ukraine.

***

Please email info@klassiki.online with Registration for Under Soviet Skies in the subject field, alongside your email address and proposed user name and you will be registered for a free festival pass for a week.

***

Tuesday 25 May 2021, 7pm BST

You can watch the launch on our Facebook page or Youtube channel

We launch our week-long programme with Hello! It’s Me Premiere, preceded by an introduction with Vigen Galstyan, head of the National Cinema Centre of Armenia’s Heritage Department, Tatevik Ayvazyan, director of the Armenian Institute of London and Justine Waddell, founder of Klassiki.

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Tatevik Ayvazyan, Director of Armenian Institute
Born in Yerevan, Tatevik has lived in the UK over 20 years, working in filmmaking, screenwriting and programme management. With two post-graduate degrees, Tatevik has a broad education in social sciences, as well as extensive background in Armenian literature and the arts. She is a literary producer and writer, responsible for curating, editing and translating the Armenian and English poetry in Rebel Republic Film's multi-award-winning arthouse film, Taniel. Currently, she is adapting Iris Murdoch's The Italian Girl.

Vigen Galstyan, Director of Film Heritage NCCA
Vigen is an art historian, curator and lecturer specialising in photography, film and Armenian art of the modern era. He is the director of the Film Heritage Department at the National Film Centre of Armenia and the Head of Exhibitions at the History Museum of Armenia. Vigen completed his PhD dissertation on nineteenth-century Armenian historiographic photography at the University of Sydney. He has curated over twenty exhibitions and authored numerous essays dealing with the history of Armenian art, photography and design.

Justine Waddell, Founder of Klassiki
Born in Johannesburg, Justine began her career as an actor, appearing in such films as Tarsem’s The Fall and Alexander Zeldovich’s The Target, for which she learnt the Russian language from scratch. Now a successful producer and screenwriter, Justine launched streaming service, Klassiki, in February 2021, enabling UK audiences to access the best of cinema from Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

***

This event is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our events are free on zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support Us page to make a contribution. https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/support-us

A fun programme of 5x1hr sessions for kids from ages 7-11 exploring episodes from the epic Sasuntsi Tavit, or Sasna Tsrer.

Passcode: 976124 | Meeting ID: 897 9966 0735

Buy your tickets here:
https://www.kindlink.com/fundrai.../Armenian-Institute/sasna

Find out how Great Mher found his Hreghen - his wonderful, fiery, magical horse.

How wise Armaghan was freed from the White Dev.

How Lisping Tavit was tongue-tied when he met his match - the gorgeous warrior princess Khandout Khatoun.

Each session will be built around an episode from the epic.
There will be engaging activities drawing on the young people’s imagination, working with visualising, sequencing, self-expression, listening - essential skills for storytelling and life!
And they will be left with vivid images from this life-affirming, funny, profound, essentially Armenian epic!

Drawings created during Vergine Gulbenkian’s Sassuntsi Davit workshop.

Vergine Gulbenkian has been a performance storyteller for 30 years working in a variety of settings including theatres, village halls, international Festivals. in the past 10 years she has worked extensively with children in schools and, more recently, online.
***
Note: This is a paid event
Commencing April 17 9:30am
***
Dates
17 April 9:30am
1 May 9:30am
8 May 9:30am
15 May 9:30am
22 May 9:30am

***
Join us here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89799660735...
***
This event is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund See Less

There have been many panels, articles and talks during and following the attack on Karabakh/Artsakh last year, including some hosted by AI, covering the history and geopolitics of the conflict. Now, in the latest of the AI’s Diaspora Forum series, six months on from the 9th November agreement which ended active fighting, we return to Artsakh/Karabakh to take an explicitly grassroots perspective on the war and the current situation. For this we’re joined by four young journalists and activists based in Karabakh/Artsakh, Armenia and the UK. All were present during the war and its immediate aftermath, and each of them has been involved in journalist or activist projects to reveal and support people on the ground

Speakers:

Lika Zakaryan, Independent Journalist based in Stepanakert

Daniel Ioannisyan, Programs Director at Union of Informed Citizens

Sevana Tchakerian, Musician & Musical Activist based in Yerevan

Jake Hanrahan, Independent Journalist based in the UK

Moderator: Nana Shahnazaryan

This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Our events are free on Zoom but we need your help to continue producing exciting programmes. Please visit our Support page to make a contribution.

https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/support-us

A fun programme of 5x1hr sessions for kids from ages 7-11 exploring episodes from the epic Sasuntsi Tavit, or Sasna Tsrer.

Passcode: 976124 | Meeting ID: 897 9966 0735

Buy your tickets here:
https://www.kindlink.com/fundrai.../Armenian-Institute/sasna

Find out how Great Mher found his Hreghen - his wonderful, fiery, magical horse.

How wise Armaghan was freed from the White Dev.

How Lisping Tavit was tongue-tied when he met his match - the gorgeous warrior princess Khandout Khatoun.

Each session will be built around an episode from the epic.
There will be engaging activities drawing on the young people’s imagination, working with visualising, sequencing, self-expression, listening - essential skills for storytelling and life!
And they will be left with vivid images from this life-affirming, funny, profound, essentially Armenian epic!

Drawings created during Vergine Gulbenkian’s Sassuntsi Davit workshop.

Vergine Gulbenkian has been a performance storyteller for 30 years working in a variety of settings including theatres, village halls, international Festivals. in the past 10 years she has worked extensively with children in schools and, more recently, online.
***
Note: This is a paid event
Commencing April 17 9:30am
***
Dates
17 April 9:30am
1 May 9:30am
8 May 9:30am
15 May 9:30am
22 May 9:30am

***
Join us here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89799660735...
***
This event is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund See Less

A joint event with the Armenian Institute and The Wiener Holocaust Library.

Khatchig Mouradian’s newly published book, The Resistance Network, is the history of an underground network of humanitarians, missionaries, and diplomats in Ottoman Syria who helped save the lives of thousands during the Armenian Genocide. Khatchig Mouradian book cover, The Resistance Network

Mouradian challenges depictions of Armenians as passive victims of violence and subjects of humanitarianism, demonstrating the key role they played in organizing a humanitarian resistance against the destruction of their people. Piecing together hundreds of accounts, official documents, and missionary records, Mouradian presents a social history of genocide and resistance in wartime Aleppo and a network of transit and concentration camps stretching from Bab to Ras ul-Ain and Der Zor.

He ultimately argues that, despite the violent and systematic mechanisms of control and destruction in the cities, concentration camps, and massacre sites in this region, the genocide of the Armenians did not progress unhindered—unarmed resistance proved an important factor in saving countless lives.

About the author:

Dr Khatchig Mouradian is a lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is the author of articles on genocide, mass violence, and unarmed resistance, the co-editor of a forthcoming book in late Ottoman history, and the editor of the peer-reviewed journal The Armenian Review. Mouradian holds a PhD in History from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University and a graduate certificate in Conflict Resolution from UMass Boston. He is the recipient of a Calouste Gilbenkian Research Fellowship to write the history of the Armenian community in China in the 19th and 20th centuries (2014). He is also the recipient of the first Hrant Dink Justice and Freedom Award of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians (2014). He serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of Armenian Studies (SAS) since 2015.

Event guidelines:

1. The Library will send you a Zoom link and joining instructions via email prior to the event. Please check your junk email folders.

2. Please try and join 5 minutes before the event start time and we will let you into the room (do try and bear with us if this takes a few minutes).

3. If you would like to ask a question during the event, please type your question into the chat function, and we will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible during the Q&A. Your webcam will not be seen during this event.

4. The event will be recorded for the Library’s YouTube channel and will be shared at a later date.

A fun programme of 5x1hr sessions for kids from ages 7-11 exploring episodes from the epic Sasuntsi Tavit, or Sasna Tsrer.

Passcode: 976124 | Meeting ID: 897 9966 0735

Buy your tickets here:
https://www.kindlink.com/fundrai.../Armenian-Institute/sasna

Find out how Great Mher found his Hreghen - his wonderful, fiery, magical horse.

How wise Armaghan was freed from the White Dev.

How Lisping Tavit was tongue-tied when he met his match - the gorgeous warrior princess Khandout Khatoun.

Each session will be built around an episode from the epic.
There will be engaging activities drawing on the young people’s imagination, working with visualising, sequencing, self-expression, listening - essential skills for storytelling and life!
And they will be left with vivid images from this life-affirming, funny, profound, essentially Armenian epic!

Drawings created during Vergine Gulbenkian’s Sassuntsi Davit workshop by Asdghig.

Vergine Gulbenkian has been a performance storyteller for 30 years working in a variety of settings including theatres, village halls, international Festivals. in the past 10 years she has worked extensively with children in schools and, more recently, online.
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Note: This is a paid event
Commencing April 17 9:30am
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Dates
17 April 9:30am
1 May 9:30am
8 May 9:30am
15 May 9:30am
22 May 9:30am

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Join us here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89799660735...

Passcode: 976124 | Meeting ID: 897 9966 0735
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This event is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund See Less