Armenia’s Acting Education Minister Arayik Harutunyan during a visit on Jan. 16 to R.D. White Elementary School in Glendale
LOS ANGELES—Armenia’s Acting Minister of Education and Science, Arayik Harutyunyan, will participate in Living Diaspora, a one day academic and cultural event to be held at UCLA on Saturday, January 19,, with the aim of promoting Armenian language, culture and heritage, as well as supporting various Armenian Studies programs around the world.
Harutyunyan will take part in a panel discussion celebrating the 50th anniversary of UCLA’s Narekatsi Chair of Armenian Studies. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Razmik Panossian, Director of the Department for Armenian Communities at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The chair holder and associated faculty, Professor S. Peter Cowe, Dr. Anahit Keshishian Aramouni, Dr. Hagop Gulludjian, and Dr. Shushan Karapetian, together with Prof. Sebouh Aslanian, holder of the Richard Hovannisian Chair in Modern Armenian History, will present the program’s current offerings and future plans.
The panel discussion will highlight strategies of promoting Armenian as a living, useful, and relevant language for today’s youth in the Diaspora.
The day-long event, which is organized by the Melkonian Global Overture, will conclude with an epic benefit concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall. With the community’s support, the organizers hope to elevate a young generation and enrich them with the love of Armenian language, culture and art, while raising funds for the educational programs provided by the Narekatsi Chair at UCLA and the Padus Araxes Cultural Association of Italy, as well as the MGO’s scholarship fund.
LIVING DIASPORA will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday January 19, at UCLA’s Melnitz Hall, with the concert to follow at the university’s Royce Hall. Tickets are available at Itsmyseat.com and Ticketmaster.