For Immediate Release May 7, 2019 USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES University of Southern California Los Angeles, California, USA Contact: Syuzanna Petrosyan, Associate Director [email protected] | 213.821.3943 Innovate Armenia Comes to USC on May 18 Innovate Armenia -- the festival of ideas, music and action -- will once again burst on to the USC Campus on Saturday, May 18, from 10 am to 6 pm. Want to know what to expect? Imagine you walk into USC at 10:00 am on Saturday, May 18. Parking is easy. You grab a (free) cup of coffee from Serj Tankian's Kavat Coffee or Henry's House of Coffee from the DIALECTS OF COFFEE station. Maybe you stop and record a conversation with journalist Liana Aghajanian about your memories of coffee, family, immigration and different traditions of making coffee. Then you head inside to Bovard Auditorium and listen to six different scholars talk about connecting to identity and memory in old Armenian towns and routes throughout Turkey. You get ready to listen to a conversation with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan live via Skype about HOW TO BUILD A COUNTRY. You decide it's time for some jingyalov hats, kabob tacos or some other innovative mix of familiar food from Z's. You grab a bite while you listen to Garabala (from Beirut), the Nur Qanon Ensemble (from Yerevan), or Richard Hagopian (from Fresno) on the day-long music stage. You walk back into Bovard just in time for SOUND STORIES -- a surprise collaboration between the Institute and Element Band -- presenting the stories we don't know about the music we love. Now you're ready for an afternoon of talks on HOW TO BUILD A COUNTRY, POST-REVOLUTION -- by ministers and policy makers from the Government of Armenia. It’s been a really stimulating day and you could use a glass of beer, so you head outside and sample (free) craft Armenian beer while you listen to the beer guru himself, Charlie Papazian, talk about the 4,000 traditions of Armenian craft beer. Then you walk around the various booths where organizations from Armenia can work with you to discuss how you can connect. You make sure to stop by the Institute’s booth to say hello to the staff and student workers, and to learn about what it is that the Institute does. Innovate Armenia is at the intersection of innovation and engagement. Come play your part. About the Institute Established in 2005, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supports multidisciplinary scholarship to re-define, explore and study the complex issues that make up the contemporary Armenian experience—from post-genocide to the developing Republic of Armenia to the evolving diaspora. The institute encourages research, publications and public service, and promotes links among the global academic and Armenian communities. For inquiries, write to [email protected] or call 213.821.3943.