AGBU Blog

The lecture “Family Matters in Atom Egoyan’s Films” was presented at AGBU Toronto’s Alex & Marie Manoogian Centre by Nellie Hogikyan on Friday, April 25^th, 2008.

Toronto Chairman Eugene Karadjian introduced the esteemed lecturer.

From the beginning of his career, Atom Egoyan has made the family and the home the center of his artistic inquiries. Exile, genocide, trauma are all part of the family heritage, yet, the transmission of these Armenian facts is peculiar, not to say problematic, and not taken for granted in the context of the diasporian family institution.

The presentation discussed the way the world-renowned Armenian-Canadian filmmaker has brought to the screen not only the telling of history, but also its effacement and its denial within the family. The question of mixed marriages, intercultural relations, and recomposed Canadian families in the context of immigration was highlighted.

A question and answer period followed the interesting and informative lecture.

Nellie Hogikyan is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Québec in Montréal, Canada. She is currently co-editing a collection of essays on women and exile to be published in Québec. Her doctoral thesis on Atom Egoyan will also be published in French at the University of Laval.

On April 13, AGBU Young Professionals of Paris (YP Paris) organized a brunch at Hotel Lumen’s trendy Le Passage Saint Roch restaurant in central Paris. Forty young Armenian professionals enjoyed the cozy ambiance of the private event while meeting fellow YPs.

During the brunch, hotel owner Herman Bal spoke about the role played by his Armenian network of friends and contacts during the construction of the hotel. “80% of the décor is the work of Armenian artists and craftsmen: lighting fixtures, furniture, paintings. Without forgetting the architect, Alain Daronian,” Bal said.

Sandrine Muradian, an organizing member of YP Paris, spoke about the committee’s upcoming events, including:

• In May, YP Paris will hold its first “Open YPs;”
• a series of upcoming after-work meetings organized for YP Paris members;
• the YP Paris Gastronomy Club will be visiting various restaurants in the city; and
• on June 15^th, YP Paris will travel to Champagne for a one day wine-tasting excursion.

It is worth noting that YP Paris now has more than 210 members. For more information, please contact them directly at yp.paris@agbueurope.org.

Click here to download the PDF (104KB) of the latest AGBU Armenia News Bulletin.

Organized by AGBU Toronto, the Shushi Armenian Dance Ensemble of New York performed on April 13, 2008 at the city’s North York Performing Arts Centre.

Close to 1,000 spectators were mesmerized by the performance of Shushi’s 60 dancers and singers. Shushi Dance Ensemble is under the leadership of the Artistic Director and Choreographer Seta Paskalian Kantardjian. The event was dedicated to the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

All photos courtesy AGBU Toronto

Click here to download the PDF (212KB) of the latest AGBU Armenia News Bulletin.

The Nor Tsayn bilingual (Armenian & English) newsletter has been the go-to resource for Melbourne’s Australian Armenian community. Published by AGBU Melbourne, Nor Tsayn is full of useful local, national and international news to keep its readers informed and educated about all things Armenian and AGBU.

Among the news are listings for AGBU Melbourne’s monthly social nights, information about programming for the local Melbourne Armenian Radio Hour.

For more information about the periodical, please contact AGBU Melbourne directly via email or post (P.O. Box 775, Glen Waverley, Victoria 3150, Australia).

On April 24, AGBU Alexandria took part in a very special commemoration for the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that attracted over 150 Egyptian Armenians.

Beginning with the divine liturgy at the Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Paul Peter at 6 p.m., guests were lead toward the courtyard of the church for the requiem service by Fr. Krikor Mouradian.

After the lighting of the flame in front of the Armenian Genocide memorial, Hrant Vartsbedian, secretary of AGBU Alexandria, and Megerdich Khanjian, vice chairman of the Diocesan Council, placed flower wreaths by the monument, which was built in 1965 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

HMEM-Nubar/AGBU and AGBU Gamk/Harachtimaser scouts stood as honor guards on both sides of the monument.

After the ceremony, a program took place in the Melkonian Hall of the Boghosian National School and the event concluded with the screening of three short documentary films about the Armenian Genocide.

The following items were published last week in Armenian-language newspapers in Armenia. All translations courtesy of AGBU Yerevan office.

Republic of Armenia President Received [sic] Hayastani Hanrapetutiun [April 29, 2008]

Yesterday, Republic of Armenia (RA) President Serge Sarkissian received Berge Setrakian, President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).

He once again congratulated Serge Sarkissian on his recent election to the highest post of the Republic of Armenia.

The AGBU President expressed confidence that the newly elected president will succeed in making Armenia the land of dreams for Armenians worldwide. Emphasizing the organization’s eagerness to bring its contribution to this process, Setrakian mentioned that AGBU will support and back the president in his patriotic activities.

RA President Serge Sarkissian and AGBU President Berge Setrakian also spoke about Armenia-Diaspora relations, underscoring the importance of building these relations based on mutual understanding and cooperation. They both prioritized the issue of preservation of national identity. As Mr. Setrakian mentioned, the AGBU has initiated a number of projects, whose main goal is to strengthen ties between the diaspora’s new generation and their homeland.

Noting that Armenia is not rich in natural resources, Serge Sarkissian said that our main resource should be our human potential, which we must unite and use for the sake of being a competitive country.

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AGBU President Berge Setrakian Meets with RA Prime Minister Tigran Sarkissian Hayastani Hanrapetutiun [April 30, 2008]

Republic of Armenia (RA) Prime Minister Tigran Sarkissian received the President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Berge Setrakian yesterday.

Congratulating Tigran Sarkissian in his new position, Setrakian said that he was impressed by their last meeting when Sarkissian was still the president of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, and wished the current government under his chair success in its mission.

Berge Setrakian mentioned that AGBU has spread its activities in many countries of the world for the sake of our diasporan compatriots and our homeland. This visit is also aimed at supporting our country, our people, different programs carried out in different spheres, and also sowing love among the new generation of diasporan Armenians towards their homeland. Setrakian briefly presented to the prime minister the new and ongoing projects of the AGBU.

PM Sarkissian also expressed his enthusiasm about the previous meeting with the AGBU President and the programs discussed during that meeting. He said that the RA government’s program, which will be presented in the parliament today, is also based on those attitudes and programs, which include creation of an economy based on knowledge, and systems that give opportunity to all Armenians, no matter where they live, to take part in pan-national projects. The prime minister assured that the RA is ready to support the AGBU projects in every possible way and harness the potential of the diaspora, which is viewed as one of our competitive privileges. We have no right to fall behind our neighbors of the region, the prime minister said. Tigran Sarkissian once again emphasized the importance of realization of pan-Armenian programs, adding also that doing business in Armenia should become easy, so that all Armenians can proudly say that doing business in Armenia is easier than in their country of residence.

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AGBU President Berge Sertrakian Received by His Holiness Karekin II Hayastani Hanrapetutiun [April 30, 2008]

On April 29, His Holiness Karekin II received the President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Berge Setrakian in the Holy See of Etchmiadzin.

As the Holy See Press Service reported, in welcoming the AGBU President to the Holy See, His Holiness expressed appreciation for all the national and benevolent projects that AGBU carries out in Armenia and the Diaspora. His Holiness also expressed satisfaction about the strong cooperation between the AGBU and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In turn, the AGBU President, highly assessing the cooperation of the Church and the AGBU, assured [His Holiness] that AGBU will continue supporting the Holy See of Etchmiadzin in effectively realizing its mission.

During the meeting they also spoke about other national issues, in particular, the Christian upbringing of the new generation and other educational issues.

Our Yerevan office informs us that on April 18, 2008 the AZG newspaper published an article about an AGBU sponsored initiative in Armenia:

AGBU SPONSORS INTERMURAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

To promote a love of chess among schoolchildren and identify talented young people – this is the main goal of the Second Republican Intermural Chess Championship. In this mission the Republic of Armenia (RA) Chess Federation is supported by RA Education and Science Ministry and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).

During yesterday’s press conference at the Chess Academy, underscoring the important role of chess in the upbringing and mental development of the new generation, acting RA Education and Science Minister Levon Mkrtchian said that programs are being worked out to include chess in the secondary school education program. The schools have accepted the initiative. Instead of the third lesson of physical training the schools will have one lesson of chess training weekly. This issue is still in the phase of development. Levon Mkrtchian expressed gratitude to the Chess Federation and the AGBU for organizing the chess Olympiad and involving the secondary schools of the republic in it.

As Ashot Ghazarian, Director of AGBU Armenian Representation, said the organization has made a donation of $20,000 (USD) in support of the Intermural Chess Championship. As a first phase, 415 schools from all the regions of Armenia have already received 1400 chess boards. 60 winners of the first phase of the tournament will receive chess encyclopedias as gifts. In the third phase all the winners of the regions and all the winners of the final fourth phase will receive computers.

Speaking about the second republican intermural chess tournament, which started in February, Smbat Lputian, Director of the Chess Academy and Vice President of the Chess Federation, said that 18,000 schoolchildren participated in the first two phases of the tournament. According to Lputian the holding of the tournament in the regions has raised great enthusiasm and excitement among the participants. As compared with last year’s tournament, this time it is more organized. In the first three phases the struggle is among individuals. As a result of these three phases teams will be made up which will play against each other in the finale that is scheduled for May 28 in Yerevan. Yerevan will have 3 teams, Gyumri and Vanadzor will have 2 teams each, other regions will have one team each. Each team will include three boys and one girl.

The organizers of the press conference expressed hope that the cooperation will continue for the sake of the future development of chess and will prepare ground for the organization of other events in the future.

It is also worth mentioning that a similar article appeared in the Hayastani Hanrapetutiun newspaper.

As on every April 24, AGBU’s Yerevan organized a march to the Tsisernakaberd Memorial to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The group of about 60 people consisted of members of AGBU YP Yerevan, AGBU Scouts, students of the AGBU Children’s Centers in Armenia, visiting students from the AGBU Alex-Marie Manoogian School of Southfield, Michigan (USA)and others. The AGBU group traveled to the genocide memorial and laid flowers–including an AGBU wreath–on the occasion.

Below are photos from that day.