NAASR TO CO-SPONSOR TWO GORKY PROGRAMS WITH LA MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will co-sponsor a June 20 lecture by Prof. Richard G. Hovannisian and a June 24 screening of Ararat and Q & A with director Atom Egoyan in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), as part of the exhibition Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective. NAASR is part of the MOCA Friends of Arshile Gorky Leadership Committee, and Southern California Board Member Bruce W. Roat has been actively involved as a committee member as well.
Roat commented, “The MOCA Friends of Arshile Gorky campaign has brought together an influential group of Armenian community leaders to provide essential support for the mo-mentous Gorky retrospective. NAASR is very excited to support MOCA’s compelling series of educational programs organized in conjunction with the exhibition. The presentations by Rich-ard Hovannisian and Atom Egoyan will provide valuable perspectives on Armenian history and culture in connection with the great Armenian-American artist.”
NAASR Chairman Nancy Kolligian, stepping down after nine years, expressed the or-ganization’s enthusiasm for the undertaking, saying “NAASR is thrilled to be part of these sig-nificant events devoted to a great artist. We are very appreciative of the efforts of Bruce Roat and Rubina Peroomian of our Board as well as the Southern California NAASR Committee who are working so hard to bring this and other programs to fruition.” Newly-elected Chairman Raffi P. Yeghiayan added that “the Gorky exhibition is virtually a once-in-a-lifetime event and we are proud to be working with MOCA. This exhibition represents an important cultural event not only for the art world but also for all Armenians and it deserves our support.”
The Hovannisian lecture will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 20, at MOCA Grand Avenue’s Ahmanson Auditorium, 250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles. The title of the lec-ture is “Arshile Gorky and the Armenian National Trauma” and will consider Gorky’s relation-ship to Van and the history of the Armenian Genocide.
Richard Hovannisian is Professor of Armenian and Near Eastern history and holds the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of Cal-ifornia, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is the author or contributing editor of 25 volumes about Ar-menian or Armenian and Near Eastern history and has served as a consultant to the California State Board of Education, contributing to the State's Social Studies Model Curriculum on Hu-man Rights and Genocide. The lecture is free with museum admission; no reservations are re-quired.
The screening of Ararat will be held on Thursday, June 24, at 7:00 p.m. at the Pacific De-sign Center, SilverScreen Theater, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA, followed by Q & A with writer/director Atom Egoyan. Ararat weaves together stories concerning a contempo-rary Armenian family, artist Arshile Gorky, and the Armenian Genocide. The screening is free; no reservations are required.
More information about the Hovannisian lecture or the Ararat screening may be had by contacting LA MOCA at 213-621-1745 or education@moca.org. NAASR may be contacted at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org

Belmont, MA
June 1, 2010

NAASR