Resiliency after Genocide: Healing Through Community

Please see each event for access links.

ALL EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY.

Please contact Lead Interpreter/Coordinator, Kim Weissman at kweissman@glendale.edu if you need ASL/RTC services

Organized by the Armenian Genocide Commemoration 2021 Planning Committee

Special thanks to the Student Equity and Achievement Program, Multicultural and Community Engagement Center, Associated Students of Glendale Community College, and GCC's Armenian Student Association

Monday, April 19th · 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Resliency In a Cup of Soorj
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Facilitated by:
Araksya Karapetyan, Journalist and News Anchor for Good Day L.A.
Christine Almadjian, Secretary for GCC's Armenian Student Association

FLEX and CPGU Offered

Description: This dialogue will provide the community with a space for students, faculty, classified staff, community members, and their families to join us with a cup of soorj and exchange personal stories and anecdotes of culture, identify, and resiliency as it related to the Armenian experience during/after the Armenian Genocide. Non-Armenian participants will be able to draw connections and parallels when participating in this discussion and increase their knowledge and understanding of resiliency within the context of the Armenian experience.

TUESDAY, APRIL 20 · 7:00 PM
10 Armenian Artists Who Bear Witness,
According to Artist Ara Oshagan and
Cultural Producer Meldia Yesayan

Hosted by: 
GCC Art Gallery

Description: With the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia, Glendale is home to a thriving Armenian artist community, who bring experiences from eastern Europe, Lebanon and Iran. Join us as our panelists compare who is on their list of Armenian artists everyone should get to know.

RESERVE HERE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21 · 12:30 – 1:30 PM
Orthopedic Surgery and Trauma: An Intersection of Science & Compassion
Zoom ID: 939 1677 9744
Passcode: 508544

Hosted by:
GCC Science Lecture Series Program

THURSDAY, APRIL 22 · 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Discussion and Q&A: How We Use Comedy as a Form of Resiliency
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Guest Speaker: Vahe Berberian

FLEX and CPGU Offered

 Description: Vahe Berberian, an Armenian painter, author, playwright and actor, was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He grew up in Beirut in an intellectual milieu. The home where he grew up was a meeting place open to friends from the worlds of theater, literature and the arts.

During his presentation, our special guest will talk about his perpsecive of how comedy, art, music, writing and theater has acted as a form of resiliency for the Armenian community and what role it plays in establishing and maintaining community. In particular, this talk will focus on the role of comedy within the Armenian community in the aftermath of the recent struggles and tragedies the community has faced.

MONDAY, APRIL 26 · 2:00 – 3:00 PM
Preserving Armenian History Through Photographs
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Guest Speaker: Tsoleen Sarian
Executive Director for Project SAVE
Armenian Photograph Archives

FLEX and CPGU Offered

Description: Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives is “dedicated to saving the photographic heritage of the worldwide Armenian community.” A conversation with Project SAVE's Executive Director, Tsoleen Sarian, illustrated with photographs featuring the resiliency of the Armenian people. 

Recent attempts to re-write Armenian history elevates the importance of Project SAVE's work, to preserve and protect the photographs and the stories and also make them widely accessible; to keep the Armenian photographic history vibrant for future generations. The presentation will include images from all over the world and through the decades since the 1860s.  

Speaker Biography: Tsoleen Sarian currently serves as executive director of Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives. She is active in the local community; she serves with leadership roles at the Armenian Memorial Church and the Armenian Heritage Park.  Her previous work in the non-profit sector includes The Armenia Tree Project and the Global Partnership for Afghanistan. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Merrimack College and a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University. Tsoleen launched her career in public service at the Armenian Assembly of America’s summer internship program in Washington, DC. She has also held leadership positions with the Boston Homenetmen, AGBUYP, the AEYF (Armenian Evangelical Youth Fellowship) and the ANCA Eastern Region. 

Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives Mission 

We bring to light the culture and history of Armenians by making photographs and their stories, which otherwise would be lost, destroyed, or forgotten, available for public and educational use. Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Inc. collects, documents, preserves, and shares images of all subjects and time periods relating to the Armenian people and the work of Armenian photographers. We are dedicated to promoting the photographic heritage of the worldwide Armenian community. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 27 · 2:30 – 3:30 PM
Trauma, Representation, & the Challenges of Collective Healing
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Guest Speaker: Talar Chahinian, Ph.D. 
Lecturer for University of California, Irvine’s Armenian Studies Program

FLEX and CPGU Offered

Description: This presentation will trace the representation of the Armenian genocide in the literary arts to discuss broader questions of how trauma is understood within its disciplinary field of trauma studies and how the narrative processing of an experience of catastrophe affects its collective memorialization. 

 Speaker Biography: Talar Chahinian holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UCLA and lectures in the Program for Armenian Studies at UC Irvine, where she is also a Research Associate in the Department of Comparative Literature. Her research interests include Western Armenian language and literature, transnational studies, trauma studies, politics and aesthetics, and translation. She is the co-editor of Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies and contributes regularly to the online journal, Critics’ Forum, and the literary magazine Pakine.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27 · 3:30 – 4:30 PM
Healing Circle
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Facilitated by: Alina Krikorian, M.A., LMFT
Armenian Relief Society’s Child, Youth, 
and Family Guidance Center

FLEX Offered

Description: This healing circle will provide participants with a space to process feelings after Dr. Talar Chahinian’s lecture on trauma, representation, and challenges of collective healing. Community members will be emotionally supported, get connected to resources, and learn coping strategies.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28 · 12:30 – 1:30 PM
Armenian Identities and Their Discontents
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Guest Speaker: Emil Sanamyan
Research Fellow at the University of Southern 
California’s Institute of Armenian Studies

FLEX and CPGU Offered

Description: What is an identity and what have been the most important identity-forming influences when it comes to Armenians? The talk will offer an overview of how religion, culture and politics helped shape Armenians into the community they are today, critically discuss the nature of the Homeland-Diaspora relations, and the impact of the genocide recognition campaign and the conflict over Artsakh.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27 · 1:30 – 2:30 PM
Healing Circle
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Facilitated by: Alina Krikorian, M.A., LMFT
Armenian Relief Society’s Child, Youth, 
and Family Guidance Center

FLEX Offered

Description: This healing circle will provide participants with a space to process feelings after Emil Sanamyan’s presentation on Armenian identities and their discontents. Community members will be emotionally supported, get connected to resources, and learn coping strategies.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29 · 7:00 PM
Anthology of Armenian Music
https://zoom.us/my/gccmcec

Performance by: AGBU L.A. Choir with 
Choir Mater Gayane Baghdsarian

FLEX Offered

Description: The AGBU L.A. Choir will be premiering their Anthology of Armenian Music performance and presentation to the campus community. Attendees will walk away with greater knowledge and appreciation of the past, present, and future of Armenian choir music.