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ARMENIAN CULTURE FEATURED DURING DIVERSITY DAY IN LA
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2011-11-16-armenian-culture-featured-during-diversity-day-in-la-
Wednesday November 16, 2011
Volunteers in front of the Armenia booth.
Los Angeles - Employees of the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and City of Los Angeles (LADOT) celebrated Diversity Day,
where Armenian culture was proudly displayed among other ethnic
cultural exhibits.
The annual celebrations took place on October 5 across the street from
City Hall and the Los Angeles-Yerevan sister city sign in downtown
Los Angeles.
The Armenian exhibit at the Diversity Day Event was made possible by
a volunteer group of Armenian employees from Caltrans and the City of
Los Angeles. The group set up a booth that displayed Armenian books,
maps, artwork, and the Armenian alphabet.
Visitors to the booth were able to learn about Armenia's rich cultural
history, listen to Armenian music and also sample freshly made Armenian
pastry with Armenian coffee. Pastries and coffee were compliments
of Sarkis Pastry of Glendale and Begin's Café located at the plaza
level of the Caltrans Building.
This year's event organizer was Barkef Karapetian who works at Caltrans
as a Transportation Engineer in their Design Department and led the
group of volunteers in setting up the Armenian booth.
Karine Partamian also from Caltrans provided most of the artwork
and designed informative displays highlighting Armenian achievements
throughout the world.
Raffi Mardirossian, a UC Berkley student of architecture and son of
Alec Mardirossian from Caltrans, designed the Armenia booth banner
while Alec helped arrange the Armenian musical performance.
Ruzanna Adamyan of Caltrans also helped by lending many Armenian
literary books for display to the exhibit.
This is the third time in four years that Armenian culture has been
displayed at the Caltrans Annual Diversity Day Event.
In its first year in 2008 the Armenian exhibit was led by Shahe
Terjimanian who wanted to give co-workers and passers-by alike an
opportunity to learn about our rich culture and heritage.
Visitors to the booth were able to learn many things about Armenia and
the Armenian People. Among them were that Mount Ararat, the resting
place of Noah's Ark, is the most revered symbol of the Armenian people;
that Yerevan, the Capital city of Armenia is 2,793 years old (as old
as Babylon and 50 years older than Rome) and that Armenia was the
first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its state religion
(301 AD).
Visitors were also able to learn that many famous people in American
society are of Armenian descent such as former California governor
George Deukmejian, Pulitzer Prize winning author William Saroyan,
and tennis star Andre Agassi among others.
Armenian music was performed by the Element Band, composed Ara
Dabanjian, Karni Hadidian and Shant Mahserejian, in a courtyard setting
in front of an estimated one thousand state and city employees. After
a colorful introduction by Garen Yegparian, a City of L.A. employee,
Element band began to play and members of the Armenian group and
their co-workers joined in a shurch bar (Circle Dance) to the delight
of onlookers.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2011-11-16-armenian-culture-featured-during-diversity-day-in-la-
Wednesday November 16, 2011
Volunteers in front of the Armenia booth.
Los Angeles - Employees of the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and City of Los Angeles (LADOT) celebrated Diversity Day,
where Armenian culture was proudly displayed among other ethnic
cultural exhibits.
The annual celebrations took place on October 5 across the street from
City Hall and the Los Angeles-Yerevan sister city sign in downtown
Los Angeles.
The Armenian exhibit at the Diversity Day Event was made possible by
a volunteer group of Armenian employees from Caltrans and the City of
Los Angeles. The group set up a booth that displayed Armenian books,
maps, artwork, and the Armenian alphabet.
Visitors to the booth were able to learn about Armenia's rich cultural
history, listen to Armenian music and also sample freshly made Armenian
pastry with Armenian coffee. Pastries and coffee were compliments
of Sarkis Pastry of Glendale and Begin's Café located at the plaza
level of the Caltrans Building.
This year's event organizer was Barkef Karapetian who works at Caltrans
as a Transportation Engineer in their Design Department and led the
group of volunteers in setting up the Armenian booth.
Karine Partamian also from Caltrans provided most of the artwork
and designed informative displays highlighting Armenian achievements
throughout the world.
Raffi Mardirossian, a UC Berkley student of architecture and son of
Alec Mardirossian from Caltrans, designed the Armenia booth banner
while Alec helped arrange the Armenian musical performance.
Ruzanna Adamyan of Caltrans also helped by lending many Armenian
literary books for display to the exhibit.
This is the third time in four years that Armenian culture has been
displayed at the Caltrans Annual Diversity Day Event.
In its first year in 2008 the Armenian exhibit was led by Shahe
Terjimanian who wanted to give co-workers and passers-by alike an
opportunity to learn about our rich culture and heritage.
Visitors to the booth were able to learn many things about Armenia and
the Armenian People. Among them were that Mount Ararat, the resting
place of Noah's Ark, is the most revered symbol of the Armenian people;
that Yerevan, the Capital city of Armenia is 2,793 years old (as old
as Babylon and 50 years older than Rome) and that Armenia was the
first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its state religion
(301 AD).
Visitors were also able to learn that many famous people in American
society are of Armenian descent such as former California governor
George Deukmejian, Pulitzer Prize winning author William Saroyan,
and tennis star Andre Agassi among others.
Armenian music was performed by the Element Band, composed Ara
Dabanjian, Karni Hadidian and Shant Mahserejian, in a courtyard setting
in front of an estimated one thousand state and city employees. After
a colorful introduction by Garen Yegparian, a City of L.A. employee,
Element band began to play and members of the Armenian group and
their co-workers joined in a shurch bar (Circle Dance) to the delight
of onlookers.