The Promise Armenian Institute hosts a full-day conference that brings together a diverse group of experts to delve into the rich Armenian cultural heritage of the South Caucasus and Eastern Turkey, featuring musical offerings in collaboration with the event co-sponsor, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Armenian Music Program. AMP oud mentor, Antranig Kzirian, will perform and AMP Director, Melissa Bilal, will chair a roundtable. See the event schedule below.
The event will feature discussions on the current state of these heritage sites, their preservation efforts, and initiatives to monitor, document, and protect them amidst a challenging geopolitical landscape. Experts will also explore the future of cultural heritage studies, offering valuable insights and strategies for safeguarding this vital legacy.
RSVP here.
Saturday, February 8, 2025
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Fowler Museum, Lenart Auditorium
Los Angeles, CA 90024
| 08:00AM - 09:00AM | Coffee and Registration |
| 09:00AM - 09:30AM | Welcome & Opening Remarks |
| Ann Karagozian, Director, UCLA Promise Armenian Institute | |
| Amy Landau, Director of Education and Interpretation, UCLA Fowler Museum | |
| 09:30AM - 10:15AM | Keynote Address |
| Ann Karagozian, Director, UCLA Promise Armenian Institute — Introduction | |
| Lori Khatchadourian, Associate Professor, Cornell University; co-founder and co-director, Caucasus Heritage Watch Cornell University — Heritage Forensics: Satellites and Specters in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict | |
| 10:15AM - 11:15AM | Session 1: Cultural Heritage Destruction and Documentation in the South Caucasus |
| Kristine Martirosyan Olshansky, Director of the Research Program in Armenian Archaeology and Ethnography, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology — Moderator | |
| Hamlet Petrosyan, Head of Department of Cultural Studies, Yerevan State University; Head of Artsakh Cultural Heritage Research Group, Head of Dvin Archaeological Expedition; Institute of Archaeology & Ethnography, Academy of Sciences of Armenia — Issues of Cultural Heritage Protection in the Context of Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: The Experience of www.monumentwatch.org Academic Platform | |
| Nzhdeh Yeranyan, Deputy Scientific Director, History Museum of Armenia; Lecturer, Department of Cultural Studies, Yerevan State University — Shattered Heritage: Museums, Memories, and the Cultural Loss in Artsakh | |
| 11:15AM - 12:00PM | Keynote Address |
| Hannah Garry, Executive Director of The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA Law — Introduction | |
| Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Representative on International Legal Matters of Republic of Armenia | |
| 12:00PM - 12:25PM | Musical Offering in collaboration with the UCLA Armenian Music Program |
| Melissa Bilal, Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture; Director of Armenian Music Program; Assistant Professor, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music — Introduction | |
| Antranig Kzirian, UCLA Armenian Music Program Mentor for the Oud | |
| 12:25PM - 01:30PM | Lunch |
| 01:30PM - 02:50PM | Session 2: Cultural Heritage Destruction and Documentation in Historic Western Armenia/Present day Turkey |
| Anna Aleksanyan, Postdoctoral Fellow, Armenian Genocide Research Program at UCLA PAI — Moderator | |
| Delal Dink, Vice President, Hrant Dink Foundation — Unraveling the “True Treasure”: Exploring Cultural Heritage through Storie | |
| Heghnar Watenpaugh, Professor, UC Davis — Ani, A UNESCO World Heritage Site between Armenian Memory and Turkish Patrimony | |
| Ara Sarafian, Executive Director, Gomidas Institute (London) — Rational Assessment, Forthright Engagement: Projecting a Diasporan Armenian Presence in Turkey Today | |
| 02:50PM - 04:30PM | Session 3: Practical Solutions for Cultural Heritage Protection/Preservation |
| Peter Cowe, Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies, UCLA — Moderator | |
| Simon Maghakyan, Research Associate/Gulbenkian Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford — From Urfa to Djulfa: Victim Agency in Extrastatal Dignity Restoration | |
| Taner Akcam, Director of the Armenian Genocide Research Program at Promise Armenian Institute, UCLA — The Armenian Genocide Reparation Movement and the Looted Cultural Objects | |
| Ruzanna Tsaturyan, Researcher, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Armenia; Lecturer, Faculty of History, Yerevan State University, Armenia — Tangible Places, Intangible Threats: The Challenge of Preserving Intangible Heritage in Forced Displacement | |
| Marc Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs, NAASR — More Questions Than Answers? Provenance Research as a Side Gig | |
| 04:30PM - 05:50PM | Session 4: Roundtable Discussion on The Future of Armenian Heritage Studies |
| Melissa Bilal, Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture; Director of Armenian Music Program; Assistant Professor, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music — Moderator | |
| Nelli Sargsyan, Professor, Emerson College | |
| Tamar Shirinian, Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville | |
| Anoush Suni, Postdoctoral Fellow, Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA | |
| 05:50PM - 07:00PM | Reception |