The Freer and Sackler Galleries of The Smithsonian celebrate Persian culture through its 18th Annual Iranian Film Festival from January 31 – February 22. A total of 7 screenings will feature the following 4 films: “Fat Shaker,” “Parviz,” “My Name is Nagahdar Jamali and I make Westerns,” and “A Cinema of Discontent.” The film festival is curated by Tom Vick of the Freer and Sackler Galleries; Carter Long of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Marian Luntz of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. On March 8, the Freer and Sackler Galleries holds its 6th Annual Noruz Celebration. Activities for the Persian New Year include the traditional Haft Sin table, Persian music, performances and food, and games such as chess and backgammon.

Award-winning filmmaker and graphic artist Hamad Rahmanian is participating in a group exhibit at STUX Gallery in New York entitled “if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” from February 6 – March 8, 2014. Several of his illustrated prints from the Shahnameh will be on display.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to announce a celebration of the Persian New Year at the Honolulu Museum of Art on March 16. The day will include art activities such as egg decorating, yarn painting and dyed-rice mosaics; demonstrations including the traditional Haft-Seen table, calligraphy and crafts; and poetry readings from works by Rumi and Hafez. The celebration will continue at the Museum with ARTafterDARK: Noruz on March 28.

San José State University announced the Spring 2014 line-up of Roshan Institute Lecture Series. Lectures will include “Jews of Iran” by Dr. Jaleh Pirnazar (UC Berkeley); “Days of Revolution: Political Protest in an Iranian Village” by Dr. Mary Hegland (Santa Clara University); “Iranian American Technology Leaders in Silicon Valley” by Dr. Kathrine Richardson (SJSU); and “Prospectus for Peace: The US-Iran Nuclear Deal Five Months On” by Dr. Muhammad Sahimi (USC). Additional events include a concert in celebration of Noruz, a major conference on “Cultures of the Iranian Diaspora” and an exhibition of paintings.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is pleased to announce that a special concert will be given by Hossein Alizadeh, composer and tar player, Hossein Omoumi, composer and ney player, and Pejman Hadadi on tombak and daf at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park, on February 2, 2014. This performance is organized by Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at UMD and celebrates the life and works of two master musicians of the twentieth century Iran, Jalil Shahnaz, Tar (1921-2013) and Hassan Kasai, Ney (1928-2012), who nurtured generations of young musicians. Recent events hosted by Roshan Institute for Persian Studies included a lecture and performance on Persian musical instruments, a lecture on the history of Persian illustration, and panel discussion “Making History? Will Iran’s Domestic Politics Permit a Change in its Foreign Policy?”

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute would like to congratulate Safoura Nourbakhsh, the first recipient of Roshan Institute Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies at UMD, on the progress made toward completing her Ph.D. dissertation “Expressions of Gender and Sexuality in Persian Sufism.” 

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to announce Spring 2014 courses in Persian language and culture offered by the Persian Language, Culture, and Linguistics Program in the College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. These include “Intensive Beginning Modern Language”, “Beginning Modern Persian II” and “Persian Literature in Translation”. “Beginning Modern Persian I” and “Introduction to Persian Art, Culture, History and Literature” were offered in Fall 2013. All courses are taught by Dr. Ladan Hamedani, Roshan Institute Instructor in Persian Language and Culture.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to announce fellowship awards for outstanding students studying Persian language, linguistics and culture at UH Manoa. Two Roshan Institute Fellowships in Persian Linguistics, Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics will be awarded to qualified students who have been admitted to the College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature for doctoral study in Linguistics or Second Language Studies starting in 2014-2015. Several Roshan Institute Fellowships for Persian Language and Culture are also available for excellent graduate students currently enrolled in Persian language and culture courses.

We would like to congratulate Roshan Institute Chair in Persian Studies, Fatemeh Keshavarz, who was named December’s “Poet of the Month” by Grace Cavalieri. Dr. Keshavarz was interviewed by poet and playwright Grace Cavalieri, where she spoke candidly about her early introduction into poetry and Classical Persian literature, UMD’s Persian Studies program and read some of her own poetry.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute would like to congratulate Dr. Talinn Grigor on her forthcoming book entitled Contemporary Iranian Art: From the Street to the Studio (London, Reaktion Books) and is delighted to support its publication through a grant to Brandeis University. This book is the first single-author, art historical study on contemporary Iranian art and visual culture since the 1979 revolution and explores the multiple aspects of artistic production. Dr. Grigor is a former Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Fellow and currently Associate Professor of Art History at Brandeis, where she teaches art and architecture.

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Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to announce a grant to Dr. Hossein Omoumi and Documentary Educational Resources, Inc. for the production of “Classical Persian Music. Hossein Omoumi from Isfahan to Irvine” and related outreach efforts. Dr. Omoumi is an internationally recognized musician specializing in the ney and an accomplished vocalist, and currently holds the Maseeh Professorship in Persian Performing Arts at UC Irvine. His contributions to the teaching, understanding and enjoyment of classical Persian music are numerous and invaluable. The documentary, together with the educational curriculum developed by Dr. Omoumi, will enhance the appreciation and awareness of Persian culture, music and poetry by students, musicians, and the general public.

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Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to renew its support of the Iranian Culture and Art Club of Fresno this year. The ICAC Fresno is a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with the goal to promote and preserve Iranian culture, arts and traditions in Fresno and San Joaquin Valley in California. Its cultural and educational activities include Persian language and dance classes, lectures and performance series, and celebration of Iranian holidays, such as Noruz and Yalda.

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The Louvre Museum’s new galleries for Islamic Art recently welcomed distinguished guests, The Honorable Neil Abercrombie, Governor of the State of Hawaii, and his wife, Dr. Nancie Caraway; and Dr. Michael V. Drake, Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, and his wife, Brenda Drake. Both visits were led by Yannick Lintz, director of the Department of Islamic Art. The Louvre’s collection includes many treasures of Persian art, whose study, publication, exhibition and related educational activities are made possible through the support of the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Fund.

(© Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Raphaël Chipault)

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We would like to welcome Naciem Nikkhah, Lecturer in Persian Language, to San José State University. She currently teaches beginning Persian and advises the Persian Students Association, in addition to her research on the art of the Iranian Diaspora and Persian language and literature. We would also like to congratulate the recipients of Roshan Institute Fellowship, Scholarship and Assistantship in 2013-2014: Hamed Sorourifar; Khaled Ali, Christopher Suard and Michelle Belmessieri-Hogg; and Ume Naqvi and Ritu Sristava, respectively.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to share the news from the Persian and Iranian Studies Program. The inaugural Friends of Persian Studies Fundraiser held on October 19 featured Persian music, dance and poetry readings. On November 16, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, in collaboration with the Persian and Iranian Studies Program, hosted the sold out event “An Evening of the Music of Iran” with a performance by the Daneshvar Ensemble. Other activities included a poetry night in celebration of Mehregan and a lecture by Professor Abbas Milani (Stanford University). We would also like to congratulate Daniel Hadidi who received a Mary Gates Leadership Grant for his work as co-president of the Persian Circle, and Kayhan Nejad, who began his M.Phil. in Persian literature at Cambridge University.

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Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is delighted to announce its support of the Persian Culture Program Series at the Honolulu Museum of Art in 2014. The March editions of Bank of Hawaii Family Sunday and ARTafterDARK will celebrate Noruz with a multitude of activities, demonstrations and performances for the education and enjoyment of children, families and adults. The Honolulu Persian Film Festival, scheduled in September, will feature documentaries and short films revealing the richness and diversity of Persian culture and society. Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute congratulates the Honolulu Museum of Art for its efforts to share Persian culture with a broad audience on the island.

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Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute would like to congratulate Dr. Matthew Stolper and the six students who worked under his supervision during summer 2013 on the Persepolis Fortification Archive (PFA) Project at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. The PFA is a group of thousands of tablets discovered by archaeologists from the Oriental Institute in 1933. They offer a rare insight into the Achaemenid Persian Empire, including its languages, art, history and administration. Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Fellows Emily Wilson, Tytus Mikolajczak, Erin Daly, Christina Chandler, Katherine Livingstone and Seunghee Yie made valuable contributions to the ongoing initiative to identify, catalogue and record seals on these tablets and fragments.

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American Friends of the Louvre’s annual newsletter reported the appointment of the Louvre Museum’s new President-Director, Jean-Luc Martinez. Mr. Martinez is a renowned archaeologist and scholar, and previously held the position of Director of the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities of the Louvre. His priority projects for the coming years are the refurbishment of galleries, renovation of visitor spaces, and maintaining the excellence of scholarly research at the Louvre.

AFL also reported the success of “Shirin Neshat: Portraits of Women” held on February 3, with the support of the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Fund at the Louvre. The renowned Iranian photographer and video artist spoke about many of her acclaimed works, including Turbulent/Rapture/Fervor (1998).
(Shirin Neshat, “Roja,” The Book of Kings © Shirin Neshat)