Toronto, Canada – The “Atom Egoyan and Arsinée Khanjian Fund” has been launched to support the Zoryan Institute’s Genocide and Human Rights University Program. This new fund will help underwrite part of the cost of the course and make it affordable for university students to attend. Atom Egoyan is the writer and director of the multiple award-winning film, Ararat, about the effects of the Armenian Genocide on people today. Actress Arsinée Khanjian won a Genie award as best actress for her role in Ararat.

“This is a tremendous honor for Arsinée and me,” exclaimed Egoyan, when asked how he felt about the announcement. “We hope that the fund will have the support of all sectors of the Armenian community for Zoryan’s unique efforts at genocide education and will help train new scholars devoted to the Armenian Genocide, which is so dear to Atom’s and my heart,” added Arsinée.

The idea for the special fund in honor of Atom and Arsinée first arose during the Zoryan Institute’s 20th anniversary gala, and the first North American public viewing of Ararat last August. During the evening, Dr. Carolann Najarian, a former Zoryan Board member and founder and president of the Armenian Health Alliance led an impromptu, lively fundraising effort. She was inspired by the presentation on Zoryan’s achievements, as well as by Arsinée’s eloquent speech on the need for an institute like Zoryan. She and her husband George pledged $10,000 to further the “very important” work of the Institute.

In the same spirit, Mr. Noubar Afeyan, a philanthropist and Armenian-American activist from the Boston area, declared, “Our family wishes to contribute $15,000 and set up a fund called ‘The Atom & Arsinée Fund,’ and I encourage others to contribute to this fund.” He continued, “We have to commemorate this evening for Zoryan’s twenty years of achievements, and we should identify this evening as being inspired by Atom & Arsinée for their brilliant film, Ararat, which encompasses so many of the issues Zoryan has been dealing with over the past twenty years.”

Afeyan’s suggestion clearly struck a chord. Rita Balian, of Arlington, VA, who founded the Armenian American Cultural Association, and who was recently honored with the USAID Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award, remarked, “When I asked Atom, ‘Where did you get your inspiration,’ he said ‘Certainly from Arsinée.’ Thank you, Arsinée, for being there,” she added, “and inspiring Atom. He has made us very proud internationally. I really appreciate what the Zoryan Institute has done. I join with you, Noubar Afeyan, and my husband and I contribute $10,000.”

Recently, another $5,000 was received from an anonymous donor, and $1,000 was received from Prof. Shaké Toukmanian, of the Dept. of Psychology of York University and a member of the University Program Development Committee. She made this contribution in the names of her daughters Lisa and Nyrie. She explained that she was motivated to do so when she saw Ararat win five Genie awards in Canada on February 12, including Best Film. “At long last we have an expression of our trauma in the form of an internationally acclaimed film,” she observed. “In the words of the poet, the Armenians are still here, will continue to be here, and will endure and flourish as a nation.” She went on to say, “I am particularly glad that there is a special fund in Atom and Arsinée’s name to support the Genocide and Human Rights University Program. I think this is the most tangible way of encouraging our younger generation to gain a factual, scholarly appreciation of our history.”

Dr. Najarian discussed the competing financial demands on Armenians. “You’re not sure. Kids have to go to college; there are school bills, and the Armenian organizations, and the Church, and medical relief all asking for money. There are a thousand other things, but there are some things that we must do and we must do them now. If a hundred or two hundred years from now there are no Armenians to attend our Churches or join our organizations, we would have only one legacy: our written history. The research and publications of the Zoryan Institute will preserve that legacy; the Genocide and Human Rights University Program will keep it alive; and your contribution will make that happen.”

Contributors to the “Atom & Arsinée Fund” may contact the Zoryan Institute at 416-250-9807. Donations are tax deductible in the US and Canada.

The Genocide and Human Rights University Program will take place in Toronto, August 5-15, 2003. More information can be found at the Zoryan web site, www.zoryaninstitute.org.

The Zoryan Institute is an international center devoted to the research and documentation of contemporary issues related to the history, politics, society, and culture of Armenia and Armenians around the world.