FRESNO, Calif.—This year, on August 31, the 110th anniversary of famed author William Saroyan’s birth, a house-museum in his name opens its doors to visitors in Fresno, California, in the house that Saroyan spent the last two decades of his life. Visitors will be greeted by a hologram of Saroyan, and will bear witness to the author’s biggest digital archive, including exclusive pictures and graphics. Additionally, according to William Saroyan’s will, a research corner will be created.

In 2016, the “Renaissance” Cultural and Intellectual Foundation, founded by Arthur Janibekyan, purchased William Saroyan’s house and saved it from foreclosure. Since then, the Saroyan House Project was initiated, with the purpose of establishing a house-museum dedicated to the life and times of this great, Armenian icon.

Credits to armenianweekly.com web page.

 Preparations for the 2018 International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) Summit to be convened in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, on Sunday were presented at the 34th OIF Ministerial Conference in Paris. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, submitted the respective information to the conference participants. On the recommendation of Armenia, it was decided to hold next year’s OIF summit on October 11 and 12. Also, the aforementioned ministerial conference approved “Living Together” as the slogan of this high-level meeting. Nalbandian informed that this slogan will be put on the basis of the Yerevan Pact to be proposed to the OIF. In addition, the ministerial conference discussants watched a film presentation on Armenia and regarding next year’s OIF summit. The 34th OIF Ministerial Conference unanimously approved all of Armenia’s proposals with respect to the holding of the summit in Yerevan.

 Credits to news.am web page.

          Armenian Cultural Fund in Hungary was founded in 1995. Since 2005 volunteers took an active role in Fund’s activities and in different cultural events. In the scope of the European Voluntary Service , which lasts one year, the volunteers have the opportunity to take part in different cultural events organized by Armenian Cultural Fund, where they can obtain knowledge, achieve goals and gain various skills.

Armenian Cultural Fund finds the participation in “Youth in Action” project important, as it provides the opportunity to expand the cultural involvement of the young generation.

Volunteers involved in the Fund’s activities get the opportunity to take part in various cultural events, exhibitions and national memorial days, as well as different festivals. Moreover, by writing and translating news and articles about Diaspora, cultural figures, and traditions, publishing these on the www.armenians.hu website, volunteers have the possibility to develop their skills not only in this area, but also promote public awareness.

During the one year voluntary service there are usually included two trainings organized by European Voluntary Service, in which volunteers from different countries share their skills, bridge the cultures, traditions and get acquainted with each other.

In the scope of the Armenian Cultural Fund’s volunteering activities, Ani Hasratyan and Vardanush Tovmasyan had their involvement and share from 2017 to 2018. This one year of volunteering was filled with various cultural projects and events, of which Armenian Diaspora’s first festival deserves attention. Volunteers took part in this festival, which lasted two months and included not only Hungarian cities, but also Transylvania’s old Armenian Gheorgheni city. Ani  and Vardanush also had their participation in the article dedicated to the Armenian days, festivals, exhibitions and miniature painting classes organized for children. All these events were illustrated and published as an article by the volunteers in Armenian Cultural Fund’s official website: www.armenians.hu.

This one year of voluntary service was not only saturated with lots of cultural events, striking impressions, but moreover gaining and developing the skills, which will definitely affect on the future achievements of the volunteers.