Dear Friends:

 

Over the past several years, you may have noticed that the number of Persian cultural programs offered by the Great Neck Library and the Great Neck Park District have increased.  These programs have ranged from a free Andy concert at Steppingstone Park to Noruz for Children plays and Shab-e-Yalda celebrations at the Great Neck Library.  Such programs, which are funded primarily by taxpayer money, have been offered because our elected officials at the Library and the Park District (along with their dedicated staff) have collaborated with the Persian Culture Committee, a new non-profit organization that has coordinated these free programs for the benefit of the community.

 

The mission of the Persian Culture Committee is deceptively simple: to educate the public about the various aspects of one of the richest cultures in civilization.  But in striving to accomplish our mission, we attempt to meet the needs of three distinct segments of our audiences: our children who are being raisedor have already been raisedin the United States who stand to be enriched by being exposed to the culture of their forefathers, our parents and grandparents and their contemporaries who lived in Iran, for whom our programs provide a welcome opportunity to indulge in nostalgia and learning even more about Persian Culture, and our non-Iranian neighbors who have an insatiable curiosity to learn more about us.  Members of all these categories have welcomed our programs and we welcome them.  In truth, we are delighted that all have united in their appreciation of Persian Culture.  We think only good things can come from such unity.

 

Not only is there a diversity to our audiences, but there is also diversity in our programs.  And our programs have consistently received overwhelming response.  Our recent concert featuring Andy drew thousands, including hundreds of teenagers who despite never stepping foot in Iran, were visibly excited to be attending a Persian pop concert.  Our Noruz for Children programs, which last year featured a play by director Leyla Ebtehad, similarly draw hundreds of children who learn about the customs associated with Persian New Year.   Our Noruz and Shab-e-Yalda programs at the Library are consistently filled to capacity.  And our literary programs that have featured the lives of the likes of Forough Farrokhzad and Ahmad Shamlou have drawn diverse crowds of discerning Iranians and non-Iranians.

--Board of Trustees

PERSIAN CULTURE

COMMITTEE

Board of Trustees

Eleanor Askari

Dr. Massoud Benhuri

Shayli Eshaghi

Janet Eshaghoff

Jacqueline Harounian

Kamran Hekmati

Raymond Iryami

Anwar Koukou

Rebecca Sassouni

Jennifer Yousefzadeh

Shadi Zargari