Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
Mark your calendars-Friday, August 31, 2018. That day will mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Fresno native and internationally recognized author William Saroyan and will be celebrated with the grand opening of the Saroyan House Museum at 2729 W. Griffith Way in Fresno.
The Intellectual Renaissance Foundation, founded by Arthur Janibekyan, purchased Saroyan’s home in 2015, planning to transform it into a center for people from throughout the world to learn more about the life and work of William Saroyan.
Saroyan House Project director Avag Simonyan was in Fresno in October to initiate the renovations and will return to Fresno later this fall to manage the day-to-day activities of construction. Students who participated in the Armenia Summer Study Program 2017 visited the Saroyan House headquarters in Yerevan and were given an in-depth overview of the project.
Preliminary plans for the innovative House Museum have been completed with exterior work having already begun. Soon, interior reconstruction of the house will also take place. Meroujan Minasian of the Yerevan-based Storaket Architectural Studio, developed the plans for the Saroyan House Museum.
Karen Mirzoyan, curator and designer of the Saroyan House visited Fresno in April of 2017 to meet with local Armenians who had known Saroyan. Mirzoyan also visited the office of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State where he was able to study the Saroyan collection held there and to discuss plans for the Museum with Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian.
A William Saroyan hologram is planned to be the centerpiece for the House Museum, providing an interactive interface for visitors with the writer.
Saroyan will be able to speak with the guests and show them around the House Museum.
The Saroyan hologram will perform a weekly “stand-up show” with guests, providing an interesting experience for the audience.
Saroyan’s characters will also appear within the walls of the House Museum, where the writer used to live.
More information about the Saroyan House museum is available through the following websites: Saroyanhouse.com; https://irf.am; and on Facebook @saroyanhouse.