March 17, 1999

Washington, DC - The Armenian National Institute (ANI) today announced that it has received a grant to support genocide documentation from the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation.

The grant, in the sum of $19,250, was awarded to ANI to collect and document the international cultural legacy resulting from the Armenian Genocide as it is reflected in major works of art. ANI’s undertaking is part of a larger effort to learn how communities that have suffered major social traumas in this century have given expression to their losses.

Artists of Armenian heritage, in particular, have made a major contribution toward raising world consciousness with regard to the Genocide. This creative challenge is widely considered to have impelled them toward new forms of artistic expression, notably revealed in the output of well-known Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky.

ANI will implement this undertaking with the assistance of specialists around the world who have been assigned specific aspects in the collection and documentation process.

This project is Phase II of an earlier Rockefeller Foundation award, which enabled ANI to prepare the translation of key literary documents on the Armenian Genocide authored by Armenian survivors such as Aram Andonian and Bishop Krikoris Balakian.

The Rockefeller Foundation is a philanthropic organization endowed by John D. Rockefeller and chartered in 1913. Its grant and fellowship programs focus on the arts and humanities, equal opportunity, agricultural sciences, health sciences, population sciences, global environment and special African initiatives. The Foundation also supports work in democracy building, international security and philanthropy.

The Armenian National Institute is a Washington-based, non-profit organization dedicated to the study, research and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.