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Gagrulelive Coverage: William Saroyan Museum The ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the Speeches Video

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By Wally Sarkeesian, Fresno, California.

The Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual team have put up an impressive show from the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2729 W. Griffith Way on Friday afternoon   to over 500 guests attended the celebration at Fresno State Satellite Student Union University.

On August 31 Friday something incredible happened in Fresno look like just another house on the block, but the Fresno home where Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright William Saroyan lived out his final years is now open to the public as an interactive museum.

The museum features a hologram of Saroyan and a setup of his desk and part of his home as it was when he lived there. The rest of the house is filled with photos, videos and interviews taken of Saroyan throughout the years, posters of his work and his drawings.

Mayor Lee Brand, Councilwoman Esmeralda Soria and Mr. Artur Janibekyan Founder of the renaissance cultural and intellectual foundation were in attendance for the grand opening. The museum is in Soria’s district.

Saroyan’s home of 16 years has been converted into a high-tech interactive museum in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Central Fresno.

“Hologram is usually something that is fun for kids to see an actual character in actual space so that’s why we came up with the hologram thing,” said Meroujan Minssian.

Saroyan was born in Fresno in 1908 and died at the Veterans Hospital in 1981 of cancer. He purchased the home on Griffith Way 17 years before his death and split his time there and abroad, according to his biography.

The Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual Foundation, based in Armenia, purchased the house in 2015 and set out to renovate it to honor Saroyan and the Armenian community.

The Mayor Interview by Wally Sarkeesian

Plaque Unveiling, Official Ribbon Cutting at William Saroyan Museum Grand opening

 

Opening ceremony of Oscar-winning Armenian-American novelist William Saroyan Museum to open in Fresno

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The William Saroyan House-Museum will open to the public on August 31, the 110th anniversary of the writer’s birthday, Renaissance” Cultural and Intellectual Foundation reported in a press statement.

The grand opening event will be open to the public and held on the campus of California State University of Fresno.  A documentary, musical performances of songs written by Saroyan, a recitation of his writings, and remarks by the Founder and board members of the Foundation will be part of the event.  Two of the songs will be a debut performance, having never been played for the public.

In 2016, the 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 the Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning Armenian-American novelist, screenwriter, and songwriter.

The museum will feature a large digital archive of Saroyan’s works as well as collected books, photos, videos, paintings, souvenirs that describe Saroyan’s character. Additionally, the space will include video and digital effects that depict a hologram of William Saroyan sitting and talking with his guests. In accordance with William Saroyan’s will, a research area will be created within the house, which will serve as a center for Saroyan studies. Students, scholars and other interested individuals will thus be able to benefit from the vast heritage which the writer left behind.