Persian Poetry Night at Bowery Poetry Club
Persian Arts Festival’s Monthly Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) - last one before two month hiatus!
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008, 6-8pm
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, between Houston and Bleecker (F train to 2nd Ave)
Cover: $12 (includes 1 drink)
Co-curated by PAF Literary Arts Director, Richard Jeffrey Newman and Kaveh Bassiri, the event includes an open mic that is open to all who would like to read their favorite Iranian poetry or their own original work in Persian or English. To sign up to read before the event, email poetry@persianartsfestival.org. This month’s guest reader will be Manijeh Nasrabadi, co-director of the Association of Iranian American Writers, whose work appears in About Face: Women Write About What They See When They Look in the Mirror and will appear in Love and Pomegranates. Manijeh will read from her memoir-in-progress about becoming a part of her extended family in
For more information, visit PAF online at www.persianartsfestival.org .
Shab-e She’r - Wednesday, May 21st!
Persian Arts Festival’s Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night)
May 21st, 2008, 6-8pm
Every 3rd Wednesday of the month
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, between Houston and Bleecker (F train to 2nd Ave)
Cover: $12 (includes 1 drink)
Co-hosted by PAF Founder Mona Kayhan and PAF Literary Arts Director, Richard Jeffrey Newman, the event includes an open mic that is open to all who would like to read their favorite Iranian poetry or their own original work in Persian or English. To sign up to read before the event, email poetry@persianartsfestival.org. This month we will celebrate a major new anthology of poetry, Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East,
For more information, visit PAF online at www.persianartsfestival.org .
NYU Norooz Party, Saturday, April 19th!
April 14 - Jamshied Sharifi at Joe’s Pub - PAF Sponsored
Mon, Apr 14
PAF sponsors Jamshied Sharifi’s “ONE” CD Release Concert
Joe’s Pub 9:30pm
Only $20
425 Lafayette
BUY TIX ALMOST SOLD OUT!
Jamshied Sharifi with special guests Hassan Hakmoun, Yungchen Lhamo, Vishal Vaid and Mamak Khadem. Also performing: Ole Mathisen, Brahim Fribgane, Damon Banks, Benjamin Wittman, Simone Haggiag.
Jamshied Sharifi’s pan-world-music ensemble will feature internationally known singers, including Hassan Hakmoun Vishal Vaid, Mamak Kadem, and Yungchen Lhamo, as well as established New York musicians, including Brahim Fribgane, Benjamin Wittman, and Ole Mathisen. Chris Nickson of Amazon.com says “[Sharifi] uses Middle Eastern rhythms and ideas as his framework to take his music to another place that exists outside geography… It’s an example of the best worldbeat… Spiritual and haunting in the best way…”

Forugh Farrokhzad’s Poetry at PAF’s Shab-e She’r on April 16th
On April 16th, Persian Arts Festival welcomes Maryam Habibian, author of the play Forugh’s Reflecting Pool: The Life and Work of Forugh Farrokhzad, and Fawzia Afzal-Khan, editor of Shattering The Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out. Ms. Habibian will read a section from her play and offer a dramatic reading of some of Farrokhzad’s poems, in English and Persian. Ms. Afzal-Khan will sing a selection of Farrokhzad’s poems in Persian.
The event will take place on Wednesday, April 16th from 6-8 PM at the Bowery Poetry Club. There is a $12 cover, which buys you one drink. As usual, an open mic will follow the featured readers. If you would like to read your work, in English and/or Persian, please email poetry@persianartsfestival.org to sign up. Anyone can read, as long as what you read has some connection to Iran, Iranian culture, Iranian-American experience and so on. If you sign up, please plan to read no more than 2 or 3 poems or about 5-7 minutes worth of prose. Full bios of our readers appear below.
Iranian-American Women Novelists in Bookforum
Women Under the Influence
Check it out! It’s an interesting essay: http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_01/2247.
3/19 Norooz Special - Persian Arts Festival’s Shabe-e She’r (Poetry Night)
Wed, Mar 19
Night of Persian Poetry
Bowery Poetry Club 6-8pm
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308 Bowery @ Bleecker
Open mic night to recite your favorite Persian poetry or your own original work in Persian or English. Featured guest Joe Martin, author of the stage adaptation of Rumi’s Mathnavi.
Sign up for the open mic email poetry@persianartsfestival.org
Every third Wednesday of the month!
MORE INFO

Persian Art — Saturday 3/15 NYC
Sat, March 15, 5-9pm, Closing Reception
Persian Arts Festival presents
Weaving the Common Thread: Perspectives from Iranian Artists
Queens Museum of Art
On view Feb 24 – March 16
Download Press Release here
Weaving the Common Thread investigates how contemporary Persian art has been influenced and inspired by the post-revolutionary Iranian Diaspora. This collection showcases more than 20 pieces from eight emerging Iranian artists. Saturday’s closing reception features an artist & curatorial talk, a Persian New Year (Norooz) celebration with DJ Payam, a special, interactive multi-media project and a series of Iranian short films.
Exhibiting Artists
Pooneh Maghazehe, Samira Abbassy, Anahita Vossoughi, Sara Rahbar, Arien Valizadeh, Negar Ahkami, Ali Banisadr and Khosro Berahmandi. And a multimedia installation by Parastou Marashi & Dean Gransar.
Gallery Hours: Wed-Fri 10a-5p, Sat & Sun 12p-5p.
WHERE IS QMA?


Cycles by Sara Rahbar
Norooz Party & Artist Reception at QMA
Sat, March 15, 5-9pm, Reception
Weaving the Common Thread: Perspectives from Iranian Artists
Queens Museum of Art
Exhibit On view Feb 24 – March 16
For full Press Release click here
Weaving the Common Thread investigates how contemporary Persian art has been influenced and inspired by the post-revolutionary Iranian Diaspora. This collection showcases more than 20 pieces from eight emerging Iranian artists. The reception features an artist & curatorial talk, a Persian New Year (Norooz) celebration with DJ Payam and short film series, courtesy of ArteEast. For gallery hours and directions please visit www.QueensMuseum.org/information.
QMA is located at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens and is open Wednesday-Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday & Sunday 12pm-5pm. #7 Flushing IRT. Exit Willets Point/Shea Stadium and follow the yellow signs on a ten-minute walk through the park to the museum, which is located next to the Unisphere. MAP
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The Wasteland by Ali Banisadr
Opening Sun. Feb 24 - PAF presents Weaving the Common Thread at QMA - Feb 24-Mar 16
Persian Arts Festival presents
Weaving the Common Thread:
Perspectives from Iranian Artists
On view February 24 - March 16, 2008
Reception, Saturday, March 15, 5-9pm
Queens Museum of Art
In its third successful year as an organization devoted to providing a platform for Persian artists and visionaries, Persian Arts Festival (PAF) has joined forces with the Queens Museum of Art (QMA) to present a groundbreaking exhibition, Weaving the Common Thread, that investigates how contemporary Persian art has been influenced and inspired by the post-revolutionary Iranian Diaspora. Curated by Persian Arts Festival Art Director Pooneh Maghazehe, this collection showcases more than 20 pieces from eight emerging Iranian artists, on view February 24 to March 16 at QMA. A special reception will be held on March 15 from 5 to 9pm, featuring an artist and curatorial talk followed by a Persian New Year (Norooz) celebration with musical soundscapes by DJ Payam and a series of short films.
The impact of the Persian Arts Festival within the Persian community was officially recognized with Mayor Bloomberg’s proclamation of March 19, 2006 as “Persian Norooz Day.” PAF is proud to continue its tradition of celebrating Iran’s rich culture through the arts. Acclaimed by the New York Times as “creating original paintings that are at once engaging and affecting,” Samira Abbassy recites internal narratives through mythology and the human body. Negar Ahkami cleverly employs the age-old method of Persian miniature painting as a platform to articulate her “cultural baggage” and to synthesize whimsical narratives that allude to modern day Iran. Similarly, Los Angeles-based artist Arien Valizadeh redefines Persian figurative painting to offer commentary on global societal dynamics. Identity and notions of borders in the work of Sara Rahbar’s modified flags breathe new life into textiles created during different eras in Iran, creating overlapping historical timelines. Ali Banisadr depicts death and isolation while simultaneously describing refuge and hope in his grandiose paintings. Khosro Berahmandi’s work is rich with fantastic detail and complex dimensions. Pooneh Maghazehe crafts a new context in formal Islamic pattern and grapples with spiritual assimilation, while Anahita Vossoughi’s paintings depict a galactic wonderland that recalls Persian mysticism.
QMA is located at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens and is open Wednesday-Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday & Sunday 12pm-5pm. #7 Flushing IRT. Exit Willets Point/Shea Stadium and follow the yellow signs on a ten-minute walk through the park to the museum, which is located next to the Unisphere.
http://www.queensmuseum.org
About Persian Arts Festival
Persian Arts Festival is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to showcasing the magnificence and diversity of Persian art and culture through its voices, artists and visionaries. PAF provides a truly unique opportunity for local and global communities to gather and explore one of the worlds most ancient and rich civilizations. Persian Arts Festival is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Support provided by New York Foundation for the Arts, Independence Community Foundation, New York Department of Cultural Affairs and ArteEast. Learn more at www.persianartsfestival.org.
About Queens Museum of Art
The Queens Museum of Art was established in 1972 to provide a vital cultural center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the borough’s unique, international population. Today it is home to the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335 square foot scale model of the five boroughs, and features temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that reflect the cultural diversity of Queens, as well as a collection of Tiffany glass from the Neustadt Museum of Tiffany Art. The Museum provides valuable educational outreach through a number of programs geared toward schoolchildren, teens, families, seniors and individuals with physical and mental disabilities.
| UPCOMING PAF NOROOZ EVENTS Wed, March 19 A Night of Persian Poetry BOWERY POETRY CLUB, 6-8pm $12 incl. 1 drink, 308 Bowery @ Bleecker PAFs rendition of traditional Shab-e She’r. Join us for our featured guest Joe Martin, author of the stage adaptation of Rumi’s Mathnavi. Open mic night to recite your favorite Persian poetry or your own original work in Persian or English. Every third Wednesday of the month. Sign up for the open mic email poetry@persianartsfestival.org Sun, March 23 Haale & Divahn DROM 7:30 pm 85 Avenue A b/w 5th & 6th Drom & The Persian Arts Festival are pleased to present Haale and Divahn together onstage for a special show of female-fronted Persian rock and contemporary music. Tonight Haale celebrates the release of her new record; while Divahn performs a special set for Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating a woman’s courage to save her Persian Jewish community from persecution. Buy Tix Now!! |







