Our proposal is the creation of a Middle Eastern arts complex with shared offices, facilities and services for like-minded cultural, social and peace organizations, as well as artists and writers, such that the Levantine Cultural Center (LCC) becomes a hub, a peace center, an arts center open to all. With the "Arab Spring" or Thaura (Revolution) that began in Tunisia and the protests and uprisings against governments that have spread across North Africa and the Middle East, we want to bridge cultures and build peace—to promote understanding across boundaries. Would you give us a mandate, knowing that the LCC has already devoted the past decade since 2001 building these bridges? Sign our petition.

BOOK & DVD DRIVE CALLS FOR DONATED NEW & USED MATERIALS ON MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA FOR RESOURCE LIBRARY

The Levantine Cultural Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that champions a greater understanding of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), seeks to build a new library and resource center that will provide access to valuable research materials. The library will be open to the public beginning Monday, November 7, and will be available during regular center hours, Monday-Saturday, 10 am-6 pm.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Apr 30 2011 2:30pm - 6:00pm

Price: 

Free to the public.

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035
between La Cienega Blvd. & Fairfax Ave.
ample street parking or in the CVS underground lot

The American Middle Eastern Women's Leadership Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to enhance the skills of women leaders that are engaged in the awareness of our democratic principles, civic involvement and actively helping their community in the United States. We also want to assist women to become goodwill ambassadors using their heritage and language through cooperating with the women in the Middle East and other countries to help them become agents of positive change in their own communities.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

May 4 2011 8:00pm - 10:00pm

Price: 

Free to the public. Cash bar available. (UCLA parking $10)

Where: 

UCLA Royce Hall
340 Royce Drive
Los Angeles
visit uclalive.org

The Hammer Museum and UCLA Live present a free lecture featuring Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf with Reza Aslan at UCLA's Royce Hall. In his role as chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, Imam Feisal directs projects that aim to heal conflict between Islamic and Western communities. As Imam of Masjid al-Farah for 27 years, a mosque located twelve blocks from Ground Zero in New York City, he has preached a message of understanding among people of all faiths. One of his projects is the Cordoba House project in Lower Manhattan, which became a cause célèbre in 2010 and he became known as the ‘Ground Zero Mosque Imam.'

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Dec 17 2010 5:00pm - 11:00pm

Price: 

Free to the public

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035
street parking
between Fairfax and La Cienega

Gift items! Art! Party! Join the community of American Arabs, Jews, Iranians, Greeks, Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Berbers and all the other insubordinate tribes of the Middle East, North Africa and the United States for our annual HOLIDAY BAZAAR and party.

Awesome sale prices on all art, books, music, movies, jewelry clothing, you name it! Revolutionary Me tees, Turkish jewelry, comedy DVDs...

Last-minute gift-shopping for the holidays, great stuff, and your purchases benefit the Levantine Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization that celebrates arts, culture and building stronger bridges between Americans and the Middle East.

See art from the Peace Project! Free hors d'oeuvres at the bar (cash bar).

Info 310.657.5511.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Morgan Turner
310.657.5511

 

SOCAL'S MIDDLE EASTERN CULTURAL ARTS CENTER CELEBRATES 9th ANNIVERSARY WITH THE EAST-WEST AWARDS GALA AWARDS SHOW IN BEVERLY HILLLS

 [Los Angeles- November 1, 2010] On December 1st, 2010 the Levantine Cultural Center will host the East-West Awards gala to mark its 9th anniversary in Southern California. In celebration of the LCC's mission to bridge political and religious divides and champion a greater understanding of the Arab/Muslim world, the LCC will recognize the excellence of three individuals who have contributed to a positive dialogue between the Middle East and the US.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Nov 9 2010 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Price: 

Free to the public, reservations recommended. RSVP here

Where: 

Mark Taper Auditorium
Los Angeles Central Library
630 W. Fifth Street (at Fifth & Flower)
Los Angeles CA 90071
underground parking

Tablet and PenReza Aslan, a national advisory board member of the Levantine Cultural Center, introduces a new anthology of Middle Eastern literature, Tablet & Pen, as part of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles' award-winning Aloud at Central Library series at the downtown library. RSVP.

This anthology spans the years 1910-2010 and showcasing the tumultuous changes in literary culture across the Middle East and South Asia, ranging from the renaissance of Arabic literature to Urdu writing after partition. Included are familiar names such as Khalil Gibran, Orhan Pamuk, and Naguib Mahfouz as well as many extraordinary writers and works that have never before been translated into English. 

A celebratory reading with Aimee Bender, Howard Gordon, Heather Graham, Evan Handler, Jaime Ray Newman, Sholeh Wolpe, Gideon Yago, and Necar Zadegan. Followed by a book sale and signing.

With traditional Persian music by Hamid Saeidi, hosted by Reza Aslan.

RSVP here. Directions/parking.

Shanbehzadeh performing live at the TroubadourBy Omid Arabian

"I didn't expect this kind of reception," musician Saeid Shanbehzadeh told a small but adoring crowd cheering him on at the Troubador, "based on what I had seen from Persian TV." One can see why, given that his music is such a far cry from the hip-hop-infused bubble-gum pop that permeates the Iranian channels here in L.A. Mr. Shanbehzadeh hails from the southern part of Iran—the gulf town of Boushehr, to be exact—and the sound he and his ensemble brought to Los Angeles on Oct 24th, 2010 is the essence of traditional 'Bandari' (Persian Gulf) music: by turns rhythmic and fluid, wistful and passionate, meditative and exhilarating. It's also reflective of the region's long, rich history as a cultural crossroads: infused with strong African, Arab, and even Indian elements.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Oct 24 2010 7:30pm

Price: 

$35 in advance, or $40 at the door
Click here to purchase tickets.

Where: 

The Troubador in W. Hollywood
9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

The Shanbehzadeh Ensemble offers a unique aspect of hypnotic dances and traditional music from the Persian Gulf and more precisely from the unknown region of Boushehr.