Extraordinary Council on the Mission & Identity of Levantine Cultural Center

You are invited to an extraordinary council to discuss the charter and future of Middle Eastern cultural identity as it applies to the development of the Levantine Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Please consider:

How do you feel the events of Sept. 11 and their aftermath have affected your own Middle Eastern identity? How do you feel things have changed for you and those around you?

Please mark the date of Wednesday, November 28, 7:30 pm, and plan to meet with us at the historic Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA. 90232. You must RSVP, 323.650.7010 or email us.

Arab Women Poets Perform Nov. 30, 7:30 pm

Seating is Limited, RSVP Now to 323.650.7010
Elmaz Abi-Nader, Nathalie Handal, Dima Hilal & Deema Shehabi
At Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90291.
Tickets are $7 general, $5 members, and $15 with
Private Artists Reception, 11 pm, featuring Middle Eastern food and drinks
at the Mediterranean Cafe, 10445 Venice Blvd., L.A. 90034.
Cosponsored by Beyond Baroque and Al Jadid Magazine.
Purchase your copy of this fine anthology from Levantine Center, call 323.650.7010!

Board of Directors Meets Dec. 5

Levantine Center's Board of Directors is currently in formation, and welcomes inquiries. Our board consists of diverse members of the community who are of Middle Eastern heritage or who have a strong professional or artistic interest in furthering our mission. As directors, board members represent the organization officially, are responsible for its financial health, and make the priority strategic decisions, with counsel from Advisory Board members where possible.

Our Advisory Board is also in formation. Advisory board members are known professionally in their own communities and offer valuable counsel and services to the organization; they are eligible to attend the organization&Mac185;s annual retreat and receive other benefits; and they maintain Associate level membership.

To attend, you must RSVP for location and time. 323.650.7010.



Photographer Jessica Shokrian, A Portrait Show, Dec. 8, 5:00 pm-2:00 am

Reception for the artist at The Normandie Room, 8737 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069. 310.659.6204. Shokrian, who has a flare for subtle social commentary in her stark imagery, displays her documentarian eye through a series of portraits.

Bookgroup Meets December 13

Levantine Cultural Center's Middle East Bookgroup meets Thursday, Dec. 13, 7:30 pm, at the Culver Hotel in Culver City, 9400 Culver Blvd., at the intersection of Washington Bd., for dinner (Szechuan, sushi, American cuisines), drinks and booktalk. Private meeting room upstairs from the lobby. Please join us.

This new Middle East Bookgroup has completed reading This Side of Innocence by Lebanese novelist Rachid al-Daif, and is currently reading Simon Louvish's novel The Days of Miracles and Wonders. is Louvish, an israeli living in London, has written his most ambitious novel to date, ranging across history's follies, past and present, weaving a tangled web of East and West, of madness and sanity in the "New World Order." 

Two new novels from Interlink Books have been selected for discussion in January: The Abductor, by Algerian Leila Marouane, and The Secret Life of Saeed, the Pessoptimist, by Emile Habiby, a Palestinian Israeli who writes in Arabic. These books are available from Levantine Center and can be ordered by phone, 323.650.7010.

The Bookgroup includes a diverse group of Angelenos, spanning a wide range of ages, backgrounds, professions and cultures who are setting out to explore the excellent adventures of Middle Eastern fiction writers, from countries including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, but also minority cultures including Kurdish, Armenian, and others.
 

Middle East Plays and Playwrights
The New Millennium Project: Responses to 9/11
Dec. 20, 8 pm

Short plays by Shahid Nadeem, Heather Raffo, Lory Tatoulian, Al Austin, Marc Ostrick, Barbara Genovese, Nzingha Clarke, Padraic Duffy, David Lewison, Joshua Zide and Gita Khashabi. Click here to read playwright bios. Performed by Rachael Ferguson, Susan Johnston, Bhavana Kundanmal, Soan Kundanmal, Younes Mourchid, Shida Pegahi, Felix Pire and Lory Tatoulian. Directed by Felix Pire.

Produced by Jordan Elgrably. Edited by Jordan Elgrably and Felix Pire. Choreographed by Shida Pegahi. Music by Houman Pourmehdi and Pirayeh Pourafar.

Cosponsored by Beyond Baroque, the Mark Taper Forum and the Artists Network.
Tickets $5, free for members of Levantine Cultural Center. Cash Bar.
8 pm, Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA. 90291, 3/4 of a mile west of Lincoln.
Limited seating, reservations recommended. RSVP 323.650.7010.

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LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER
Cultures of the Middle East & Mediterranean 2002
8424A Santa Monica Blvd., N.789, West Hollywood CA 90069
323.650.7010, LevantineCenter@aol.com

Levantine Cultural Center advocates for, educates about, and in general promotes and supports Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures and arts. The Center exists to promote music, literature, art, film/video, new media and history through advocacy, education, scholarship and entertainment. We are strongly committed to the principle of cross-cultural cooperation, and support the strengthening of ties between all cultural, ethnic and religious communities of the Middle East as well as between all peoples of Middle Eastern descent.