WASHINGTON — Last week, the directors of eight Armenian museums — the Sardarapat Battle Museum, the National Gallery, the Sergei Parajanov Museum, the Martiros Saryan House-Museum, the Yeghishe Charents Museum, the Avetik Isahakian Museum, Khachatur Abovyan Museum and Aram Khachaturian House-Museum — came to the United States for a tour.
They visited Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Tulsa, OK. The choice of the first two cities makes perfect sense — D.C. is home to a renowned Smithsonian institution, while the Philadelphia Museum of Art is one of the most significant establishments of its kind. But why Tulsa?
According to Hayk Mkrtchyan, head of International Partnerships at the Cultural Development Foundation of Armenia, who accompanied the group, the itinerary was a result of aligning the interests of the Armenian delegation with opportunities provided by the US State Department. American organizers included Tulsa to highlight how the cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples is preserved in Oklahoma’s museum.
“They wanted us to experience the diverse cultural fabric of the US, not just limit our visit to the major Smithsonian museums in DC or the iconic art collections in Philadelphia,” Hayk explained. “Sites like the Cherokee Heritage Center and the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa were selected with that goal in mind.”
The IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) was launched by the US State Department in 1940. In the following decades, about a quarter of a million public leaders, academicians, artists, and law enforcement officials have visited the United States in the framework of the program. Hayk commented that he had worked with IVLP since 2009. Once the Armenian government launched the Cultural Development Foundation of Armenia in 2024, he, as the head of the International Partnerships desk revitalized the projects and, under the auspices of the US Embassy to Armenia, visited the US with a group of museum directors from Armenia.
Zhanna Manukyan, director of the Yeghishe Charents House-Museum, observed that while Armenia’s museums have made significant strides in recent years, noticeable differences remain between museums in Armenia and the United States. One key distinction she pointed out is the widespread use of textual displays in American museums — a feature still relatively rare in Yerevan.
