A leap of faith

Published: Saturday November 14, 2009 in Cafesjian Center for the Arts

Opening ceremonies of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in the Special Events Auditorium. From left, Cleo Cafesjian, Karekin II, President Serge Sargsyan, Gerard L. Cafesjian, the interpreter Artashes Emin, and Bagrat Sargsyan, president of CS Media. Mkhitar Khachatryan

Children's Day, June 1, 2007, at the Cascade. Photolure

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The following remarks were delivered in Armenian by the editor of the Armenian Reporter on behalf of Gerard L. Cafesjian at a private dinner held on November 9 in conjunction with the Grand Opening of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan.

On behalf of my colleagues on the Board of the Cafesjian Family Foundation, I thank you for joining us in celebrating this long-anticipated Grand Opening of the now-reborn Cascade complex.

It is said that success has a thousand fathers. In this case, success would have been impossible without the leadership and support of President Serge Sargsyan, former President Robert Kocharian, and Mayor Gagik Beglaryan. Thank you, gentlemen, for your leap of faith – in me, in the Cafesjian Family Foundation, and in a larger sense in the diaspora – to deliver as promised an artistic and cultural center of excellence for all Armenians and our guests from around the world.

I intend this arts complex and campus to be an enduring place of presentation, interaction, and education, a place where the joy, mystery, and discovery of artistic passion will stimulate other artists to create, students to study, patrons of the arts to house their collections, and lovers of art to savor what the world has to offer in contemporary artistic expression.

In creating with the Armenian government the Cafesjian Museum Foundation, I demonstrated my return leap of faith in an Armenian homeland and my pride that an independent and democratic nation-state was created on a portion of our historic lands. I believe that it is the responsibility of each and every diasporan to give freely and continuously of his or her time, talent, and treasure to sustain and develop our common home, our Armenia, our Artsakh. Our homeland must flourish, and it is the diaspora's honor to help make this so.

Involvement in perpetuity

Six years ago, I promised the Armenian government and people to invest not less than $20 million in rebirthing the Cascade complex. To date, I have provided over $40 million toward this worthy objective – an objective that does not end with this Phase One Grand Opening. In continuing partnership with the Armenian government, and in anticipation of other patrons of the arts joining in generous support, I intend for the Cafesjian Family Foundation to be involved in perpetuity in the ongoing development of the Cascade complex.

Together we can and will further expand the physical space for artistic, cultural, and educational programming, as we simultaneously create compatible entertainment spaces to help sustain this unique center. I am very encouraged by the public response to date. Even while the Cascade was under renovation, I was delighted as hundreds of thousands enjoyed works of art displayed in Tamanyan Park, as well as the series of memorable cultural events presented by the Cafesjian Museum Foundation. And I was particularly taken by the reaction of children to the sculptures: to experience once again the enthusiasm and wonder of youth, to dream that some among them would become the next Gorky or Libenský – in part because of what these budding artists experienced, what creative forces were unleashed at our center for the arts.

Entrepreneurial philanthropy

As some of you are aware, my activities in support of Armenia go beyond the Cascade arts complex. In parallel to the Cascade initiative, I have invested some $100 million in commercial activity to demonstrate to others with the means to invest that Armenia has created an environment conducive to free enterprise. In a cycle of investment, development, sale, and reinvestment known as entrepreneurial philanthropy, I will continue to recycle 100 percent of proceeds in new commercial demonstration projects or to help sustain the foundation's philanthropic activities in Armenia.

To date, successful commercial ventures have been created in media, film, financial services, real estate, and alternative energy, generating sustainable employment and profits and showing potential investors what can be accomplished in Armenia.

Charitable programs

Finally, I have also participated in charitable and educational programs. With the extraordinary leadership of Hope for the City, some $50 million in medical equipment and supplies has been donated. In other collaborations with institutions as diverse as the Holy See, the AGBU, and scores of other institutions, my foundation has donated additional millions to help address the vital needs of our people.

I did and will continue to give as freely as I am able in profound gratitude for being of some use to my homeland and people, and in partial payment of my debt to the generations that have preceded me, all of whom persevered and prayed one day for an independent homeland where generation after generation for time immemorial might live freely and safely as Armenians, and where the Armenian nation and people could once again make our unique contribution to the world.

Thank you

I am deeply indebted to all who joined with me to make this ongoing offering possible. I thank my bride Cleo for her constancy, my colleagues on the Cafesjian Family Foundation Board Father Dennis Dease and Dennis and Megan Doyle for their unwavering commitment, and my partner in CS Media and in all things Armenian Bagrat Sargsyan for his passion and wisdom. I also gratefully acknowledge all in service to the government of Armenia who provided support and inspiration, all in service to the government of the United States who appreciated and cultivated ever closer, mutually beneficial relations between one of the world's oldest and youngest democracies, and all those serving other institutions as diverse as USAID, EBRD, and the United Armenian Fund for their essential contributions to our ventures.