Over 200 people attended the opening presentation of the Immigrant Memories of Brantford’s Armenian project on Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Held in partnership between the Brant Historical Society (BHS), Laurier Brantford, the Canadian Industrial Heritage Centre and Brant Theatre Workshops, the Immigrant Memories of Brantford project is a public cultural, heritage and educational program that focuses on researching, sharing and celebrating the legacies of Brantford’s diverse immigrant communities.
The annual showcase first launched in 2019 with the Jewish Community and was later followed by the Italian community in 2021, the Chinese community in 2022, and the Ukrainian community in 2023.
This year’s Immigrant Memories of Brantford project took a deep dive into Armenian culture within the city, the culmination of which occurred with several events throughout the weekend.
On Saturday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the “Forget Me Not” exhibit took place at the Brant Museum and Archives.
The exhibit, which was curated by Dr. Christina Han, Professor of History at Laurier Brantford, served as a testament to the history, resilience and cultural contribution of the Armenian community in Brantford, and presented several newspaper articles and never before seen artifacts.
From information about the Armenian genocide and the escape to Brantford to early community stories, industrial work, language, education and culture, embroidery work, pottery, art work and books, the exhibit features plenty archives to learn from.
With the Armenian community having originally located itself in the downtown area due to the proximity to the factories at the time, Brian Moore, a BHS volunteer, also led over 30 people in a curated walking tour through the area.
“Saturday was a really great day and we actually had a lot of people from Toronto’s Armenian community come down to Brantford and it was just incredible,” said Han. “We had lots of people come through the exhibit and we had quite a few families attend and enjoy the walking tour. It was really just wonderful to have everyone come out and make a day of it.”
Over at the Laurier Academic Centre’s Stephen Kun Theatre, around 200 people also attended Saturday’s two showings of Brant Theatre Workshops’ “You, Me and the Armenian.”
The original play is centered around a young Canadianized woman’s search for her Armenian roots, and a helpful ghost she meets at a dinner party,
“You, Me and the Armenian” was inspired by a real Brantford resident who adopted two Armenian orphans. With the guidance of Peter Muir, Artistic Director of Brant Theatre Workshops, and his creative vision, the play utilized flashbacks to help reveal information that uncovers the secret truth about the main character, Mona, and her family.
Although the play is still under construction and will continue to develop, Muir said the reception was a positive one.
“The reception from the play was great and we’ve actually been asked to bring it to the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto which is really awesome to have it kind of go out into the world and spread like that,” he said.
As the opening day activities continued into the evening, an authentic Armenian buffet dinner took place in the lobby of Laurier’s Academic Centre, and was followed by a lecture and panel discussion with members of the Armenian community.
To end the evening, both the Hamazkayin Erepuni Dance Ensemble and the Hamazkayin Kousan Choir performed inside the Stephen Kun Theatre, sharing their talents with all those in attendance.
While the opening day may have wrapped up, on Sunday, several residents who missed the previous days’ excitement, took the opportunity to visit the “Forget Me Not” exhibit and sit for the last showing of “You, Me and the Armenian” and afterwards, several stuck around to ask questions about the play.
When asked what his favourite part of this year’s project was, Mur ir said it was getting to learn how the Armenian people, despite their tragedies, triumphed into a strong community.
“It was really the realization of how you can take absolute tragedy and turn it into a triumph,” he said. “They came over and they had nothing, their families were dead and so many of them were orphaned so to see how strong the community is and to see everyone out here performing their songs and their dances… wow, it was just wonderful for me.”
Answering the same question, Han said it was getting to personally sit with members of the Armenian community and really listen to their stories.
“They open their homes to me, they invite me in, and they share all these stories about their family’s history with me,” she said. “They really trust that I will do a good job bringing these stories together and so to me, it’s always just a real, real treasure.”
Although the weekend festivities are over, the “Forget Me Not” exhibit will be on display inside the Brant Museum and Archives for the next month.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
