Tumo: A Gem on the Hill in Yerevan

Special to the Armenian Weekly

Crossing over the Kievyan Bridge, you take a right turn onto Halabyan Street, where the once-expansive Tumanyan Park on the right has become a professionally landscaped park sporting modern, colorful playgrounds, sports fields, courts, and benches that cater to the surrounding populace. Beyond the park, set on a hill, sits a massive structure. Engraved across the front of the building, in both Armenian and English letters, are the words: Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.

I arrived here to give a three-week-long workshop on PR, marketing, social media, and news writing, with a vision to create the foundation for Tumo News—a multi-media, student-designed, -written, -edited, -published, and -promoted publication. I hoped to train a group of ambassadors who, via social media, the internet, writing, and multi-media talents, could reach their peers in Armenia and beyond, and spread the word about the offerings and events at this oasis upon the hill. I had no idea if my vision would be realized or if it would fall flat.

TUMO News team working on their assignments during the workshop.
TUMO News team working on their assignments during the workshop.

As a cross-cultural organizer for the Cambridge and Yerevan Sister City Association, I’d been a witness to and a part of Armenia’s evolving history since the mid-1980’s. My multiple visits there had given me front row views of the epochs of Communism, Glasnost and Perestroika, democratic developments, the Karabagh War, the tragic earthquake, and the rise to independence. I’d experienced the perfect mix of simultaneous political and economic chaos and progress—especially in 1992 at the height of the Karabagh War and the Azeri blockade. I remembered too well the dark period when frostbitten extremities were the norm, food was a luxury, and hope fulfilled our appetites for life.

Now I was to spend three weeks with a group of young men and women born into an independent Republic of Armenia with no experience or memory of those cold days of 1992.

Tumo, where teenagers study video game design, animation, web development, and filmmaking, is unlike anything else in Armenia today. The Tumo staff of 120 is a core group of young, IT-savvy professionals. They’re bright, enthusiastic, multi-lingual, and well versed in the latest technologies.

Armed with a swipe card that allowed access in and out of the center, I was escorted for a complete tour by Tania Sahakian, the workshop coordinator, and assigned a workshop class on the first floor. My two workshop assistants (and much-needed translators), Nare Ter-Gabrielyan and Nayiry Ghazarian, are part of a group of 25 full- and part-time coaches working with the students.

As I watched from the tall windows onto the sprawling, geometrically designed Tumo Park and the front entrance of the center, the first session (3:30-5:30 p.m.) students began to arrive, spilling out of taxi vans, private cars, and public transport, and streaming toward the center’s front entrance. Then, at exactly 3:30, ID cards swiped through the slots as a sea of children, like floodgates lifted, rushed to take possession of their Tumobiles—the individualized, mobile computer stations that are connected to the network via modern spiraling wires that reach the ceilings.

TUMO News reporter, Lusineh Torossyan and photographer Gor Mkhitaryan interviewing Serouj Aprahamian before his breakdancing workshop.
TUMO News reporter, Lusineh Torossyan and photographer Gor Mkhitaryan interviewing Serouj Aprahamian before his breakdancing workshop.

New students are introduced to Tumo World, a special learning interface that prepares them for hands-on experience. By earning points on their activities, the students can then move up to other activities and workshops, as well as gain free-play and access to unstructured playrooms and equipment. Tumobiles, exclusively designed for Tumo by the well-known architect Bernard Khoury (whose designs also adorn the modern interior architecture), are unique.

Now on its third year of operations, Tumo is a phenomenon of an unyielding reality amidst much uncertainty that has plagued this ancient land. Tumo seals the drainage of serious brain-drain in today’s Armenia by offering high-quality education, professional training, and apprenticeship opportunities to help reverse the catastrophic levels of emigration. Tumo’s offerings empower Armenia’s youth with the best technology and multi-media training from local and world-renowned experts for an unprecedented apprenticeship to engage with, absorb, and learn. Where else would Armenia’s youth have an opportunity to personally interview a Google executive? Or learn from animation master, Pixar’s Katherine Sarafian. Or bring to life one-act plays as the culmination of a workshop led by stage professional Ani Nina Oganyan? Or choose from countless other workshops (up to 20 per month, offered to more than 5,000 students).

Tumo is much more than an “after-school experience.” It’s an opportunity for Armenia’s new generation to seize knowledge from field experts with hands-on, active involvement and to pave their own path to success.

Spread over 65,000 square foot on the first 2 floors of the modern building, Tumo offers nearly 500 computers, 100 iPads, numerous multi-media-equipped labs for workshop classes, and other equipment available to the students and the staff—along with an affordably priced, modern cafeteria offering freshly baked goods and refreshments. This is all for a one-time charge of 10,000 drams (or $25), which is returned to the family when their child completes or exits the program.

TUMO News team group photo
TUMO News team group photo

Tumo is an equalizer of opportunities for success for Armenia’s “haves and the have-nots.” With a branch site already operating in Dilijan through funding from the Central Bank, Tumo is set to open a similar center in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabagh, with support from the AGBU. It hopes to open smaller scale centers in cities like Goris and Gyumri.

The brainchild of Sam and Sylva Simonian, Tumo is funded by the Simonian Educational Foundation, which also funds the geometrically designed and landscaped adjoining plaza and 40-acre Tumanyan Park. While the Simonians are actively involved in the infrastructure of the center, Marie Lou Papazian directs the day-to-day activities of the center while her husband, Pegor Papazian, a board member, is actively involved in planning and coordinating the center’s activities. Tumo’s impressive Board of Advisors includes such top professionals as Twitter’s vice-president of engineering Raffi Krikorian, Pixar’s award-winning animator Katherine Sarafian, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, academy award winning digital effects pro Roger Kupelian, and artist and social commentator Vahe Berberian.

Tumo News workshop

As some 20 students filed into the Tumo News workshop, I met their eager eyes and put names and faces together from the Tumo News Facebook page they had created prior to my arrival. There was an obvious eagerness to learn and put into action all that had been talked about to this point. So during our first session on social media, I asked each student to create their own Twitter site. As I prepared to provide step-by-step instructions, a flood of new followers began following me on my Twitter. “What’s next,” they wanted to know. We then selected editors, reporters, design and layout and social media teams, videographers, and photographers. Then the students offered a list of assignments, from selecting workshops, presentations, lectures, and individuals to interview. By the end of the week, the design team had already designed variations of the Tumo News logo, which they presented to the whole team. The critique session and commentaries on the logo was nothing short of a group of professionals offering opinions. By the end of the first week, I was astonished at the extent of achievement and work that had already taken place in five days.

As I reviewed interview techniques with the Tumo News team, showed sample TV interviews, discussed article parts, writing styles and differences between PR, marketing, and advertising, the levels of questions, discussions, and grasp of new information was nothing short of that of a mature audience. With assistance from Tumo’s communications department, the Tumo News team set up social media sites, while the design team worked with Hayk Galstyan of the Tumo software development group to realize their logo and publication layout and design. And so by the third week the Tumo News team saw their work come to life—and thus set up the foundation for the future of a multi-media student eNewsletter and print publication where teens communicate with teens about Tumo events and offer their point of view.

As I left the Tumo News team, with which I hope to be working long-distance in the coming months, I had no doubt that I would meet them again soon, either in person or virtually. Yet, this time it would not be as workshop participants, but as Armenia’s thought leaders, professionals, and trail blazers in their respective chosen fields. And while many may cross the borders to seek advanced training, they will return to pay back their ancestral land, which defines the context of their own identity.

As army-bound Davit Balayan so proudly said during an afternoon chat at the student cafeteria at Tumo: “What’s been given and bestowed upon me by my forefathers—my cultural identity and traditions—is now my responsibility to preserve. If I leave Armenia for higher training, I will return to help elevate the professional levels of my people and my country. This is where I will always be.”

When in 1992 I boarded the plane to return to my comfortable home in the U.S., leaving behind an Armenia in darkness with half-stump trees standing as silhouettes of ghosts in the stark streets of Yerevan, I wasn’t sure there would be an Armenia to return to.

This December 2013, I left Armenia with tears of elation knowing that its future will be in the hands of the young professionals whose intellectual empowerment was made possible by that phenomenon upon the hill on 16 Halabyan Street. Where one student at a time and a team of visionaries are building the future of an Armenia we will all be proud to experience.

In the words of singer/songwriter Arthur Meschian: “I believe that still the roots of our tree haven’t dried, and will give new shoots…and no matter how we lose ourselves in this world…the melody of a familiar note will always lead us back home.”

 

Jackie Abramian recently returned from a three-week stay in Yerevan where she led a workshop at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies on PR, marketing, social media, and news media, which resulted in the creation of Tumo News, a student-led multi-media publication soon to be launched. 

Jackie Abramian

Jackie Abramian

Jackie Abramian recently returned from a three-week stay in Yerevan where she led a workshop at Tumo Center for Creative Technologies on PR, Marketing, Social Media and News Media which resulted in the creation of Tumo News, a student-led and designed, multi-media publication soon to be launched. She’s a PR/Marketing consultant and a freelance writer and author.
Jackie Abramian

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9 Comments

  1. I would love to see a picture of the building. You say it is a “GEM” and then we are left wondering what it looks like. “HELLO”!!!

  2. I have known Sam for 40 years and Sylva for 30 years!
    They are the gems!
    The dreams that came through!
    The golden couple we should all follow their steps by helping the needy and educate those who don’t have the means!
    God bless you Sam and Sylva !!

  3. I’ve been following (on-line) the development of Tumo Center from it’s inception. Mary-Lou Papazian was one of the panelists at the AIWA san Francisco conference in 2011 and the developments of the center made an impact on the attendees then. They still continue to make an impact especially in the lives of future generation. Great article.

  4. I was not able to visit Tumo when I was last in Armenia. Next time I will. I also have been following the developemnts and it’s great to see the Tedx talks held at Tumo.

  5. I have been following Tumo concept from the time of inception . Reading this article, it reverberates the notion that the mere legacy of forming new up and coming generation is Devine. This effect will be historic and maybe one of the fundementals of rebirth of our nation.
    And when Tumos dot the Armenian landscape, educating, advancing, providing young spirits that they are par with the world intellect, we will remember Sam & Sylva Simonian as patriots with a difference.
    Meantime, check Tumo for a student pic and lift your spirit for this holiday.

  6. My wife and I had the good fortune to visit the Tumo Center in September. The vision and commitment behind this undertaking is incredible. We were fortunate to be there when the kids arrived in the afternoon. What an inspiring site to see these young people engaged in learning and creating. Too often we focus on the problems of Armenia. This is a great story that is making a difference in the lives of hundreds. Film making , editing, animation , programming, graphics design etc. Building a future. What I will remember from that visit was how happy and focused the kids were. Bravo.

  7. I was very blessed to be a planner on the grand opening of this school.
    I was part of an amazing team: Steve Kemble, Gary Sleeper, and lot more. This was an amazing project that took an amazing team.

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