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LOS ANGELES
Natural History Museum Silk Road Exhibition 

Wrapping up a year of celebratory events and programs marking the centennial in 2013 of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), the completely transformed Museum is giving visitors an opportunity to experience the exhibition Traveling theSilk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World for the first time on the West Coast. Traveling the Silk Road will open to the general public on December 22, 2013, bringing to life the most celebrated trade route in human history through evocative sights, sounds, objects, fun and intriguing interactive displays. NHM invites all visitors to experience the delights of the Silk Road throughout the season with Silk Road Marketplace, now open on the first floor of the Museum and nhm.org/silkroad, and a series of special programs on story-telling, puppetry, tea and musical instruments to connect visitors with the fruits of the greatest trade route of ancient times.

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Visitors can find unique gifts for everyone on their list inside the Silk Road Marketplace, including the gift of NHM membership or special tickets to experience Traveling the Silk Road—an exhibition that will transport visitors to ancient cities through immersive re-creations of settings that feature life-size models, engaging videos and hands-on activities that tell the story of the peoples and cultures of the route’s golden age, from AD 600 to 1200, and the impact of their interaction on the world in the centuries that followed. Bringing new insight to modern notions of globalization and multiculturalism, Traveling the Silk Road explores a time when the information superhighway was a network of land routes that stretched 4,600 miles across blazing desert sands and snowy mountain passes.

Organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Traveling the Silk Road has been adapted for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s newly renovated special exhibition galleries and will be the only U.S. venue for the exhibition following its recent tour in Asia.
Upcoming Silk Road Events at Natural History Museum:
Saturday December 28 and Sunday, December 29: Silk, beads, and jewelry making, environmental musical performances, and more.
11 am and 1 pm: Tales from the Silk Road Storytelling
3-Day Shadow Puppetry Workshop-Tuesday, January 7; Thursday, January 9; and Friday, January 10, From 10 am-12 pm-NHM is presenting an opportunity to take a journey along the Silk Road and learn the ancient art of Shadow Puppetry.  In this 3-day workshop for ages 8-12, students will build their own puppet to take home, and perform with the professional puppeteers of NHM’s Performing Arts staff.  $100 for Members, $120 for non-members.
About the Museum- The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is located at 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. It is open daily 9:30 am to 5 pm. The Museum was the first dedicated museum building in Los Angeles, opening its doors in 1913. It has amassed one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history — with more than 35 million objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years. The Natural History Family of Museums includes the NHM, the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits (Hancock Park/Mid-Wilshire), and the William S. Hart Park and Museum (Newhall, California). The Family of Museums serves more than one million families and visitors annually, and is a national leader in research, exhibitions and education.

LOS ANGELES
2014 Farhang Foundation Nowruz Banner Contest Winner Announced

Farhang Foundation is pleased to announce the winner of the 2014 Nowruz Banner Contest and to unveil the artist’s design for the first time.
 Afsoon Riazi, a graphic designer based in Vancouver, 1387-15Canada has created this year’s winning design, at the heart of which is a red apple. Signifying health and beauty, a red apple is traditionally among the seven essential items that are featured in the Haft-Sîn, one of the centerpieces of Nowruz where each article symbolically corresponds to some aspect of life, nature, or creation.
“Nowruz always invokes bright, inspiring and cordial memories that delightfully resonate in all of my Nowruz-related projects,” said Afsoon Riazi. “Its festivities gracefully represent the renewal of the Earth that occurs with the arrival of spring. This idea inspired me to create a symbolic illustration that embodies a new beginning in both eastern and western culture, through the use of the well-recognized motif of the Persian paisley (botehjeghe) and the apple tree to reflect health and beauty in the renewal of the Earth.”
 Afsoon Riazi’s design will be posted on street banners along prominent areas throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, including the Wilshire Corridor, Westwood areas, and Ventura Boulevard, during the month of March in promotion of Farhang Foundation’s 6th Annual Nowruz (Iranian New Year) Celebration at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on March 22 and 23, 2014.