This talk examines how Iranian musicians have turned to intercultural collaborations—since the aftermath of the 1979 Revolution and into the present—as a way to connect with the wider world. Through examples from Iran and its diaspora, it explores whether these encounters reflect modernization, inclusiveness, or both, and considers the line between cultural exoticism and genuine artistic exchange.

Hesam Abedini is an Iranian–American composer, performer, improviser, and educator whose work explores intercultural dialogue between classical Persian music, jazz, Western contemporary traditions, and computer music. A founding member of the Sibarg Ensemble, he is recognized for a polystylistic approach that integrates diverse musical languages through improvisation and new composition. His works have been performed by ensembles including the JACK Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, Eclipse Quartet, Hypercube, and loadbang.

Peyvand NPO in collaboration with the Bellevue High School MENA Club proudly present an evening of classical Persian music with the renowned NAMĀD Ensemble, featuring distinguished vocalist Mahbobe Golzari.

This special performance brings together four master artists whose musical dialogue bridges centuries of tradition with contemporary sensibility. The ensemble includes:

Get ready for a one-of-a-kind experience! Join Namad Ensemble's master musicians for an unforgettable, hands-on musical gathering. Sing along with beloved Persian songs, learn the secrets of classical Persian music, and experience the pure joy of making music together. This event is informal, interactive, and open to everyone. Don’t miss it!

Event in Persian. Registration Required.

Join us for a joyous Nowruz celebration as we welcome the Persian New Year with community, culture, and the electrifying rhythms of Siriya Ensemble—bringing the vibrant and soulful music of Southern Iran to Seattle!

Brought to you by Early Music Seattle and proudly sponsored by Peyvand Nonprofit and SISCA.

This documentary is about the life of “Habibeh”, a self-taught painter who, according to her, has created 4000 works with her special tools and techniques during seven years. For “Habibeh”, art is a medium to endure the imposed and unwanted sufferings of her life. Habibeh’s works had not been widely displayed until the making of this film.

There will be a discussion session following the film.

A timely documentary film about exiles in America and the families they left behind, MOUTH HARP IN MINOR KEY sheds light on the dynamics of our contemporary times, beset by globalization and consolidation of capital and media, on the one hand, and by fragmentation and disruptions of nation-states, on the other.

In this film, Iranian filmmaker Maryam Sepehry follows the eminent film scholar Hamid Naficy in the United States and his family in Iran. It is a documentary portrait that elucidates the complexities of personal identity in a globalized world, where individual, national, and transnational forces interact.

Q & A with the director following the show.

Join us on 12/8/24 4:00 pm at the UW Bothell Campus Discovery Hall 061 for the screening of Alborz: We Climb Mountains (2023, 86 mins.), which tells the story of the school during many tumultuous years in Iran’s modern history, from the perspectives of its graduates, teachers, and even Dr. Mojtahedi’s own voice from archival recordings; it tells it with humor, fondness, and nostalgia for a bygone era. It exemplifies what has been lost in the years since the 1979 Revolution and why today so many among the bright and promising young Iranians sound critical of current policies and administrative mishandling of one of their country’s once top educational institutions.

Layla Ramezan is one of the most creative and talented artists of our time. She will be performing her magnificent project "Horizons", the musical intersection of the Orient and the Occident followed by a lecture on the richness of Persian Piano Music, and the strong connection between the Eastern and Western worlds, their mutual attraction and fascination, which has produced extraordinary music over a period of more than 100 years.

Special thanks to Early Music Seattle and Babak Khiavchi for their collaboration.

California-based, Iranian American artist, Yasmeen Abedifard, speaks about her her newly published comic collection "When to Pick a Pomegranate" (pub. Silver Sprocket 2024)

Hosted by Peyvand partist, Amelia Ossorio and University of Washington's Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. Sponsored by Peyvand Nonprofit Organization

Peyvand Artists Group is a proud sponsor of the "Too Much To Carry" art exhibit. Mana Mehrabian, an Iranian artist living in Eastern Washington, and Seattle-based artist Mary Coss investigate personal and ancestral migrations through sculpture and installation. Please join us to meet and greet the artists and to enjoy storytelling by Siamak Vossoughi, a local fiction writer and to poetry reading by poet and activist, Merna Hecht at the Vestibule gallery

Join our talented local artist, Kameh Saman, for an exciting painting session and valuable lessons on creating your own masterpiece.

Tuesday August 13, 2024 1:00 p.m. Renton Highlands Library, Renton, WA

Event is Free and open to those registered through Renton Highlands Library

Great opportunity for community members, youth and adult to enjoy their creativity and learn painting techniques from Monir Malekpour, a talented and seasoned artist in the Seattle area.

July 30, 2024 6:00 PM Renton Highlands Library, Renton, WA

Event is Free and open to those registered through Renton Highlands Library

Seattle Iranian Festival will take place on June 22: 12pm-6pm at the Armory Food & Event Hall. The festival is part of the Festál series. It is free and open to the public.

This year’s theme of LOVE celebrates the collective love we have together for Iranian music, arts, language, food, dance, and culture!

Join us at IACA’s 18th Annual Seattle Iranian Festival’s Art Exhibition on Saturday, June 22nd!

Come meet social advocate, and educator Aria Fani. Professor of Persian language and literature and translation studies at the University of Washington.

Jamshid, an Iranian American school counselor, builds a world-class Ultimate Frisbee team from the immigrant and refugee students arriving at his inner-city public school in Seattle.

An intrepid filmmaker tracks the Taliban’s first year in power in the wake of the United States’ Afghanistan withdrawal, centering on an air force chief and a low-level fighter as the fundamentalist sect takes over a former American military base known as the Hollywood Gate complex.

As the Taliban takes over Kabul, the staff of Afghan newspaper the Etilaat Roz weigh their options: submit to the censorious new regime, continue their award-winning reporting on corruption, or escape their homeland forever.

Celebrate with us at our Meet & Greet Reception on May 12, 2024 at the SIFF lounge.

As the Taliban takes over Kabul, the staff of Afghan newspaper the Etilaat Roz weigh their options: submit to the censorious new regime, continue their award-winning reporting on corruption, or escape their homeland forever.

One tense day in the life of a Turkish criminal defense attorney (Tülin Özen) as she wrestles with legal and ethical questions in defending a factory worker accused of murder while also keeping her hospitalized mother on life support. From Selman Nacar, the director of Between Two Dawns (SIFF 2022).

With only the voice of his GPS to guide him, Amir drives through the underbelly of Tehran delivering hashish to his clients and friends. Winner of the 2023 Locarno International Film Festival Golden Leopard Award.

Jamshid, an Iranian American school counselor, builds a world-class Ultimate Frisbee team from the immigrant and refugee students arriving at his inner-city public school in Seattle.

With only the voice of his GPS to guide him, Amir drives through the underbelly of Tehran delivering hashish to his clients and friends. Winner of the 2023 Locarno International Film Festival Golden Leopard Award.

An intrepid filmmaker tracks the Taliban’s first year in power in the wake of the United States’ Afghanistan withdrawal, centering on an air force chief and a low-level fighter as the fundamentalist sect takes over a former American military base known as the Hollywood Gate complex.

In this absurdist, formally inventive Iranian movie structured around nine vignettes, a cross-section of Tehran society—fathers, filmmakers, schoolgirls, rideshare drivers—is interrogated by various offscreen authority figures and bureaucrats intent on making their lives harder.

In this absurdist, formally inventive Iranian movie structured around nine vignettes, a cross-section of Tehran society—fathers, filmmakers, schoolgirls, rideshare drivers—is interrogated by various offscreen authority figures and bureaucrats intent on making their lives harder.