ANCA-WR’s 2026 Gala Banquet Honors Community Leaders, Elected Officials and Advocates in Hollywood

Evening honors Assemblymember John Harabedian with the “Legislator of the Year” Award, Filmmaker Jivan Avetisyan with the “Advocacy in Cinema” Award, Texas Advocate Shevan Basmadjian with the “Steve Artinian Visionary Activist” Award, and California Armenian Schools with the “Gabriel Injejikian Educational Excellence” Award

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) held its 2026 annual Gala Banquet on Sunday, October 11, 2026, at the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Community leaders, elected officials and advocates from across the Western United States came together to honoring those serving the Armenian Cause.

The ANCA-WR presented its 2026 Legislator of the Year Award to Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-41), the Advocacy in Cinema Award to filmmaker Jivan Avetisyan, and the Steve Artinian Visionary Activist Award to Dallas-based advocate Shevan Basmadjian. The evening also recognized the inaugural Gabriel Injejikian Educational Excellence Award, honoring California’s Armenian Schools.

The program opened with the acknowledgement of elected officials attending the banquet, followed by the national anthems of the United States of America, the Republic of Armenia, and Artsakh, performed by Berj Kirazian. Archbishop Kegham Kacherian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy, delivered the invocation.

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian delivered the national message, describing the Armenian National Committees as a “second Army” and a “diplomatic corps for the Armenian Diaspora.” He recounted how the ANCA has imposed real consequences on officials who cross the community’s red lines.

“We are not guests in this house,” said Hamparian. “We are owners, not tenants of this great nation. We are citizens exercising our rights, not subjects seeking favors.”

Turning to the upcoming Midterm Elections, he highlighted the race in Texas’s 28th Congressional District, where the ANCA is supporting Judge Tano Tijerina against Rep. Henry Cuellar, co-chair of the Azerbaijan Caucus, who was indicted for allegedly accepting bribes from Azerbaijan and later pardoned. “We hope that he will not be pardoned by his voters,” Hamparian powerfully articulated.

Speaking on behalf of the ANCA-WR Board of Directors, member Dr. Kevork Hagopjian, Esq. answered the criticism facing the Armenian Cause from Baku, Ankara and Yerevan. “A peace that leaves 20 men in cells and 150,000 refugees outside their homes is not a peace,” he said. “It is only a pause that rewards whoever used force first.”

Hagopjian framed his remarks around two satellite photographs of the Holy Mother of God Church in Stepanakert, one showing the church standing and one showing it gone. The empty lot is evidence. “It is not an instruction to give up,” he said. “Our work is to make that third photograph possible: the same lot, the church doors open, families walking in safely.”

Assemblymember John Harabedian represents California’s 41st Assembly District and is the only Armenian-American currently serving in the State Assembly. He chairs the California Armenian Legislative Caucus Foundation and the Assembly Select Committee on California and Armenia Mutual Trade, Art, and Cultural Exchange. His record includes AB 91, the MENA Inclusion Act, which created a distinct Armenian-American designation in state data, and a bipartisan letter calling for the release of Armenian prisoners held in Baku.

ANCA-WR Board Member Astine Suleimanyan opened the presentation. “John reminds us that our history is not just something we remember,” she said. “It is something we carry into the halls of power. John understands that representation is more than having a seat at the table. It’s about using that seat to build political power and deliver results for our community.” She added: “What I admire most about John is that he doesn’t just talk about standing with our community, he actually delivers. Through his partnership with the ANCA-WR, he’s helped turn Armenian advocacy into meaningful action.”

Joining Suleimanyan on the stage, Glendale Mayor Ardashes Kassakhian praised Harabedian’s leadership during the Eaton Fire, noting that “being proud of where you come from should never limit whom you’re willing to serve.” Recalling the legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian, Kassakhian drove the point home: “Some may be asking, is the ANCA awarding John this award because he’s Armenian? No, we’re giving him this award because we’re Armenian.”

Jivan Avetisyan – born in Gyumri, raised in Artsakh – is an internationally award-winning director whose features include Tevanik, The Last Inhabitant and Gate to Heaven. His films have screened in AMC theaters across the U.S. and at European festivals. His next feature, Revival, is soon to be released.

Presenting the Award with Board Member Sarkis Simonian, Dr. Kevork Hagopjian, Esq. recalled visiting Avetisyan in a small Yerevan apartment after the family was displaced from Artsakh in 2020. “A satellite can show what disappeared. It cannot show who lived there. Jivan can,” Hagopjian said. “A people who wants its story told has to back the people who tell it.”

Accepting the award, Avetisyan described his cinema as “a testimony” to those who fell for the Armenian Cause. “I firmly believe that no dictator can draw the borders of my homeland if those borders are not drawn in our hearts and minds,” he said. “I deeply believe that one day I will return to the Republic of Artsakh, to my ancestral village of Khachmach.”

He closed by linking his work to the ANCA mission: “I believe that political lobbying for the Armenian Cause and my art, working together, can change the world.”

The program continued with ANCA-WR Executive Director Ruben Karapetian, himself a former ANCA-WR intern, presenting certificates to the 2026 cohort, whose members came from Armenia, Syria and Southern California.

Delivering remarks during the evening was Representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western United States Central Committee Levon Baronian. Born a mile from the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, Baronian argues that Los Angeles has become the new capital of the Armenian Diaspora. “A capital is not simply where the greatest number of Armenians live,” he said. “A capital is where a nation organizes its future.”

Baronian invited attendees to the United For Artsakh Rally on November 8, at 5:30 PM on Artsakh Street in Glendale, organized by the Armenian Youth Federation. “Let us be judged not merely by what we preserve,” he said, “but also by what we accomplish.”

Shevan Basmadjian, a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors, has led grassroots advocacy in Texas for nearly a decade. She testified at the Texas Sate Capitol in 2017 for genocide recognition resolution that passed unanimously, and led genocide education grants that have reached more than 5,000 students.

ANCA-WR Board Member Lara Yeretsian presented the award, named for the late ANCA-WR Board Member Steve Artinian. “Tonight, we shine a light on a different kind of warrior,” she said, “the grassroots activist who fights on a different battlefield: the political battlefield.” She continued: “It is through our Gamavor Panag of Hye Tahd activists like Shevan that we will control the narrative and right the wrong done to Artsakh and to our nation.”

Basmadjian shared the honor with Armenian activists across Texas, quoting her mother Annie Graham: “You cannot clap with one hand.” She continued: “For us Armenians, complacency is not an option. Our Century-old genocide is not over. Our adversaries still pursue our erasure every day. And we must continue to educate, and learn from the past to protect our homeland Armenia and prevent future genocide anywhere in the world.”

The evening continued with the ANCA-WR Board Chairman Oshin Harootoonian introducing the inaugural Gabriel Injejikian Educational Excellence Award, named for the founder of Ferrahian, the first Armenian day school in the United States. He described Injejikian as a “man of conviction and an excellent educator” for whom “teaching of the Armenian Cause came first.”

Harootoonian presented a commemorative plaque to Injejikian’s sons, Avo and Ara Injejikian, honoring “his vision in founding Ferrahian.” Accepting on behalf of the family, Avo said: “We like to think our father is looking down and smiling.” Following a tribute video, Harootoonian presented the Gabriel Injejikian Educational Excellence Award to the following Armenian schools across California. Accepting on behalf of the schools were:

• Sossi Shanlian, Principal, Holy Martyrs Ferrahian School
• Jean Kossakian, Principal, Holy Martyrs Marie Cabayan School
• Lena Garabedian, Principal, Armenian Mesrobian School
• Dr. Souzi Ohanian, Principal, Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School
• Dr. Taline Kargodorian, Principal, Vahan & Anoush Chamlian Armenian School
• Grace Andonian, Principal, Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School
• Sr. Louisa Kassardjian, Principal, Armenian Sisters Academy
• Gassia Kiledjian, Representative, Ari Guiragos Minasian Armenian School
• Arpie Avanessian, Principal, Charlotte & Elise Merdinian Armenian Evangelical School
• David Ghoogasian, Principal, AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School
• Anna Babaian, Interim Principal, Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School