Photo by: Mahsa Khalilpour
Tirgan 2015 Artists
Special Guests
Cyrus Amir-Mokri is a partner with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, resident in its New York office. He handles complex litigation and investigations, and provides...
With 25 years of experience at America’s largest financial institutions, Gissou is a seasoned banker and risk manager. She oversees a team of senior analysts monitoring and managing a multi-billion...
Homa Sarshar is a published author, award-winning journalist, writer, and media personality. She is the author of four books and the editor of eleven other volumes.
From 1964 to 1978, she worked as...
Hon. Kian has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of GreenZone Systems, Inc. since September 2012. His firm is the provider of the world’s smallest, most...
Honorable Jimmy Delshad is a well-known entrepreneur and business executive as- well as a Two-Term Mayor of City of Beverly Hills and the highest-ranking Iranian-American elected official in US. He...
In February 2013, the Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, appointed Reza Moridi Minister of Research and Innovation and in June 2014 as the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities....
Parisa Khosravi is an award winning journalist with three decades of experience on the world stage.
Throughout her career as Senior Vice President of international news gathering, domestic news...
Professor Yarshater received his Ph.D. in Persian language and literature from the University of Tehran (1947) and then he studied with W. B. Henning at London University, from which he received an M...
Professor Fazlollah Reza was one of the first graduates from Tehran University who majored in Electrical Engineering. In 1945, he completed his master’s degree in Columbia University in the United...
Sadeq Saba is the Head of the BBC Persian Service. Born in Iran, Sadeq studied law and politics at Tehran University and the London school of Economics. Sadeq Saba joined BBC Persian Service as a...
Music
Afarin Mansouri is co-founder and Artistic Director of ICOT. An award winning composer, Afarin has collaborated with various ensembles, organizations and festivals such as National Ballet of...
Born in Guatemala City, Alfredo lived in Seville, Spain where he studied with multiple renowned master Flamenco guitarists, and legendary Flamenco dancer and percussionist Manolo San Lúcar. He...
Ali Kamali is a bass player, mixing engineer and music producer. He is best known as the bass player for the band “Kiosk”. He studied applied audio recording at the Audio Recording Academy in Toronto...
Ali Orangi started learning the Daf in1987 at Mahour academy in Iran. After 3 years he continued on to learn the Kurdish style under the supervision of Master Hajir Mehrafrouz. He has performed...
Amin Afshinmanesh started learning music at the age of 10 by playing santour (Persian Dulcimer) and at the age of 12 by playing daf (Persian frame drum). He studied music under the supervision of...
Amin Reyhani(santour) studied santour (Perisan dulcimer) at Mashhad University and graduated from Tehran University of Fine Arts in 2001, where he studied with numerous masters. He has had the honour...
Amir Kazemi aka DJ Delbar has more than fifteen years of experience in spinning the best Persian, International and House music. He is also a co-founder of RadioJavan.comhttp://RadioJavan.com, the...
was born in Tehran, Iran in 1988. He is a self-taught multi-percussionist with a background in Persian, Greek, Turkish, Flamenco, Latin, Jazz, and Rock music. Since his arrival in Canada he has been...
Arash Behzadi, pianist and composer, is an exciting new voice in contemporary modern composition. He sees the piano as an allegory for life itself: it’s wide tonal range is both a physical and...
Arash Javadpour (tar, bass tar, oud), is a native of Kurdistan. He started studying music at Kamkars' Conservatory of Music, and pursued tar and setar. Arash has performed and toured with Sarv...
Araz Nayeb Pashayee is a percussionist specializing on Tonbak (Persian classical principal drum), Udu (African drum) and Daf (Kurdish frame drum). Since immigrating to Canada in 2001, Araz has...
Araz Salek(tar) Born in Tehran, Iran, Araz started playing Tar at the age of 8 under Tofigh Iranparvar. He studied Iranian classical repertoire, vocal and instrumental radifs, under masters Hooshang...
Babak is a highly talented and accomplished Iranian-Canadian musician, composer, guitarist, member of American Guitar Society (CSUN University, Northridge, CA), and member of the Toronto Musicians...
Babak Taghikhani was born in 1975 in Tehran and started piano lessons at the age of 14 with acclaimed piano masters. He was an active participant in piano master classes (Classic and Romantic era)...
Thanks to a booming Iranian oil industry, Bagher began a musical journey from which there was no return. Born in the south of Iran he grew up at a time when the oil industry brought Western music and...
Bahram Aghakhan was born in 1976 in Iran.
He began learning classical guitar at the age of 13 with Kayvan Mirhadi. Two years later he started his autodidactic studies in flamenco, and until...
Born in Paris and growing up in Tehran Bamdad Fotouhi has studied music fromchildhood. He studied tombak with Majid Saadat and maestro Kambiz Gangiei, daf with Sadegh Tarif and santur with maestro...
Bea is an emerging Slovak-Canadian musician. She is currently based in Toronto, where she studied contemporary improvisation, jazz performance and South Indian music at York University. She is...
Behnam Jahanbeiglou is an awarded accomplished musician/composer and live performer with bachelor degree in music composition from York University. Behnam has founded and led four successful Toronto...
Behrouz started his musical journey at the delicate age of 8 when he attended Mr. Naser Nazar’s Orff classes at Pars Music Institute. Since then, music has been playing a big role in his life, never...
Dan Sistos is a prolific and sought after session and touring musician in the United States. He has performed, toured and recorded with some of the biggest names in the music business such as...
Daniel Stone is one of Canada’s most versatile percussionists. A self-taught musician, he has a unique style that is marked with an instinct for enhancing the music he performs.
Daniel was...
Born in Iran- living in Paris, Darya grew up in an artistic environment in Iran. Her mother is a singer and director of Marionette theater.
In 1999, She obtained her "Diplome d'Etude Musicale...
Ehsan Gaffari started learning to play the Tar alongside masters Dawod Majd, Hooshang Zarif and Ostad Mohamad Reza Lotfi. He is a graduate of Music Program from Tehran's Art Institute. He has...
Emily Steinwall was born in 1995 in Toronto and is currently completing her degree in Humber College's Bachelor's of Music program. Emily has studied with some of Canada's top musicians, including...
A disciple of the legendary Arif Sag, is one of the most well known folk musicians of his generation in Turkey. Born in Erzurum in 1971, he became interested in the region’s folk music at an...
Faraz Shafaghi is a self-taught guitarist with a flair for crying blues solos, complex acoustic compositions and even crushing heavy rock and/or heavy metal riffs. He's performed on a number of...
Farshid started pursuing his passion in music academically by attending Markz-e-Hefz-o-Eshaeh’s Avaz classes while he was an Engineering student in Tehran. After moving to Canada, he started his...
Farzad Attar Jafari has classically trained in Sama. He has studied with many teachers including Kabir Helminski (teacher, author, translator and publisher of Rumi's works / co-director of the...
A Saxophonist by training, Farzin is a multi-talented songwriter & producer who has worked in diverse genres for more than two decades. His melodic tunes influenced by his partiality to jazz, and...
Fernando Gallego "El Bancalero" learned flamenco singing on streets and transferred his art onto stages at flamenco peñas (bars) & diverse events. He continues his artistic...
(Guest Appearance) Golrokh Aminian’s (Khodabandehlou) love for singing and music goes back to her childhood. She has pursued this passion ever since she sang for guests in her second birthday...
A fusion vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, Hamed Nikpay has been a pioneering & experimental artist for over a decade. His music transcends all boundaries and genres, and is...
Houman was born in October of 1973 has been singing and playing the guitar in pop, rock and fusion genres since 1987. He studied solfege and classical guitar with Alen Gharbi and Behdad Moghaddasi...
Born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Hussain grew up surrounded by diverse traditional music of his country, as well as pop, jazz, & R & B. He started singing in school choirs at 10, took...
Jacy Desmond is a French-New Zealander composer, pianist and singer.
A lover of Jazz and Classical music, and fascinated by Latino, african and Middle Eastern rhythms, Jacy Desmond attempts to...
Upon graduating from Humber College's music program Julian performed aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. While playing trumpet in the show bands Julian got the opportunity to travel all around the...
Kambiz Mirzaei is an independent Iranian-Canadian lyricist, songwriter, and producer. He is a member of Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). His lyrics, music and...
Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh (Persian spiked fiddle). His performances of traditional Persian music, and his many unique collaborations, have attracted...
Keyan Emami is the president, cofounder, and one of the composers of IranianCanadian Composers of Toronto (ICOT). He is a doctoral candidate in music composition at the University of...
Kianoush Khalilian started professional training in music with distinguished Iranian masters in 1990 and ranked first in the Ney performance competition across Iranian schools nationwide in 1995.
He...
Kousha Nakhaei (kamanche) is a violinist, kamanche player, and music educator. He studied music at York University where he pursued classical violin with Jaime Weisenblum, improvisation with Casey...
Bassist, composer, music arranger, Leïla Renault is currently involved in numerous musical projects in styles as varied as jazz and improvised music.
She took part in a recording with the...
(Guest Appearance) A singer-songwriter and mostly self-taught guitar-, piano- and Cajon- player, Lisbeth has performed at various venues in Ontario with her own music, and also as back-up vocalist...
Maestro Naser Masoudi, known as “Nightingale of Guilan” and “Sultan of Guilan’s song”, is the oldest Gilaki contemporary singer who is famous for golden works such as:...
Acoustic guitarist and composer Maneli Jamal has lived in five different countries (Iran, Belarus, Germany, USA, Canada) and moved twenty times by the time he was 18. The young artist gained a sense...
Maziar holds a Masters degree in Conducting from the University of Toronto. He works as an assistant conductor for the Hart House Orchestra, as a pianist for Orchestra Toronto (OT), as music director...
Rezania is a santur player, composer and educator. He started learning santur at the age of 13 in his hometown of Abadeh, then later studied the advanced method of playing santur at Kamkars Music...
Born in Tehran, Mehrab has moved to Canada in 1998, and since have been playing in several bands and recordings. Mehrab plays both Electric and Upright Acoustic Bass.
Born in 1978, Song writer, arranger and lyricist, Mehran Aminian has grown up listening to all time hits of rock legends such as Pink Floyd, Camel, the Beatles, etc.
He started playing the guitar,...
Mert Omurtak has been playing guitar for thirteen years. He likes incorporating traditional melodies with more advanced harmonic structure and bridging eastern ideas with western interpretation. He...
Michael Red is a Vancouver-based electronic music producer, performer and DJ. The founding member of Vancouver's Light! Sound, acting captain of the Low Indigo ship, one half of the experimental...
Mohammad is from Tabriz – Iran. He has been aTar player and teacher since 1984as well as aMusic theory and choir instructor since 1994. He was the Founder and music leader of Tabriz Music...
Skillful and young percussionist and drummer, Naghib started playing music at the very young age of three, playing music in Boushehr and Kish beside his father Saeid. He mastered many traditional and...
Nicholas brings performing, composing and studio recording experience through his Luxuria Music composing studio. In addition to performing numerous concerts with Persian-Canadian ensembles, INsou...
Born in 1988 in Tehran in a family of artists and musicians, Nima grew up with all kinds of musical instruments around him falling in love with the guitar and rock music in his early teen years.
He...
Pedram Khavarzamini (tonbak) is considered to be one of the most prominent tonbak players from the new generation of Persian classical music. Pedram's unique style keeps a traditional base whilst...
Peter Bull is a bass player, composer, educator, and bandleader. Hailing from the east coast where he also studied (NS & NYC), Peter has lived in Toronto for just shy of a year. He currently...
Peyman is a decorated drummer, who has started playing drums back in Iran. In his portfolio, Peyman has performances with famous pop/Rock stars as well as Canadian jazz bands. He has also awarded...
Pouya Hamidi is a freelance composer, producer, musician, and sound engineer. Pouya acquired a Master’s in Sound Recording at McGill University and two Bachelor’s degrees from the University Toronto...
Pouya was born on November 20th 1974 in Tehran. At the age of five, with the support and persuasion of his parents, he started taking piano lessons. During high school, he pursued piano and was also...
Saied is a Neyanban and Neyjofti virtuoso and an amazing dancer. His body and his instrument became united for a pure and surprising demonstration that will evoke the trance. By the age of twenty...
Saman Shahi is a professional musician in Toronto. His music has been read and performed by many ensembles and renowned performers across Canada (National Ballet of Canada), United States as well as...
Sanaz Nakhjavani, Kanun player, graduated from Tehran Conservatory of music( Honarestan Musighi)in Piano and Kanun. Sanaz has a Bachelor of music from Soureh higher Education Institute in Tehran and...
Sara AhmadiehRad was born in Tehran in 1989 in a family with great passion for art and soon she knew that music, calligraphy and theatre were what she wanted to pursue for life.
She started...
A Canadian born & raised percussionist, Satnam has formal training on both drum, and Indian classical Tabla.
He has performed as guest artists and toured with world-renowned artists, including...
Shahin Fayaz(tar) started his music studies with Behrooz Hemmati and Reza Vohdani at Tehran Conservatory of Music, and Tehran Music University. As well, he studied with Hossein Alizadeh, Mas'oud Sho'...
Shahriyar Jamshidi was born in Kermanshah, Iran. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Tehran University of Art in 1988. He received his Kamanche training with celebrated musicians such as Mahmood...
“Rhythm is my life”
After leaving Iran in 2008 for Germany, he took living in Europe as a chance to start a journey of traveling around and studying different cultures to enrich his knowledge and...
Bio: Sohrab Behrad is an Iranian singer, musician and composer who lives in Toronto. He started his musical career professionally in 2002 and he has made 2 albums to date. He got famous in live...
Soleyman Vaseghi (Soley) was born in Tehran in 1946. His love of music and extraordinary voice were remarkable even from his early years. At the age of 20 his performing career began, practicing a...
Solmaz Peymaei was born in 1980 in Tehran . She started singing from an early age and took cello lessons with Davoud Jafari. With a degree in architecture she also studied music in Tehran Music...
Born in Isfahan in February 1980, Soudabeh started her formal music training at the age of 5, beginning with classical piano. At the age of 8, she picked the violin as her main instrument and took...
Steve Shehan is a universal and eclectic musician whose percussions were solicited by famous artists of the rock’n’roll, world, Anglo-Saxon and French song scenes.
An atypical route for...
Susan McCarthy studied the flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London with William Bennett and Sebastian Bell. She worked as a freelance flautist in London and was the principal flute player of...
Tawhida Tanya Evanson has studied for over 12 years under Turkish instructors, Rifa'i Marufi and Sherif Baba Catalkaya and Canadian sema master/semazenbashi Raqib Brian Burke of Vancouver and has...
Composer, conductor, and sound designer Taymaz Saba is inspired by the sounds of the nature and also classical composers Vivaldi, Beethoven, Bach, and film composers such as Nino Rota, Henry Mancini...
Dance
Afshin Mofid was born in Tehran, Iran in an artistic family. His parents Bijan Mofid and Farideh Farjam were both well known for their works in theater, music, and literature in Iran. His paternal...
Aizada Akmatova Mametisaevna was born in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 1976. She studied under supervision of great ballet masters such as Yusim, Samorokova, Sinelnikova, Vatula. She completed her dance...
Azita Sahebjam wants to live in a world where dance is part of the daily routine, coffee is free, emails are short, and dance costumes steam themselves. As a ballerina born and raised in Tehran, Iran...
One of the most prominent international ballet dancers of the post Soviet Era, Emil Akmatov was born in Bishkek city in Kyrgyzstan. He recieved his academic education at Vaganova Dance Academy of...
Ida Saki, originally from Dallas, Texas, currently dances with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in NYC. She graduated from Booker T. Washington Performing Arts Center and Dance Industry Performing Arts...
Karine Gonzalez is a multifaceted artist. After studying piano, music theory and ballet dance for over ten years, she naturally found her passion in Flamenco; her ideal language to express herself...
Mayen Zard is a well recognized and an independent Kurdish Dance group, founded in Toronto, Canada by an Iranian Kurd –Mostafa Nosraty- who has used creativity and determination to offer new...
Miriam Peretz is an internationally acclaimed performing artist specializing in traditional & contemporary dances from the Silk Road (Persia & Central Asia,) as well as ethno-Contemporary...
Having acquired a multi-disciplinary training in painting, calligraphy and graphics, Nima Kiann received his dance education at the Gothenburg Ballet Academy in Sweden and at the École sup...
Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam graduated from the University of Paris VIII with a degree in the History of Art and Theatre. He specializes in Middle Eastern folklore and mystical dance and has a deep...
Theatre
Bahram Beyzaie is a well-known Iranian critic, researcher, teacher, playwright, stage director (and producer), screenwriter and filmmaker (director, producer and editor). He was first introduced to...
Fatemeh Habibizad (a.k.a Gordafarid) The first female naqqal (storyteller) of Ferdowsi's Book of Kings, Gordafarid, has excelled in performing traditional narration of epic stories (naqqali)...
Mojdeh Shamsaie studied theatre at the College of Arts and Architecture in Tehran. She has been involved in numerous film productions as actor, makeup artist, set and costume designer as well as...
Shahrokh Yadegari, composer, sound designer, and producer, has collaborated with such artists as Peter Sellars, Robert Woodruff, Maya Beiser, Steven Schick, Vibeke Sorensen, Yolande Snaith, John...
Cinema
Ann Marie Fleming (producer • director • writer) is an award-winning Canadian artist and filmmaker of Chinese and Australian descent. She consistently makes work of cultural significance...
Born into a well-known intellectual family on March 21, 1982 in Tehran, Iran, Arsalan Baraheni is an Iranian-Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. His father is a famous poet and novelist. His mother...
Film scholar and critic Bahman Maghsoudlou is the recipient of Iran’s prestigious Forough Farrokhzad literary award for writing and editing a series of books about cinema and theater. These...
Kaveh Bakhtiari was born in Tehran, and grew up in Switzerland, where he moved to at the age of 9.
After his film studies at ECAL in Lausanne (1999-2003), Bakhtiari first drew attention with his...
Kevin Langdale (lead animator / designer) , animator and illustration wizard is an award-winning filmmaker and animator. His work incorporates various techniques: animation, stop-motion, experimental...
Levon Haftvan, artistic director of Lemaz Productions & Artists Management, is a stage director, actor, dramaturge and producer from Canada. He works with various International performing arts...
Editor, Documentary film maker & Photographer was born in 1981.He was educated in Tehran Film School ( Dr. Ahmad Alasti) 200 and is a member of IRIDFA ( Iranian Documentary film makers...
Mania Akbari (b. Tehran, 1974) is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, artist, writer, and actress. Her provocative, revolutionary and radical films were recently the subject of retrospectives at...
Marc Glassman is an arts journalist, film programmer, teacher, bookseller and cultural impresario. The recipient of the Toronto Arts Award in literature in 2000 and the Tom Berner Prize for...
Born in Tehran and raised around the world, Maryam Najafi is an Iranian-Canadian filmmaker. She holds a BA in Film Studies from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in Motion Pictures and...
Born in 1980, Nima Javidi is a graduate of mechanical engineering and has been making short films since 1999. To this date, he has made 6 short films, two documentaries and more than 30 TV ads....
Payman was born in 1972 in New York City. His father was a lawyer. His family moved back to Iran when he was 5 years old. He graduated in Metallurgical Engineering. Maadi started his film career as a...
Roya Akbari was born in Tehran, Iran. She lives and works in Toronto, Canada. She is a media artist and the director of two short films: Dancing Mania (2012) and Only Image Remains (2014...
Born in Nepean, Ontario to Korean immigrants, Sandra Oh (producer• playing the role of Rosie) is one of Canada’s most prominent and respected actresses. She began her career as a ballet...
Literature / History
Ali Atabaki was born in Shiraz in 1969. He specializes in Iran’s pre-historic and historic archaeology. He received his doctorate degree in Pune, India in 2009. Dr. Atabaki has more...
Born in Tehran in 1956, Amir Hassan Cheheltan is the author of 10 novels and 6 short story series. Some of his novels have been translated into English, German, Norwegian, Turkish, Arabic and Hebrew...
Amy is a sociocultural anthropologist and lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her primary research interests include migration, diaspora and transnationalism, ethnicity,...
Behnaz Gaskary was born in Gilan. She is an author, critique, researcher and university professor assistant and holds a doctorate degree in Comparative Literature. She has been the recipient of...
Dick Davis was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1945, and educated at the universities of Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature) and Manchester (PhD. in Medieval Persian Literature). He lived...
Dr. Mokhtari recieved his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1983 and has taught International Relations, Public Policy Administration, Political Economy, and Political Philosophy at various...
Frédéric Ferney is a writer and a literary critic, currently working as a chronicler for the French press (La Revue-Jeune Afrique) and the radio (BBC World Service, France-Culture). He majored in...
Hassan Mirabedini, modern literature critique, was born in 1953. He has authored several articles and books in the field of novel literature such as History of Iranian Novel Literature and the...
Houra Yavari, a graduate of Tehran University and Paris Sorbonne University, is Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, Consulting Editor on Modern Persian...
Former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Leili Anvar holds a PhD in Persian literarture. She is junior professor at the Institut des Langues et des Civilsations Orientales. Her interest...
Mana is the Executive Director of Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB), the largest Iranian-American grassroots organization dedicated to community building and youth empowerment. Mana first...
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi is Professor of History and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He has served as President of the International Society for Iranian Studies (...
Mohammad Estelami is the author and editor of over twenty volumes of books, literary texts, and references in the field of Persian Sufi literature. Having received his Ph.D. in Persian literature...
Narges is a PhD candidate in socio-cultural Anthropology at New York University and a documentary filmmaker in NYU’s Culture and Media Program. Narges’ research focuses on pro-...
Safdar Taghizadeh was born in Abadan in 1932 and holds a Masters degree in English Language and Literature from Tehran University. He studied Administration in England and started translating English...
Dr. Soheila Darvishi, archaeologist, specializes in Iran’s historical periods and has been teaching in Iranian universities and scientific organizations for over 15 years. She has directed and been a...
Cooking
Ariana Bundy was brought up in New York, London and Switzerland, trained as a chef in Paris and is a cookery presenter on TV, but her family roots are firmly planted in Persian soil. She inherited...
Visual Arts
Amir Amirsolaimani (Amiro) is a set designer/architectural consultant / TV director / journalist. Born in April 1954 he earned a B.A. from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Tehran, Iran. He has 25...
Farrokh Vahabzadeh holds a PhD in Social Anthropology and Ethnology from the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences of Paris (EHESS). He has also completed a three-year postdoctorate at the...
Nima is an independent Iranian artist who first discovered his passion for art, as a teenager, through calligraphy. This led him to focus on graphics at high school and later to continue his artistic...
Over the past four decades, internationally-renowned photojournalist Peter Bregg has travelled to more than 70 countries and captured some of the world’s most compelling stories with his camera...
Sam Javanrouh has been making images for over a decade. As a Creative Director at Eggplant Pictures he's involved with design and execution of Motion Graphics projects as well as Visual Effects...
Sepideh was born in 1983 in Iran where she earned a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering at the University of Art –Architecture in Tehran and proceeded to earn a Certificate in Interior Design...
Youth Activities
Born in Mashhad, Iran in 1981, Aiden immigrated to Canada in 1996. Following his passion in art, he studied graphic design and photography at Seneca collage and George Brown College. Through his...
Aitak Sorahitalab grew up with music, literature, visual art, science and love of learning at home. She has a master’s degree in design and production from Art University of Tehran in 2002. Aitak is...
Ariel Balevi is a storyteller whose repertoire derives from the literary and folklore traditions of Iran, Turkey, and Central Asia: Firdowsi’s Book of Kings (Shahnameh), Attar's Conference...
(President ) -Born and raised in a family who cared for and loved literature and arts, Atessa found herself in the amazing world of Persian literature since childhood. She later studied Mathematics...
Since she was a toddler herself, Atoosa loved spending time with kids. After graduating from York University with a BA with Honours in English, she began working at a daycare partly to pay off her...
Behnaz is a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher (RCYT). She has pursued continuing education at Iyengar Yoga School of Toronto in the fall of 2011 and...
Daryanaz is a certified teacher from Ontario Collage of Teachers. She has been working with children for almost 10 years now and has been practicing as a visual arts teacher for the past 5 years. She...
Elfie holds a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Waterloo. She is a practicing artist/designer and Ontario Certified Teacher. After working in the design industry...
Golnesa Amani graduated from the University of Toronto in 2013 with a Masters in French Linguistics. She has trained and performed as a dancer for nearly 10 years in numerous dance styles, including...
Hooshvar Foundation is a Canadian non-profit organization which explores, promotes, and preserves artistic, cultural and scientific heritage and wisdom of the nations, and presents and passes them...
Iana has been practicing North African and Central Asian dance forms since 2005. She received her training in Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey and Canada. A former participant of Ishtar Dance Company (...
(MBA VP of Strategy) - Kat is a professional engineer with an MBA degree from Schulich School of Business, with extensive work experience at companies of different sizes, including startups and very...
Ladan is a performer, dance teacher, and founder of Aftaab Dance Group in Toronto. She received ballet training in her childhood from Madame Yellena and pursued her passion for dance in Iran for...
Laya Alemohammad was born in 1984 in Tehran, Iran. She has a Bachelor Degree in Material Science-Ceramic Engineering from Azad University as well as a Music Performance and Teaching Music diploma...
Mahshid Amani has invested over 20 years in establishing Iranian programs in school boards across the GTA, including Etobicoke, Scarborough, Toronto and York Region. In 2012, she created Traditional...
(Board Member) - Maliheh has always been passionate to support and be actively involved in artistic and cultural causes. She believes in the power of words and harnessing literature as a leader....
Naz Studied Visual Arts at OCAD University, focusing on drawing and painting as well as printmaking. She has also studied Fine Art Education at York University. Naz is an Ontario Certified...
Nilou Studied Drawing, painting and printmaking and graduated from OCAD University She is also a Montessori trained teacher. Nilou’s range and skill in art, design, and teaching have been...
(M.Sc. OT Reg. Principal Consultant – Social Projects) - Parsa has over 10 years of experience in play therapy with children and families to improve and resolve children’s social,...
(Researcher/ CoB ) - Zardosht is a seasoned researcher and true enthusiast, titled as the Father of Medical Geography of Iran also the Grandfather of Folk Toys of Iran, with over 12 academic...
(B.Eng., MBA VP of Marketing) - Reza has a bachelor of engineering, augmented by an MBA degree. He is a chain entrepreneur with strong business acumen that enables him to recognize theopportunity,...
For over ten years, Setareh Masoumbeiki has held visual arts workshops for children of all ages in Iran, Cambodia, Laos, and the UK. Since 2012, she has been organizing group games events in parks...
Shaghayegh is a pharmacy technician by profession. She has studied biochemistry at the Ryerson University.
She loves working with and being around children.
Szonja Vucsetics graduated from OCAD University with a BFA in Drawing and Painting in 2007. She lives and works in Toronto as an artist, and has exhibited internationally at various venues. Her work...
Vida’s childhood passion for puppets and stage led Vida to set out on a remarkable journey of bringing puppets to life on live stage as well as the screen.
An award-winning puppeteer and puppet...
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Tirgan Festival is organized by a not-for-profit, non-partisan and non- religious organization, registered in Ontario, Canada. Our vision is to celebrate and showcase Iranian art, culture, and history at its best to raise public awareness and to facilitate a cross-cultural dialogue.