California Senate Budget Committee approves $3m for Armenian American nuseum

The California State Senate Budget Committee approved an additional $3 million request to be allocated for the Armenian American Museum on May 23. 


Senator Anthony J. Portantino, with the support of Senate Pro Tem Kevin de León and Budget Subcommittee Chair Richard Roth, arranged a presentation from Armenian Museum Executive Board Member Zaven Kazazian where $4 million request was made.


The State Senate Budget committee followed up on the request and approved the proposal, Asbarez reports.

Portantino invited representatives of the Armenian American Museum in Glendale to Sacramento to make the case for additional state funding to support the project. The museum project is proposed for the City of Glendale and includes Genocide education and multicultural exhibits. Plans for its creation are underway with broad support from within the Armenian community, including its ten largest organizations.

“There is a long history of California supporting laudable museum projects around the state and I wanted to make sure that the Armenian Museum garners equal and fair support. Zaven did an excellent job of making the case for the museum and the committee was quite impressed. It’s a big step forward to have the State Senate Budget Committee insert an additional $3 million into the State Budget for this project,” commented Portantino.

Last year, Governor Brown agreed to fund a $1 million request for the museum. Portantino requested increasing the State’s commitment to the museum to an additional $3 million over the next three years.

“I couldn’t be happier to see the Senate respond so well to our request. Senate staff, leadership, and members were very receptive and supportive of the museum,” concluded Portantino.

Senator Portantino represents nearly 930,000 people in the 25th Senate District, which includes Altadena, Atwater Village, Bradbury, Burbank, Claremont, Duarte, Glendale, Glendora, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, La Verne, Lake View Terrace, Los Feliz, Monrovia, Montrose, Pasadena, San Dimas, San Marino, Shadow Hills, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, Sunland-Tujunga, and Upland.