Listen to Podcasts editor and series host Megan Vahdat sit down with Alireza Ardekani, the CEO of the Farhang Foundation, to discuss the importance of preserving Iranian identity in the diaspora.

Megan Vahdat: I’m Megan Vahdat, and this is “Persian Perspectives Today,” a podcast that explores the viewpoints of Iranian leaders in arts, science, education and politics in the UCLA community and beyond. Today, I am joined by Mr. Alireza Ardekani.

Mr. Ardekani is the CEO of the nonprofit, the Farhang Foundation. Since taking the helm in 2014, he has led the foundation through a decade of extraordinary growth, expanding its global impact and pioneering a wave of cultural programming that brings Iranian art and heritage to the forefront. With more than 30 years of experience in entertainment and marketing, his career has included leadership roles at iconic companies such as the Walt Disney Studios, NBC Entertainment and Miramax Films. Born in Tehran and raised in Switzerland, Mr. Ardekani is deeply committed to honoring and preserving Iran’s diverse artistic legacy. Mr. Ardekani, thank you so much for being here today.

Alireza Ardekani: Oh, it is my pleasure. Thank you for inviting me, and feel free to call me Alireza.

MV: The Farhang Foundation plays a major role in promoting Iranian culture, not just to Iranian Americans, but to broader audiences across the country. Many on our campus attended Farhang’s incredible Nowruz celebration this year, which I believe brought over 30,000 attendees, which is, you know, an extraordinary testament to the reach and the impact of the foundation. But beyond the scale of these events is a deeper vision. Farhang has become a cultural cornerstone, not just through celebration but through year-round programming, education and advocacy. So to start off today’s interview, can you share with our audiences a little bit about the core mission of the Farhang Foundation? Why is this so important?

AA: Thank you for having me. Farhang Foundation was established in 2008 with one mission. The mission is to celebrate and promote Iranian arts and culture for the benefit of the community at large and now the global community. We want to show the true face of Iran and Iranians to everybody. It is not just for Iranians. It is for, better yet, for non-Iranians to be familiar with who Iranians are, because they don’t necessarily see the real face of Iran and Iranians through the media or through the news, which is mostly representative of the current government of Iran. And we wanted to really highlight the beauty of Iranian history, literature, music, film – everything that the Iranians have contributed to the world over the centuries – and to kind of shine that spotlight on it.

MV: You speak often about the fact that you were born in Tehran, raised in Switzerland and built your career in the U.S. media industry, and I think that’s a uniquely global path. Can you tell us about your journey to LA? How difficult was it maintaining your culture and then transitioning into a new one?

AA: Yes, as you mentioned, I was born in Iran, and after the revolution, moved to Switzerland with my family, where we migrated, and I spent most of my young or later childhood in Switzerland. And when it came to high school, I decided that I wanted to move to the U.S. on my own to kind of continue my education. And you know, America was always a passionate goal for me. And I moved here by myself and started high school here in Southern California, and eventually, you know, went to school. I am sorry to say I went to USC so I’m a proud Trojan, but I love UCLA as well. And I studied film and cinema at the School of Cinema in USC (USC School of Cinematic Arts), as well as communication at the School of Annenberg (USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism). And right out of college, I started working for The Walt Disney Company, and my goal was eventually to move back to Switzerland, but because I got a job right out of college that was too good to give up, I continued and stayed here, and eventually, you know, one thing led to another, and I stayed with The Walt Disney Company for over nine years and eventually moved around with various media companies like NBC Entertainment and Playboy Entertainment and Miramax Films. And you know, I didn’t have a strong connection with my culture, nor did I know a lot of Iranians, because I didn’t grow up with Iranians. And one day, I was just driving through the streets of Los Angeles, and I saw these Nowruz banners on the street. And it was very impressive to me, because Nowruz, which is our Iranian New Year, was connected to LACMA, which is a prestigious museum, and I had never seen that combination. So out of curiosity, I just went to the LACMA event one day, all by myself. And I was very impressed with Farhang Foundation. That was my first introduction to Farhang Foundation. I was impressed with the program, with the organization and with the fact that it was at LACMA, and it was a very prestigious and highbrow event, and it was open to everybody. It was a free event. So I started following Farhang Foundation from there, and as I was getting older in my career – you know, all these years working for mainstream U.S. entertainment companies – I felt a lack of connection with my roots. And as I was getting older, I felt this need, this hunger to get more connected with my background and kind of embrace it more, and I was becoming more appreciative of my background. And you know, when you’re younger, you try to shun it because of all the negativity that’s surrounded with Iran and the current government. And you didn’t want to get any backlash at school for people, you know, judging you for, you know, the hostage crisis, or what have you, which I did experience when I was very young. And so I was really embracing Farhang Foundation because they represented what I wanted to learn more. And I started going to their events, and one day at one of their events, they announced that they’re looking for a new executive director. And I was sitting in the audience, and I was actually with my mom, and I turned to her. I said, “You know what? I’m going to apply for that job.” I wasn’t looking for a job. I was very happy working at NBC at the time. And she said, “Are you crazy? You’re going to work for a nonprofit? It’s so difficult. You know, you’ve never worked with Iranians,” all that. I said, “I’m going to. I’m just going to apply for the job.” And I applied for it, and the rest is history. I got the job and left my career behind at NBC and very gladly came to Farhang. And it was a win-win situation for both Farhang Foundation and myself because to me, it gave me my identity as an Iranian American and Iranian – to learn about my roots, to embrace my roots and to appreciate where I come from. And for Farhang Foundation, it was a very great advantage as well because I brought all these 19, 20 years of experience working with some of the major iconic brands like Disney and NBC and Playboy and brought all that experience to Farhang to help expand. And the growth that we’ve experienced – when I joined Farhang in 2014, the previous year, I think we had about 20, 25 events and programs throughout the year – and now we have over 100. So we’ve grown tremendously, and our reach has grown to a global audience.

MV: Under your leadership, some of Farhang’s most beloved traditions are the annual Nowruz celebration, the UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema and the Farhang Short Film Festival. Can you take us behind the scenes of what it takes to organize events like these? What’s the process you go through when planning these, which are on such a large scale, receive enormous media attention and coverage, and have people attending them from sometimes internationally, all over the world? Several times I’ve seen guests come in from Iran and fly in specifically for the events that you’ve planned.

AA: Yes, planning them— you know, first of all, I have to say that I’m not alone at Farhang Foundation doing this. Right now, I’m the CEO. I have two great team members that work with me. And then we have over 100 members of Farhang Foundation – either council members or trustees – who are all very determined to help and support, both financially and with their time. And they’re all volunteers. Our trustees are incredible, and I get a lot of support from everyone. The great thing is that we all have one mission, and we all agree on it. We are nonpolitical and nonreligious, and that’s been a key to our success. Because especially in the Iranian community, those are the key elements that put people against each other, or there’s conflict. But everybody that comes to Farhang, they put those two things aside, and they focus on our farhang – our culture and our art – which everybody agrees on. So we all get along, and we come from all different backgrounds and, you know, religious backgrounds and political backgrounds, but everybody gets along because they all believe in our mission. In addition to the Farhang members, we also have amazing partners that we work with. So another key to our success is that we only work with established, renowned organizations – either artistic, academic or performing arts institutions – and let them make all the selections of content or artists. So we always let the experts in each field make the selections, and they come to us as a collaborator, and we support their decision. So if a museum like the Getty wants to put on an exhibition on ancient Iran – we had the Persia exhibition a few years ago, which was one of the most successful exhibitions that the Getty Villa has ever put on ever in the history of the Getty Villa – they come to us and say, “We’re doing this exhibition,” and then we come on board as not only a financial supporter of the exhibition but also a real partner, where we help them curate programming throughout the run of the exhibition. We advise them on various cultural sensitivities, ideas, topics, titles and we become their go-to partner for any questions they have about Iran. So that makes it really easy for both organizations, and we kind of benefit from each other. You mentioned the UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema. It is the longest series that the UCLA Film & Television Archive has been putting on; I think it’s over 36 years now. And originally it was cofunded by the U.S. State Department as a cultural promotion. And eventually, you know, I think over a decade ago, the State Department pulled out and didn’t have any more funding for it. So one of our trustees who’s very involved with the archive – Mr. Mark Amin – he brought the idea to Farhang Foundation: “Why doesn’t Farhang Foundation support this program?” So we have been supporting it. We’re the sole sponsor and supporter of this program for, I want to say, over 13 years now, and it is their most successful – not only the longest-running series – but also their most successful series. They do lots of international cinema from France, China and what have you, and this is their number one. Every film gets sold out, and we’re so proud of it because this is one chance that a lot of cinema lovers can come and see these films, because they don’t usually get released in theaters. And you know, it’s not only films that come from Iran, but they’re also films from diaspora. But most of these films, they don’t have a chance to see them. And we bring the filmmakers, have Q&As with the filmmakers. And as you said, we try to bring a lot of artists from Iran. It’s been very challenging over the last few years because of visa situations and all the different restrictions that exist. But we’ve never given up, and luckily, knock on wood, we’ve been successful for the most part in bringing these artists over.

MV: Why is it important to you that Farhang’s events reach not just Iranians but a broader American public? How does that kind of visibility help reshape public perceptions of Iran and the Iranian identity?

AA: I mean, just in the last 11 years that I’ve been in Farhang, I’ve seen that change in the public perception. You know, like you said, it’s so important for non-Iranians who may not be familiar with Iran and not know the true history and background and contribution that Iran has made to the world to learn about it. Because once you – literally seeing these individuals come to these events and programs – you see them kind of have an aha moment, like, “Oh, this is Iran. These are Iranians,” not necessarily the negative things I see on the news of being terrorists or what have you. And that’s really the only reason we do this. And we want to do it also for, you know, second-, third-, fourth-generation Iranians who were born outside of Iran and may not have any connection with Iran and to be proud of who they are. Like our Nowruz event at UCLA that you mentioned: We have a lot of big sections for children, and really, it’s important to us for these children to come, to learn about Nowruz, to learn about their culture and to be proud to say, “I’m Iranian. I’m celebrating Nowruz” and to tell their friends without being scared of being judged or, you know, treated in a negative way. And when the friends see what a beautiful culture we have, they also appreciate it.

Another thing we do every year – we have been doing it for, I think, the last seven years, maybe longer – with the Westfield Century City shopping center. You know, traditionally, growing up in the U.S., you go to the malls and you see a Christmas tree, you see Chinese New Year decorations, you see Hanukkah, but you never see anything about Iran. You never see your culture represented. And we have to give it up for Westfield Century City for their commitment. Every year they come and ask us, “Let’s do a Nowruz installation of the Haft-sin.” So, you know, a little kid can go to the mall and see a Haft-sin display the same way they see a Christmas tree. And it, I think, speaks volumes on how incredible that is for young Iranians but also for non-Iranians. I love just sitting there and watching people walk up to the Haft-sin, and they’re so curious: “What is this beautiful setting? What does this represent?” They read the sign, the description and they learn about it. And just that alone is an incredible message.

And I get so emotionally moved when I see non-Iranians be so moved by our culture and also the younger generation. Or we have grandparents come up to us and thank us for providing a platform that they can bring their grandchildren and show them: Look, this is Iran. This is what we are. This is where we came from. That’s where our roots are.

I experienced that a lot at the Persia exhibition at the Getty, because, you know, it was historic, and it was about ancient Iran and the classical world. And it was such a point of pride for everyone who came there – both Iranians, and then they brought their friends and family and non-Iranians – and also the non-Iranians were just interested in history and museums. They would come and learn about it. And, you know, throughout the run of the show, we had concerts, activities for children, we had puppet shows, we had lots of workshops and we even had workshops on wine, because wine was invented in Iran – many may not know that. And it was just incredible.

MV: Something that struck me earlier is you were mentioning that growing up, you used to get comments around the time of the Iranian hostage crisis about your own identity. Can you share a little bit about those experiences and maybe how they shape your mission in Farhang?

AA: Yes, I was–– at that time, I was in third grade, and my grandmother was suffering from battling cancer, so we had moved to the U.S. for her therapy. And they had put me in third grade in elementary school here in the U.S., in Southern California, and it was right in the heart of the hostage crisis – right after it, I think. And the students were not nice to me as soon as they learned I was Iranian. I was, you know, targeted, called names – all the stuff that kids do.

But as a little kid in third grade, it was really painful for me. For no reason of me doing anything, just because they knew where I came from, I was treated so negatively. But at home, you know, my parents were always very strong in showing the beauty of our culture and very proud. We had to speak Persian at home. And I’m fluent in speaking Persian, thank God. And I didn’t forget it. And I knew that there’s a separation there. I knew that maybe what these people at school, the kids at school, tell me is not the truth, and I should keep those separate.

So, you know, I think it’s not fun being bullied, but I think it builds character, at least in my case. And I just became stronger and more resilient and wasn’t bothered with small things – name-calling and things like that. And that really gives me extra drive to do what we do here at Farhang because I don’t want other kids to go through that, and I don’t want anyone actually to go through that – not just kids.

You know, one of the great programs we have is the Persian After-School Program (Persian Language & Culture After-School Program). It’s a language and culture program that we offer free of charge to elementary schools and junior high schools all over Southern California, both private and public schools. And, you know, these kids that are in these programs – again, they’re all born here, the majority of them. I want to say 99% of them. And we even have non-Iranians in these classes.

And that was always fascinating to me, because after school, you think they would go take some fun class like painting or dancing or what have you. Why would you take a language and culture class? And especially if you’re not Iranian, and maybe your parents didn’t force you to be in the class? And we asked a few of them, and one of them said, “You know, I’m taking it because I want to learn the secret language my friends speak.”

So I thought that was really touching to see that some young student was so fascinated with his or her friends that they wanted to learn more about it and enrolled in the class.

We also have a lot of Iranians in our music program at UCLA that you participated in. And I’m, again, always fascinated how many non-Iranians are in the program. You know, we just earlier this summer–– or late spring, we had our concert with the students there. And it’s just amazing that, you know, the main singer that was performing – her name is Daisy – and she sings Persian music, avaz, traditional music, which is very difficult, fluently. And she just has a love for Iranian culture, and Iranian poetry really got her into learning about Iranian music and singing.

So those are really things that touch me. Or at our USC Iranian Studies program, I go and sit in on the Persian language classes. And in that school, most of the students are non-Iranian. We have people from China and Korea and, you know, Africa – I mean, everything. And it’s just really inspiring.

In a way, what I always tell people is what Farhang Foundation does for Iran is what a normal country’s consulate or embassy would do in a host country – that is, culture, promotion of the culture of that country. And unfortunately, we don’t have that. We haven’t had it since 1979. And Farhang Foundation does a little bit – as much as we can – to fill that role.

And, you know, we’re very proud to do what we do, because we also give an opportunity to these artists – the Iranian artists, both in Iran and all around the world – to shine and flourish and to have a spotlight on them. And we do collaborations, like we do every summer. This is our second year that we’ve done it with the City of Beverly Hills. They have a festival called Festival Beverly Hills, which is a large festival attended by over 5,000 people. (can’t find a CQ for this number, last year’s had 3,000 people and for this year the articles I found just say “thousands”)

And again, at this festival, all the embassies from all the countries or the consulates come and support the festival with their culture. So, you know, the country of Argentina brings Argentinian dancers, the Koreans bring Korean dancers and musicians and Farhang Foundation represents Iran. We’re the only nonconsulate partner that they have, and we are really proud to be able to do that. It’s really an honor and a privilege.

MV: One recent project that particularly caught my attention, which has really become a landmark in LA, is the Freedom Sculpture, which stands prominently on Santa Monica Boulevard and was inspired by the Cyrus Cylinder, which is widely considered the first declaration of human rights. So I was curious: Can you share a little bit about how this project came together? What does it mean to have Iranian art so prominently displayed in a major American city like Los Angeles?

AA: Yeah, that project was an immense project. It was a tremendous community-involved project. It was totally crowdfunded, and it started after we had worked with the Getty Museum to bring the Cyrus Cylinder to Los Angeles. So the Cyrus Cylinder – which is owned by the British Museum – which is, as you mentioned, the first declaration of human rights from Cyrus the Great, went on a world tour. And for the LA stop, which was the last stop, it was going to be on display at the Getty Villa. And Farhang Foundation became a partner with that, and we were very proud to have it. And it was a huge–– at that time, that was again the most successful or attended exhibition. They extended the exhibition, and thousands and thousands of people went and saw it.

And then after it left, we felt like this was so important. We needed a permanent reminder of Cyrus the Great and his ideals and what he represented and also how he influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States in writing the Constitution. And we thought, “Well, what better way to have a reminder of the Cyrus Cylinder here in Los Angeles?” And we put an open call for designs inspired by the Cyrus Cylinder, and it was an international competition juried by all the major curators of the museums in Los Angeles, including the Getty and, I’m trying to remember, LACMA and MOCA. And we got hundreds of submissions from artists all over the world.

And the jury selected a design by Mr. Cecil Balmond, who’s not Iranian. He’s from Sri Lanka and the U.K. And he was also very inspired by the Cyrus Cylinder just in his life. So there was this long connection with that, and he had visited Iran in the past, and so he was very aware and knowledgeable about Cyrus.

Then we needed to do a crowdfund. We said we will do a crowdfunding campaign, have everyone support this and we would gift it on behalf of all Iranians to the City of Los Angeles and to California as a symbol. Because Los Angeles is the largest multicultural city in the world, and we thought, “What better place to have these ideals of Cyrus the Great, who believed in multiculturalism and freedom of religion and ideas and thoughts?” and to have the sculpture here and presented as a symbol in Los Angeles.

So, you know, all the stars were aligned, and we got lots of support. We raised over $2 million in crowdfunding. Most of the donations were under $20. And we commissioned the sculpture. It was manufactured in Colorado and shipped here and installed here. And on July 4 – we thought, “What better way to give it on the birthday of America, give a birthday gift and a birthday party to America?” and we had the installation unveiling on Fourth of July. We shut down Santa Monica Boulevard for four days, which has never happened before, and we closed the whole street, had a huge party. 75,000 people came. It was a free party with a concert by Ebi and Arash, and Max Amini was the host. And it was an unforgettable day. I will never forget that day.

And we had the beautiful unveiling and fireworks, and it was just such a beautiful symbol for all Iranians to give a gift of appreciation to Los Angeles – their home, their new home – and also to the United States. The governor sent a message. We had the mayor involved. Everybody was very supportive. The city members were all supportive. And the gift now is permanent. It’s sitting, as you said, on Santa Monica Boulevard and Century Park East and is a symbol of everything that Iran represents, where we come from. It’s a point of joy, and it’s a symbol of the first declaration of human rights. We wanted to tell the world: Listen, this is where human rights started. This is how America’s Founding Fathers were inspired by an Iranian. And that means a lot. I mean, especially for young people to know that, to learn that. I still feel like there’s a long way to go, but I think that’s so important.

MV: This is the essence of Iranian culture that is so distinct from what so many people see coming out of the current government of Iran. And I think that the people coming together to support the building of something like this in our city that is a permanent impact reflects people of all different cultural backgrounds, all different political backgrounds, coming together as a united Iranian community. But these celebrations of culture, like Nowruz, music, poetry, are joyful, unifying moments, but they’re happening against the backdrop of real pain and protest in Iran. And that’s something that many Iranian Americans, especially students, are grappling with right now.

And of course, any conversation about the Iranian identity today exists alongside the political realities unfolding in Iran. And as someone leading a cultural organization – one that deliberately avoids political affiliation – how do you navigate moments when politics and culture inevitably overlap?

AA: It is a very fine line, and it’s a delicate matter to manage. For Farhang Foundation, we especially had, you know, a big challenge during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, because obviously that was a political uprising and human rights issue. And, you know, just by our mission alone, we couldn’t get involved in politics.

But what we noticed is that actually the Freedom Sculpture was a key tool, because artists–– I think one artist had started putting decals of all the names of the political prisoners and those who were executed on the Freedom Sculpture. And they did this all on their own. We had nothing to do with it, but we really thought that was so powerful.

And then another artist, who had just returned from Iran recently, a female artist, she went and tied her headscarf that she was forced to wear in Iran on the sculpture. And if you remember at that time, everybody–– the women were cutting their hair and burning their headscarves. And that started a whole movement.

And before you knew it, there were all these headscarves tied to the Freedom Sculpture, and they would blow in the wind. And these names of all these individuals – the freedom fighters, like Mahsa Amini and others – were in decals on the sculpture. And it was really powerful. So we encouraged that. We encouraged these artists who were expressing themselves.

MV: I remember at the Broad, in the Shirin Neshat exhibition, something that really stood out to me was a lot of the Iranian pieces, which showcased black-and-white images of women, a lot of whom you could only see their eyes in the image because they were covered up purposefully. But the writing, the calligraphy on the piece was Persian poetry written by women, women authors. And I think, like you were mentioning, it’s a beautiful thing to have those aspects of Iranian culture, which have a political undertone, really showcased to our non-Iranian community.

AA: And, you know, we support artists and we don’t censor artists. So even though we’re nonpolitical and nonreligious, we don’t tell the artists what to do. We support them.

So Shirin, she’s an incredible artist, you know, one of the leading contemporary artists working today in the world, not just Iranian but global. It was such a privilege to work with her. And she definitely has a political view, and she’s political, and we applaud that. We love supporting artists.

Same thing with filmmakers. Last year we supported–– I mean, over the years, we always support incredible filmmakers who are very vocal and have political views.

And Mr. Mohammad Rasoulof, whose film won the (Special) Jury Prize last year at the Cannes Film Festival for “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” we screened it at AFI Fest, which is the largest film festival in the U.S. Again, AFI picked the film. We supported it. Then it was screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Again, Newport Beach picked it, and we supported it.

And I’m a huge fan of Mr. Rasoulof and all his films. And in the past, we’ve supported Mr. Jafar Panahi’s film, who just happened this year to win his first Palme d’Or award – which is the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival – for his new film. And I’m sure we will be screening the film soon this fall here with our various film partners.

And, you know, also our Short Film Festival, which has been going on since 2008. It’s the only film festival in the world dedicated to Iranian films, Iranian short films. And it’s also the only film festival in the world that gives cash prizes to the filmmakers. And every year we have incredible films.

And a lot of them – just because most of the filmmakers are in Iran – a lot of them talk about the situation in Iran, life in Iran, political issues in Iran. And so they’re very political. They talk about all the negative things that happen to Iranians in Iran, the hardships they have to face. And we’re just so proud to be able to support all these incredible voices and have our jury members, who come from all over the film industry, participate.

We’re really proud. Every competition we have is headed by an incredible field of independent juries who pick the artwork or pick the winner or pick the film or pick the curator. And, you know, we stay out of the picking business.

MV: To finish off today’s interview, I wanted to ask: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to young Iranian Americans who are trying to stay connected to their culture while struggling with disagreement toward the Iranian government?

AA: Well, it’s very simple. They’re two different things. You know, the Iranian government – the current Iranian government – is not Iran. It doesn’t represent Iran. And they’re just there. I mean, I’m going to get political now: They’re just there temporarily, in my opinion.

And what young people or non-Iranians need to remember is: Iran and Iranians are totally separate from the Iranian government. So the actions that the government takes should be separated from what Iran represents and what the people of Iran represent.

You know, we’re known for our hospitality. We’re known for loving and welcoming guests. Even today, when you see reports of Iranian journalists or Iranian bloggers or vloggers that go to Iran, they’re so welcomed by the people, even though they’re American. And they’re always so surprised: “Wow, I thought you guys hated Americans.”

And that couldn’t be further from the truth. Iranians love America and love Americans and love American culture. And that’s always been the case. And it’s just two separate things.

And vice versa. We want— that’s why we want to support and promote our culture here so more non-Iranians learn about it and love it and enjoy it just as much as the Iranians in Iran enjoy American culture.

MV: Well, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing your incredible perspective, Mr. Ardekani.

This episode of “Persian Perspectives Today” was brought to you by Daily Bruin Podcasts. You can listen to this episode and all other Daily Bruin podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud. The audio and transcript of today’s interview are available at dailybruin.com. I’m Megan Vahdat. Thank you for listening.