After meeting in Lebanon and reconnecting in the States, Cynthia Nahhas and Nanor Vosgueritchian founded Garod Collective last year to bring Armenians together throughout New York City.

They’ve hosted a wide range of events, from a backgammon social to a generative writing workshop led by the Weekly’s very own Lilly Torosyan, to a live group translating event, allowing New Yorkers to connect with their Armenian culture and community in new ways.

With a focus on accessibility, all Garod Collective events have been free, and have drawn tremendous support from the community, both in attendance and in workshop leadership.

We caught up with Nahhas and Vosgueritchian after their latest group translation event to talk about the inspiration behind Garod Collective, their successful first year and how small a world it really is.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rosie Nisanyan (R.N.): How would you describe Garod Collective? And what inspired you to form it?

Nanor Vosgueritchian (N.V.): Garod Collective hosts free Armenian cultural events in New York City, acting as a space to introduce, build or revitalize connections to Armenian culture, language and tradition. We were really inspired to form it because we were longing for a community in New York. We’ve both been here since 2021, so this feeling has been building up over time, but what really pushed us and set us in motion was April 24th, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. 

Cynthia Nahhas (C.N.): Yeah, and it wasn’t even just the last one that passed in 2025, but also the one in 2024. We went to one of the popular Genocide Remembrance events and it really didn’t have a cozy community feel to it. It was almost too big; it was almost a spectacle. I don’t mean that negatively — we need that for recognition and in a way, it’s a type of protest — but on an individual level, for me as an Armenian who has history with this day, who wants to do something more comforting on this day, it didn’t feel that way for me. I was actually there with Nanor and she felt similarly. 

In early April 2025, with not much notice at all, I suggested that we do something to curate exactly what we’d like to see for Genocide Remembrance, because no one’s going to magically create an event or space that’s exactly what we’re looking for. I was like, “Nanor, let’s do an event. It’s one event; how hard could it be?”

Garod Collective’s first event, “Reclaiming Armenian Memories: An Archiving Workshop with Armenian Joy.” Participants shared and memorialized family photographs through scanning, guided storytelling and creative collage-making. Photo courtesy of Garod Collective.

N.V.: Our first event was about archiving photographs that people brought from their family photo albums. It was so nice and touching to see those photographs and people sharing their stories. We were so pleased by the response that we got with this one event. People were asking us, “When’s the next one?” So, we started doing more events, and it turned into this. We’re both really grateful to have the opportunity to continue gathering and building an Armenian community for ourselves, but also just connecting on an individual level with people who have some kind of shared interest. 

R.N.: Where did the name “Garod Collective” come from?

N.V.: We came up with that together. “Garod” means “longing” in Armenian and that was the central feeling for both of us when starting these events.

Cynthia, wasn’t there also a film you were inspired by?

C.N.: Yeah, when we started planning the first event, I was out with a Turkish friend who’s learning Western Armenian for her dissertation. I was telling her that we needed a name for the event, because we can’t say “Cynthia and Nanor invite you to…” That’s weird. So, she suggested Garod. And I was like, “Wait a minute. How do you know this word?” It’s kind of specific and it’s not very commonly used. She said, “Oh, there’s a documentary called ‘Garod.’ Have you not heard of it?” It was made by a Kurdish filmmaker and is about the Armenian musicians Onnik and Ara Dinkjian. The Dinkjian family’s roots are in Diyarbakir, which is also where my great-grandmother is from! I texted Nanor immediately because it was so perfect and captured everything we’re trying to do. 

R.N.: How did you two meet and start working together?

C.N.: We actually met in Lebanon. We were at AUB, the American University of Beirut, at the same time. I was studying media and communications and Nanor was studying English literature. 

N.V.: It was purely coincidental that we both moved to New York in 2021, for our different master’s degrees. We knew that we wanted to do a master’s, but to both end up in New York at the same time was kind of crazy. I think it was moving to a new city and living away from home — which can be very daunting — that pushed us to develop our friendship even more over the last few years.

Garod Collective’s Backgammon Social — an afternoon of backgammon, tea, cocktails and good company, welcoming both first-time players and seasoned regulars. Photo courtesy of Garod Collective.

R.N.: I moved to NYC from California about 10 years ago. I’ve noticed a big increase in Armenian events in the city. What do you think is driving it — a post-COVID desire for live events, more people moving to NYC, something else? 

N.V.: I think it’s all of those things. We’re so happy to see all these events happening; it’s always nice to have different choices. But personally, I’ve been noticing an overall trend in New York, where people are embracing their identity and heritage and wanting to share that with other people who maybe don’t know much about it. For example, within the Arab community, there has been an increase in spaces — community groups, restaurants, cafes and movie screenings — just in the last few years that I’ve been here.

I feel like people want to claim a little space in New York for themselves, even if it’s very small, especially in the grand scheme of New York City.

 It can be really nice and comforting to have a place where you can just be yourself.

C.N.: Piggybacking off of what Nanor said, I think we’re also looking for different ways to practice our culture in our everyday life; at least, that’s what Garod is for me. We all do it differently and find different gaps and try to address them. An example for us is that we noticed there weren’t many free events that we knew of. Usually Armenian events — especially if they’re from the bigger philanthropies — are for fundraising, which is so important. But also, sometimes you can’t keep dropping money like that, just to be around other Armenians. We noticed that gap and wanted to address it, practicing our culture in a certain way, in a certain type of space. 

R.N.: You’ve hosted a diverse array of events in your first year, from a community dinner to a listening party with ARA to film screenings. What’s your goal or vision for Garod Collective? 

C.N.: I think our first year has gone really, really well. The film screening had 70 RSVPs, which we never expected. We were like, “Oh, we have to put a cap on the event page because we’re not going to fit there!” That was crazy. 

Even from that very first event, people came — and it wasn’t just my friends or anything; I didn’t know anyone who came to that first event. They were people who somehow found the event — we didn’t even have an Instagram at that time. So again, we’ve had a huge positive response and there’s been so much interest. 

In collaboration with the Armenian Record Archive (ARA), Garod Collective hosted an Armenian music exchange where participants listened to and shared Armenian records together. Photo by Հրայր Պէրպէրիան (@harrytalksgood of @armenianrecordarchive).

As for the goal, it would be to keep it going no matter what, specifically because it’s had such a positive reaction. I think it would just be a shame to stop. We don’t know what that will look like exactly. My parents are in Los Angeles, and Nanor’s family is in Beirut. We’ve spoken about potentially expanding to those cities, especially if we find ourselves there a lot. Every once in a while, when I’m frustrated with New York, I’m like, “I should just move to Los Angeles.” I told Nanor that even if that happens, we’re not going to stop; we’re going to find a way to make this work. 

And we’ve also spoken about dabbling with other mediums, like maybe print, maybe a zine, maybe a photo book. There’s also so much archival stuff that we could do — should we expand there?

It’s a matter of rolling with the punches, in a way, with the goal being we can’t stop. No matter what, we have to keep going.

N.V.: We have so many things that we’re personally interested in — music, photography, film — there’s so much to explore still. One of the nice things about growing over the last year is that people are becoming more aware of us and coming to us with their ideas for events or workshops that they want to host. That’s been great because we’re currently in the phase of shaping our events based on what the community is asking of us. We’re supporting each other, in a sense. And I think that will also be true for how we continue in the future; we want to offer activities and learning opportunities that the community has been craving, or that people want to share with the community. We’re able to give people the platform to do that. 

In collaboration with writer Hrayr Varaz (@hrayr_huh_died), this workshop explored ways to expand Armenian language use in everyday life — from texting to creatively incorporating emojis. Photo courtesy of Garod Collective.

R.N.: What has surprised you about the NYC Armenian community?

N.V.: We’ve both been surprised by the range of people who come to our events — of many different ages, backgrounds, hometowns and, even in terms of language, Armenian language ability and dialects. It’s been really nice meeting everyone and seeing how excited they are to meet us and each other and just connect culturally. 

We’ve also been surprised by how many people live in Brooklyn. A lot of our events have been in Brooklyn, but I never expected so many people to live so close. I also live in Brooklyn and I met an attendee who lives at the end of my block, which was a crazy coincidence.

Another thing we’ve heard is that people are finding out about our events through WhatsApp groups that have been going on for many years — before either of us moved here — so that’s pretty cool.

R.N.: How has the Armenian community supported Garod Collective?

C.N.: Similar to what Nanor said earlier, we were surprised by how much the community supported us by attending events.

At this point, there’s a group that consistently shows up time and time again; we can depend on them. Whenever we put on an event, we know we can count on them to show up. That’s such a nice feeling. We were actually at a Hye Frequencies party and they were all socializing.

At some point during the party, we became our own little group: us and those regulars.

 I didn’t know any of them before we started doing this, and some of them didn’t even know each other, but we were just there in a corner talking the entire night. I’m really grateful for that. 

And of course, a lot of them have offered to help out. Even during the events, they’re always helping us clean up. If we’re running a bit behind, they would help us set up the space. We’re just two people running everything, so we really appreciate everyone who shows up and, even more so, everyone who helps out.

R.N.: Do you have any advice for aspiring Armenian organizers?

C.N.: I would say, honestly, just do it. It doesn’t have to be a big commitment. You don’t have to have a brand; we still don’t have a logo. It doesn’t need to be a big, daunting thing. Sometimes, people get caught up in being what they “should” have to start — they want to have the perfect name and the perfect logo, a designer and a good stack of cash to pour into it — but you don’t have to. We did one event because we wanted to do something special for April 24th and it led to this. So, you don’t know. Just do one event; talk to a friend and see where it goes. 

If that still feels too big, then talk to us or any other organizer.

So many people have come up to us and said, “Hey, I really want to lead a workshop on this.” Okay, we can give you the platform; let’s collaborate.

We’ll do all the logistics and design the poster for you, and you can have this platform to throw this workshop, and it can be completely of your own design. And I’m sure other existing organizations, similar to us, would love to help and include anyone. 

N.V.: I totally agree with everything Cynthia said, especially with reaching out to existing organizers. People are really excited to collaborate and everyone’s super nice. So yeah, I think that’s a great first step, if you don’t want to make such a big commitment or you just want to test something out.

R.N.: How can people support Garod Collective?

N.V.: When we started, our biggest priority was making everything accessible and free. Because of that, we heavily rely on donations to keep everything going. Especially in New York, it can be really costly to host events. So, the biggest way to support us would be through donations. All of that goes directly into any expenses related to our events (like venues, supplies, transportation) and also supporting the workshop leaders, hosts or whoever is leading the activity or event. We really want to get to a point where we can show our appreciation for their time and skills financially. We’ve been trying our best, but we do rely on donations to do that. 

Other than that, follow us on Instagram, stay in touch and come to us if you have ideas. Or tell people about our collective and show up to our events! We’re currently planning a workshop on mental mapping of Armenian spaces in New York City, where we’re working with a really talented architect and urban designer. That will be really cool and interesting — we’ll have more details very soon.

You can follow Garod Collective on Instagram (@Garod_Collective) to learn about upcoming events. Support the work of Garod Collective by donating via Venmo at @garod_collective.