Tumo Center for Creative Technologies to Open in Yerevan, Armenia

YEREVAN, Armenia, June 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Tumo Center for Creative Technologies announces a Grand Opening on Sunday, August 14, 2011. Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Republic of Armenia visited Tumo for a private tour on Tuesday, June 28, 2011. The Minister of Education and Science, Armen Ashotyan, and the Mayor of Yerevan, Karen Karapetyan, accompanied the President.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110629/DA27810)

Tumo's initial program will introduce students, ages 12-18, to a professional level of instruction in animation, web development, video game design, and digital video/audio through extensive after-school programs, and as a part of the daily curricula of partner schools in Yerevan. Tumo is designed to serve over 1,000 students a day.

The seventy-five thousand square foot (7,000 square meter) facility, which occupies the first two floors of a modern building, and sits on fifty acres (20 hectares) of green land in the heart of Yerevan, will be dedicated to the creativity center. The campus is the creation of Sam and Sylva Simonian, both of Armenian origin, who currently reside in Dallas, Texas. Sam was a founder of Inet Technologies, a multi-million-dollar Internet monitoring/management company, based in Richardson, Texas.

As students' skills grow, they will earn points which will allow them to move up, as in a video game, to the center's upper levels, for more advanced instruction. The upper levels will also serve as an incubator for business start-ups–and will provide a level of real-world, hands-on experience unavailable in most educational facilities. Other specific programs of the center will serve to enhance the education of younger kids, university students, and the community.

"Creativity is a key component in the success of any endeavor," Sam says. "Kids attending Tumo are likely to be working in fields that don't even exist yet. But the skills, and creative ways of solving problems they'll learn at Tumo will serve them well as they make their own contributions to the world in the years ahead."

Students at Tumo will work on real-life creative projects, guided by industry professionals from some of the world's leading companies, like Pixar and Disney. Some of these creative pros will be teaching at the center, others will be linked to it from locations around the world, through the center's state-of-the-art communication technologies. Some Tumo programs will be available in English, as well as Armenian.

"Teamwork, communication, Internet literacy, analytical thinking, initiative—these are the skills that will be taught at Tumo," says Sylva Simonian. "Sure, the kids may come to learn how to create a video game, or build a better website—and have fun in the process—but they'll leave with so much more."

"Tumo will serve students in Armenia initially, but through summer workshops, computer camps, and other programs, we will also reach a broad international audience," says Marie Lou Papazian, Managing Director of Tumo. "The world is increasingly interconnected and dependent on sophisticated information and media technologies. We look forward to giving our kids the skills and experience they'll need to succeed in any field they choose, anywhere in the world."

For more information visit: http://www.tumo.org

SOURCE Tumo Center for Creative Technologies