Philanthropist Wants Americans to See a Different Side of Iran: Its Art and Poetry

Bita Daryabari, the Silicon Valley philanthropist, focuses much of her time on helping her fellow Iranian immigrants get settled in America. But she is also directing millions toward promoting Persian arts and culture, underscoring her desire to showcase the beauty in Iran’s history.

Last October, she gave $2-million to Cambridge University to endow the Shahnama Project, which will support the study of an important 11th-century poem. Another 2013 gift, $70,000 to the Asian Art Museum, underwrote a traveling exhibit of the Cyrus Cylinder, a 6th-century clay artifact from the reign of the Persian king Cyrus the Great.

But her biggest commitment to the cause is the $6.5-million she has given to Stanford University since 2007 for its Iranian-studies program.

The money established the Bita Daryabari Endowment in Persian Letters, which supports three faculty members in Persian language, literature, and the arts; a $10,000 annual award to recognize established figures in Persian culture; and an award to help budding Iranian artists learn about Persian arts.

Ms. Daryabari hopes that such programs will remind all Americans that there is more to the Middle East, and to Iran in particular, than repression and strife.

“Bita is keenly interested in making available to people in the U.S. a different vision of Iran, different from the bombs and terrorism and tensions between the Iranian regime and the U.S. government,” says Abbas Milani, director of Stanford’s Iranian studies program. “Her underlying premise, which I think is a noble one, is there’s a different Iran, an Iran of the people, of poetry and art.”

A Gift to Stanford

Ms. Daryabari is not a Stanford alumna (she graduated from California State University at East Bay), and her Stanford endowment began unexpectedly.

Busy supporting programs to help women and children in the Middle East, she had no plans to give money to the university when, in 2007, she asked a friend to introduce her to Mr. Milani.

Her aim, she says, was to find out what sorts of courses and lectures were available to people off-campus and to see if she could participate in a few of them. As the two bonded over a shared desire to promote Persian arts and culture, Ms. Daryabari wondered why the university wasn’t offering more courses on the topic.

“I told her our funds were limited, and she said, ‘What if I gave you some funds? Would that help?’” recounts Mr. Milani.

“Over that lunch, she said she would give $2.5-million, and right there we sat down and decided what we were going to do with the money, which was very unique.”

She gave more as she saw the classes and other offerings gain in popularity and attendance. She also wanted to expand the program so more Iranian-American college students could learn about their heritage, something she fears is being lost in the younger generation.

“They have no idea who these poets are, and they don’t know anything about Persian culture, which is very sad. We’re talking 7,000 years of culture and civilization, and they’re only seeing the past 30 years,” she says.

“I want Iranian-Americans to have access again to arts and literature and poetry. It opens your mind. It opens a new window to life.”