The History of the Formation of the Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation

The Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation began its operations in November 2003, following a resolution by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iranian Parliament), through the merger of the Vahdat Hall complex and the Islamic Revolution Cultural Complex (Azadi Tower) as a public non-governmental institution.

The Beginning
The Cabinet of the Islamic Republic of Iran proposed the establishment of the Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation through Bill No. 20822/15011 dated July 16, 2000. This bill was presented to the open session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on February 25, 2001, and was approved by the parliament members.
The resolution was confirmed by the Guardian Council on March 15, 2001, and on the last working day of that year, March 18, 2001, the law of establishing the Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation was sent to the President for implementation. The then Speaker of the Parliament officially communicated the law to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance on April 21, 2001.

Law of Establishing the Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation
Single Article
The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is authorized to establish the Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation as a public non-governmental institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, through the merger of the Vahdat Hall complex and the Azadi Tower Cultural Complex (Islamic Revolution Cultural Complex).

Note 1
All duties, authorities, staff, movable and immovable properties, debts, obligations, claims, budgets, and credits of the mentioned units are transferred to the Roudaki Foundation.

Note 2
The statute of the foundation shall be prepared by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance within three months from the date of approval of this law and submitted to the Cabinet for approval.

Approval of the Statute
After drafting the statute, the Cabinet approved the statute of the Roudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation in a session held on April 21, 2002.
Based on this statute, the foundation was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to advance and develop art in line with the historical, religious, and national stature of art in this land and to elevate its national and international prominence.
The statute outlines the administration methods, duties, and responsibilities of the foundation.

Managing Directors of the Roudaki Foundation from Its Inception to the Present
The first managing director of the Roudaki Foundation was Mehdi Masoud Shahi, who led the foundation until the end of 2007, and was succeeded by Ali Asghar Amirnia, who managed the foundation for two years.

Following him, Hossein Parsaei took over as the managing director. Subsequent directors included Hossein Seifi, Seyed Alireza Hosseini, Bahram Jamali, Ali Akbar Safipour, Mehdi Afzali, Majid Zainolabedin and Mehdi Salem. Currently, Mohammad Allah-Yari Foomani is the managing director of the Roudaki Foundation.