Tumo's initial program will introduce students aged twelve through eighteen 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 meters) facility, which occupies the first two floors of a modern building and sits on fifty acres (twenty 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 that 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 centre will serve to enhance the education of younger children, 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.

"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."