Jerry Brignone is an Argentine philhellene with Greek roots (maternal grandfather) engaged since 1997 in the spreading of modern and ancient Greek culture. Actively involved in local institutions (cultural associations, Greek communities and the Buenos Aires City Government), he teaches Modern Greek since 2001, presently at the Buenos Aires University (UBA), where he studied General Linguistics. Actor and drama director, he has staged plays in Greek and diverse cultural events related to Hellenism, and has been invited by radio programs and local institutions to lecture or perform in numerous public ceremonies under the auspices of the Greek Embassy and the Buenos Aires City Government. 

Honours Bachelor and Professor's degree in Linguistics by the Philosophy and Literature Faculty of the Buenos Aires University (UBA 2008, average grade 9.50), plus Classical Greek studies in the aforementioned University (2001/2003), Ancient Philosophy (2004), Latin (2004/2005), Sanskrit (2005) and Teaching of Spanish as foreign language (2005).

Professor from September 2006 to July 2007 in the Buenos Aires University (UBA) of the extracurricular course of Modern Greek organized by UBA´s Classical Philology Institute's Medieval Section and the Onassis Foundation. Professor since August 2007 of the six semestrial levels of the extracurricular course of Modern Greek organized in the UBA by its Classical Philology Institute's Medieval Section.

Invited guest representing the Buenos Aires University at the First Regional Assembly of Central and South America of the World Council of the Hellenes Abroad (S.A.E.), held at Santiago de Chile in November 2008.

Secretary of Karyatis, Argentine Association of Hellenic Culture (Cariatide, Asociacion Argentina de Cultura Helenica) since 1997. Founded in 1978, its activities were declared of national interest by the Argentine Senate in 2000. Secretary of the Argentine branch of the International Association of Nikos Kazantzakis´ Friends from 2003 to 2007; First Titular Member since 2008.

Teacher of modern Greek in Karyatis´ beginners and intermediate courses since 2001.

Organizer since 1999 of Karyatis´ free lectures monthly cycle, held from 2003 to 2006 in the Greek Embassy in Buenos Aires.

In charge of the organization and presentation of Karyatis´ annual Homage to Greece in commemoration of the Oxi at the La Scala de San Telmo Theatre (1999), the Golden Hall of the Buenos Aires City Council Culture House (2000), the traditional Progress Club (2001), the Diario del Viajero´s Auditorium (2002), the Postgraduate Studies Auditorium of the Palermo University (2003), the Buenos Aires City Cultural Centre Recoleta (2004), the San Martin Municipal Theatre´s Cultural Centre (2005/2007) and the Peloponnesian Hellenic Union (2008).

In charge since 2003 of Karyatis´ website http://www.oocities.org/ar/cariatideargentina

Self-taught studies of Modern Greek since 1994, plus courses at local Greek communities. Second Level Certificate of Modern Greek (grade: άριστα) issued by the Greek Government through the Centre for the Greek Language Aristotelous, Thessaloniki University, taken in the Tsakos Foundation, Montevideo, Uruguay, 2000. 

Four trips to Greece since March 1996 (one month, two months, three weeks and one week stay each). Organization of a two week cultural tour to Greece in May 2000, guiding sixteen people. Repetition of the tour (although not escorting) in September 2001 and 2005.

Member and spokesman of Buenos Aires´ Greek communities since 1997. Buenos Aires City Government consultant (General Direction of Political and Institutional Affairs, Communities and Cults) in the Greek communities´ area, 2001/2003.

Interviews and participation (often reading texts in Greek) in Hellenic culture radio programs (Chicago Hellenic Radio, Athens, February 1999; Radio Splendid, Radio Municipal, Radio Argentina, 2001/2007). Weekly emission of Greek music and explanation of its lyrics in own radio program, FM 104.1 Station, 2007. Organization and presentation of film cycles on Greece, 2000/2006.

Author (pen name Iannis Zombolas, own grandfather's last name) and stage director of the play Ignea Medeas, based on Euripides´ tragedy and Maria Callas´ and Pasolini's film, Espacios Theatre, 1985. Executive producer and stage assistant of the premiere of the renowned Argentine author Griselda Gambaro's play Furious Antigone; performances at the Goethe Institute Auditorium, The San Telmo Theatres, the Cervantes National Theatre, the San Martin Municipal Theatre and the Cordoba National Drama Festival (representing Buenos Aires), 1986/1987. Author, stage director and performer of the play Oidipous Tyrannos: the women's conspiracy, personal trilingual version with modern Greek music in Spanish, Modern and Classical Greek of Sophocles´ tragedy; fifty performances in the National Historical Site “La Manzana de las Luces” under the auspices of numerous local Greek institutions, with great audience success and good press reviews, 1997/1998.

Main role in the play Of heroes and gods… forever Greece, at the Municipal Theatre Reggio, under the auspices of the Greek Embassy, 1998. Stage director of Iannis Xenakis´ opera Kassandra, based on an excerpt of Aeschylus´ Agamemnon in classical Greek, La Scala de San Telmo Theatre, 1999. Author and performer of the bilingual show Sappho, Eros kai Kavafis, at the Pro-Arte Foundation, 1999. Organizer of concerts of contemporary Greek music, including excerpts of Sophocles´ Antigone in Spanish and ancient Greek at the Golden Hall of the Buenos Aires City Council Culture House, 2000. Main role and stage director of the drama-ballet Roots in Time (with George Dermitzakis´ choreography), based on Spyros Vergos´s book, in the Golden Hall of the Buenos Aires City Government Court Palace, 2001. 

Organizer, lecturer or performer at public ceremonies (often with Greek texts in Spanish or Modern Greek) at the National Library (2007), Greece Public Square (organized by Nostos, Greek Culture Association and the Buenos Aires City Government, November 4^th 2007, and in March 25^th 2007, organized by the Panhellenic Argentine Federation, the Greek Embassy and the Buenos Aires City Government), Greek Embassy (2003/2006), Peloponnesian Hellenic Union (2006/8), San Martin Municipal Theatre Cultural Centre (2005/2006), Buenos Aires City Cultural Centre Recoleta (2004), Postgraduate Studies Auditorium of the Palermo University (2003), Diario del Viajero Auditorium (1999/2002), Buenos Aires City Council San Martin Auditorium (2002), Conquistador Hotel (2002), Progress Club (2001), Hellenic Community Panelinion (2001), XVIII Iberian Astrology Congress (Madrid, Spain, 2001), Golden Hall of the Buenos Aires City Council Culture House (2000), Argentine Writers´ Society S.A.D.E. (2000).

Jerry Brignone, December 2008