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Help young artists raise the roof in Cambodia

Support Cambodia's emerging artists by protecting their stage from the rain.

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Help young artists raise the roof in Cambodia

Help young artists raise the roof in Cambodia

Help young artists raise the roof in Cambodia

Help young artists raise the roof in Cambodia

Help young artists raise the roof in Cambodia

Support Cambodia's emerging artists by protecting their stage from the rain.

Support Cambodia's emerging artists by protecting their stage from the rain.

Support Cambodia's emerging artists by protecting their stage from the rain.

Support Cambodia's emerging artists by protecting their stage from the rain.

Camilla Plüss
Camilla Plüss
Camilla Plüss
Camilla Plüss
1 Campaign |
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
$415 USD 10 backers
5% of $7,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

GREAT NEWS! We are ending this Campaign early because we have raised the roof!

Thanks to the generous support of a long-standing donor, we have been able to build a roof over our stage at Phnom Penh's national museum so we can keep performing in the rain.

RAISED ONLINE: $415

RAISED VIA GRANT: $7,000

TOTAL RAISED: $7,415

However, we are still looking for support. In low season tourist numbers drop, which means it is harder for us to sell tickets and make the project sustainable. So if you believe in the power of the arts, and the value of creativity please help us to keep the show going!

For any donations we receive, we will offer complimentary tickets to Cambodian schools, or NGOs. We want as many young Cambodians as possible to see the performance, reagardless of their ability to pay for the ticket. They are the audiences and the artists of tomorrow, and we want them to feel inspired and proud of Cambodian culture.

The standard price of a Cambodian child ticket is $3. Each show costs us $700 to put on. Thanks for your support!

STAY TUNED for more information and pictures for the new roof!

WHO WE ARE

Cambodian Living Arts (CLA), is a non-profit organization based in Cambodia. Our mission is to create a sustainable environment where Cambodian arts can empower and transform individuals and communities. We do this by building the capacity of artists and the arts community, by promoting awareness of the arts, and by facilitating advocacy with cultural policymakers and major institutions. In doing so, we aim to create value and understanding of what it means to be Cambodian and to create a sense of unity and shared culture. We believe that through creativity we can each expand our potential as human beings.

 

 Schema

 

THE PERFORMANCES

From November 2012 to late March 2013, Cambodian Living Arts organized a program of performances called Plae Pakaa (Fruitful). Six days a week, Plae Pakaa featured a rotating program of 3 Cambodian traditional arts performances  set in the splendid gardens of the National Museum, Phnom Penh:

Children of Bassac (Classical & folk dance):

Performed by a troupe filled with energy and creativity, this show includes both Apsara and folk dances from Khmer and other Cambodian ethnic minority cultures.

Mak Therng (theatre & music):

This show is a piece from the Yike repertoire, a popular folk art form. It tells a classical Cambodian tale of love and betrayal. His young wife kidnapped by a prince, Mak Therng sets out on a quest for justice, but where will this lead him? This show includes dance, drama and beautiful singing.

Passage of Live (theatre & music):

Cambodian life is rich with elaborate rituals accompanied by some of the most beautiful Khmer musical forms. This show is a voyage that begins from the greetings of birth to the farewells of death, sweetened by celebrations of love and adulthood.

 

  Traditional Folk Dance Traditional Apsara Dance 

 

With Plae Pakaa, Cambodian Living Arts aims to create long-ranging job opportunities in the country’s broader arts sector. Our hope is for any Cambodian artist or arts professional to achieve the dreams of their youth to one day performing on a stage before a live audience.

Plae Pakaa, which translates literally as “coming to fruition”, symbolizes the trees of traditional arts that are now bearing fruit after a long period of growth. It also symbolizes the emerging artists who are sharing the fruits of their efforts with us. From November to late March – the dry season in Cambodia – CLA was able to employ over 120 artists and other arts professionals, six nights a week,offering them a springboard toward future career opportunities in arts productions. We are proud that 65 of the 90 performers have been trained by CLA.

Music and ensemble leader in the theatre and music play Passage of Live Nhok Sinat says:

“Plae Pakaa gives us an opportunity to earn a living through art, to develop our skills, and to raise awareness about Cambodian traditions. Choosing the right music to fit the proper emotion in each scene was an interesting challenge.”

 

BY THE FIGURES

  • 25 performers from 2009 to 2012
  • 90 performers in Plae Pakaa 2012-13
  • Production of 2 new pieces of Yike Opera and theater
  • Production of 3 new dances

What we hope for the future: 

  • Continue the shows on Friday and Saturday during the rainy season;
  • Continue the show 6 days a week during the dry season
  •  Have 75 Plae Pakaa artists secure paid work opportunities;
  • Have 25 Plae Pakaa artists transition into CLA’s Performances program;
  • Have 6 troupes create 6 new pieces of work.

 

Backstage Traditional Apsara Dance Children of Bassac Wedding Ceremony Opening Ceremony Backstage

   Children of Bassac Traditional Cambodian Opera Backstage Backstage Traditional Folk Dance

 

CAMBODIA’S BACKGROUND

Before the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodia was home to some of the most diverse and abundant arts and culture in Southeast Asia. Music, dance, theater and cinema flowed strongly through the blood of the Cambodian people. There were singers on every corner, musicians in every village and a dancer in every child. Art flourished. But in the years between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge brought a devastating end to all of that. It is estimated that during those years, 2 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation and overwork. It is also believed that among the dead were 90% percent of Cambodia’s artists who were specifically targeted for execution, a devastating blow to Cambodia’s artistic traditions. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, this human and cultural tragedy was compounded by two subsequent decades of crippling economic hardship. Of the Master Artists that survived, few could make a living by performing or teaching.

 

CAMBODIAN LIVING ARTS’ BACKGROUND

Fifteen years ago, Cambodia was in danger of losing its artistic and identity, memory and heritage. Cambodian Living Arts was created in 1998 with a focus on recovery and preservation of Cambodia’s traditional arts, by providing classes to Cambodian youth, allowing them to acquire basic artistic skills. At its onset, the organization provided support to 16 Master Artists and 11 assistant teachers, reaching over 200 students in 8 provinces in Cambodia yearly. But context and needs of Cambodian society evolved, a new generation of artists emerged and 10 years after its creation the organization had to evolve and adapt its actions.

 

In 2009 Cambodian Living Arts welcomed Phloeun Prim as its new Director. We focused on developing talents and skills to increase national and international recognition and awareness of Cambodian arts and culture. Rather than providing support on a local level, in only a few communities, we hope in the future to enable  sustainability for the arts on a national scale, and to raise awareness globally.

 

Master and Student Master and Students

 

CAMBODIAN LIVING ARTS’ MISSION AND VISION

OUR MISSION

The mission of Cambodian Living Arts is to facilitate the transformation of Cambodia through the arts. We work in collaboration with others to create an environment where Cambodian arts empower and transform individuals and communities. We do this by encouraging the growth of artists and the arts community, by promoting awareness of the arts, and by advocating for the arts with cultural policymakers and major institutions. In doing so, we hope to create value and understanding of what it means to be Cambodian and to create a sense of unity and shared culture. We believe that through creativity we can each expand our potential as human beings.

 

OUR VISION

By 2020, we envision a vibrant and dynamic cultural sector throughout Cambodia, with the arts as the country’s national and international signature. Cambodian Living Arts will be a catalyst for this development. The successful transformation of Cambodia’s cultural identity will be a model for other emerging societies.

 

COMMUNITY ARTS EDUCATION

CLA’s Community Arts program aims to provide training and encourage the practice of high-quality, traditional performing arts in communities throughout Cambodia. The program is composed of teaching activities and workshops.

Since 1998, CLA has created 28 classes of traditional performing arts in 9 provinces in Cambodia, reaching over 500 students.

 

BY THE FIGURES

  • 28 classes reaching out to 500 students
  • 40 teachers of 12 art forms
  • 9 provinces

 

CAPACITY BUILDING

At CLA, we help promising youth further their arts education by awarding them scholarships and providing them with real-world training and mentorship to support their growth as professionals. We also work to develop the existing arts sector by building the expertise of arts supervisors and managers.

CLA’s Capacity Building program aims to:

  • Help to staff the Cambodian arts sector with well trained, Cambodian arts professionals working to international standards;
  • Have CLA’s trainees become recognized in the arts sector for their skill and professionalism.

 

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

All the arts education in the world amounts to little if, after years of training, there isn’t viable employment for Cambodia’s professional artists and arts professionals.  That’s why CLA focuses on improving job opportunities in the country’s broader arts sector as the final stage in the  growth-cycle of CLA and non-CLA graduates.

We want to foster the independent capability of emerging artists and other arts professionals, so they can form their own performance troupes and become Cambodia’s premier working performers.

Our Creative Industries program aims to:

  • Help arts professionals find consistent, well-paid work in the arts and culture sector, supported by Cambodian audiences.
  • Have 50% of CLA’s audiences in Cambodia consist of native Cambodians within 3 years.
  • Have 50% of CLA’s funding generated by our Cambodian operations within 5 years.

 

THE CLA-TEAM SAYS THANK YOU!!!

CLA-Team

 http://www.cambodianlivingarts.org/

 

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