By Xinhua Writer Ma Guihua
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- As some 200 artists and media practitioners converge here for the weeklong Mekong Festival beginning on Monday, their attention has gone far beyond "arts for arts' sake". What they are advocating is how to promote arts as catalyst for social transformation.
Through workshops, performances, forum, conference, film shows and visual arts, artists from the Mekong sub-region which is composed of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, showcased their understanding of life in the era of globalization and economic integration.
Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), one of the organizers of the Festival from the host country, has demonstrated the vigor and power of youth art throughout the festival with the omni-present performers, some 100 in total, disseminating the message of arts as a life-transforming force.
PPS, meaning "the brightness of art" in Khmer, was originated in 1989 from a refugee camp on the Thai border, when child refugees were encouraged to use artistic expression to overcome the trauma of war. After the refugees returned to their homeland, the idea of creative workshops persisted as a group of former children from the camp founded PPS IN 1994.
Today, PPS, a Cambodian non-governmental organization (NGO) which aims to support community development through providing social, educative and cultural services to children and their families, has not only hosted poor, disabled, abused and trafficked children in the Child Care Center, but opens wide its door to children and youth who want to pursue their artistic instincts and interests by enlisting them to its Visual Arts School, Performing Arts School and Music School.
Its iconic circus groups are the most renowned among its schools, touring and performing in Cambodia and Europe, nurturing an independent generation who are capable of supporting themselves while exemplifying their strength.
"Arts is a powerful tool for children to develop their confidence," said Khun Det, founder of PPS. He believes that visual arts and culture is more effective than speeches. He regarded PPS circus as "social circus" which combines elements of theater and music in addition to tradition.
During the Festival, audiences are amazed PPS performers whose vigor, humor and skills are great inspirations to children and youth in the community.
Chinese artists also shared their experiences at the Festival.
Zhang Jinzhong, an ethnic Jingpo dancer from Nengguan Performing Arts and Training Center in Ruili, southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been doing health education through dance for four years, helping ethnic youths learn folk dance, rap, or modern dance while staying away from drugs and HIV/AIDS.
"None of the students had any dancing background. I teach them whatever dance they fancy, and offer health knowledge at intervals. As they learn some dancing skills from the center, the youths also start to care for their own community and the reality around them.
To date, the center has trained some 6,000 youth between the age of 13 to 22. "Many trainees have found jobs after the training, some even called us back when they pursue job opportunities elsewhere, saying they are no longer afraid of the outside world!" said Zhang who has been dancing since he was 11.
Yang Kun, a visual anthropologist, and one of the founding members of Yunfest, a documentary film festival based in Yunnan, had reflected on the participatory visual education project launched by Yunfest.
The project, which aims to train villagers with basic digital video (DV) camera skills, has witnessed surprisingly original works from the trainees after they go back to their own villages and star shooting on issues of their interest.
"Glacier" is a film in case. The brainchild of Tibetan trainee Zhaxi Nima, the film tells the story of holy mountain Kawagebo in northwest Yunnan's Deqin region, which has seen its glaciers melting over the years as a result of tourism and global warming.
Shot from the perspectives of pilgrims, travelers and local villagers, the film tries to present the argument that locals, who were blamed for the deteriorating state of their environment, have been practicing environmental protection in ages through their own gut instincts and a respect for the Nature.
In Yang's view, unlike mass media which has been disseminating information from urban areas to the rural region, small media such as DV is vital in getting the weak rural voices heard by the general public.
"Tibetan villagers' love for a natural environment as shown in the film is far ahead of western environmentalists, but the message was rarely picked up by the mass media," he added.
It is no wonder that the film became a favorite when during the Yunfest screening in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the major big cities in China. After it was shown in Tibetan villages, some villagers have gone even further by setting up their own NGO and website for research on their own culture and tradition, as well as organizing a Kawagebo culture festival.
"These direct, powerful, moving images could help urban people view the world in a different light, hence narrowing the gap of urban-rural understanding," said Yang. He believes that against the backdrop of massive social transformation in China, DV could play an important role in preserving and reviving folk cultures and tradition.
During the Festival, such modern arts stories are abound. A Thai artist has turned a common legend about Sheela from the Mekong region into a theater work to get young audiences relate to the modern reality of child labor and trafficking; Khanda Arts'n Theater Company combines street interviews and statistics on HIV/AIDS with its dance "For a Little Less Noise Mae Nam"; Myanmar and Lao artists endeavor to preserve their traditional puppet theater...
Even the 100 or so children and youth delegates attending a parallel forum have been motivated at the Festival. Gao Yijia, a 17 year-old senior high student from China's Yunnan, said: "It's such fun. We are playing games all the time. I'll try to take my new skills back home to my fellow students and share with them."
And for J'Mee Katanyag, a freshman at college in the Philippines, all the child-friendly workshops are a "release" for disadvantaged children. Although the Children and Youth Bloc at the Festival is no novelty for her, who has been an activist at the children's program under the Philippines Educational Theater Association, she still sees the changes on some of the delegates.
"It's not necessarily for them to be emotional, you don't see their tears or anger, but you just notice the changes," she added.
"We hope they (children and youths) would be a force for change when they get back to their own community," said Chen Shu, communications officer for the China office of Save the Children UK, another organizer of the five-day event.
Indeed, as more people are inspired as the Mekong Arts and Media Festival comes to an end on Friday, it's only a prelude for changes in the sub-region.
Editor: Xiong Tong
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- As some 200 artists and media practitioners converge here for the weeklong Mekong Festival beginning on Monday, their attention has gone far beyond "arts for arts' sake". What they are advocating is how to promote arts as catalyst for social transformation.
Through workshops, performances, forum, conference, film shows and visual arts, artists from the Mekong sub-region which is composed of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, showcased their understanding of life in the era of globalization and economic integration.
Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), one of the organizers of the Festival from the host country, has demonstrated the vigor and power of youth art throughout the festival with the omni-present performers, some 100 in total, disseminating the message of arts as a life-transforming force.
PPS, meaning "the brightness of art" in Khmer, was originated in 1989 from a refugee camp on the Thai border, when child refugees were encouraged to use artistic expression to overcome the trauma of war. After the refugees returned to their homeland, the idea of creative workshops persisted as a group of former children from the camp founded PPS IN 1994.
Today, PPS, a Cambodian non-governmental organization (NGO) which aims to support community development through providing social, educative and cultural services to children and their families, has not only hosted poor, disabled, abused and trafficked children in the Child Care Center, but opens wide its door to children and youth who want to pursue their artistic instincts and interests by enlisting them to its Visual Arts School, Performing Arts School and Music School.
Its iconic circus groups are the most renowned among its schools, touring and performing in Cambodia and Europe, nurturing an independent generation who are capable of supporting themselves while exemplifying their strength.
"Arts is a powerful tool for children to develop their confidence," said Khun Det, founder of PPS. He believes that visual arts and culture is more effective than speeches. He regarded PPS circus as "social circus" which combines elements of theater and music in addition to tradition.
During the Festival, audiences are amazed PPS performers whose vigor, humor and skills are great inspirations to children and youth in the community.
Chinese artists also shared their experiences at the Festival.
Zhang Jinzhong, an ethnic Jingpo dancer from Nengguan Performing Arts and Training Center in Ruili, southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been doing health education through dance for four years, helping ethnic youths learn folk dance, rap, or modern dance while staying away from drugs and HIV/AIDS.
"None of the students had any dancing background. I teach them whatever dance they fancy, and offer health knowledge at intervals. As they learn some dancing skills from the center, the youths also start to care for their own community and the reality around them.
To date, the center has trained some 6,000 youth between the age of 13 to 22. "Many trainees have found jobs after the training, some even called us back when they pursue job opportunities elsewhere, saying they are no longer afraid of the outside world!" said Zhang who has been dancing since he was 11.
Yang Kun, a visual anthropologist, and one of the founding members of Yunfest, a documentary film festival based in Yunnan, had reflected on the participatory visual education project launched by Yunfest.
The project, which aims to train villagers with basic digital video (DV) camera skills, has witnessed surprisingly original works from the trainees after they go back to their own villages and star shooting on issues of their interest.
"Glacier" is a film in case. The brainchild of Tibetan trainee Zhaxi Nima, the film tells the story of holy mountain Kawagebo in northwest Yunnan's Deqin region, which has seen its glaciers melting over the years as a result of tourism and global warming.
Shot from the perspectives of pilgrims, travelers and local villagers, the film tries to present the argument that locals, who were blamed for the deteriorating state of their environment, have been practicing environmental protection in ages through their own gut instincts and a respect for the Nature.
In Yang's view, unlike mass media which has been disseminating information from urban areas to the rural region, small media such as DV is vital in getting the weak rural voices heard by the general public.
"Tibetan villagers' love for a natural environment as shown in the film is far ahead of western environmentalists, but the message was rarely picked up by the mass media," he added.
It is no wonder that the film became a favorite when during the Yunfest screening in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the major big cities in China. After it was shown in Tibetan villages, some villagers have gone even further by setting up their own NGO and website for research on their own culture and tradition, as well as organizing a Kawagebo culture festival.
"These direct, powerful, moving images could help urban people view the world in a different light, hence narrowing the gap of urban-rural understanding," said Yang. He believes that against the backdrop of massive social transformation in China, DV could play an important role in preserving and reviving folk cultures and tradition.
During the Festival, such modern arts stories are abound. A Thai artist has turned a common legend about Sheela from the Mekong region into a theater work to get young audiences relate to the modern reality of child labor and trafficking; Khanda Arts'n Theater Company combines street interviews and statistics on HIV/AIDS with its dance "For a Little Less Noise Mae Nam"; Myanmar and Lao artists endeavor to preserve their traditional puppet theater...
Even the 100 or so children and youth delegates attending a parallel forum have been motivated at the Festival. Gao Yijia, a 17 year-old senior high student from China's Yunnan, said: "It's such fun. We are playing games all the time. I'll try to take my new skills back home to my fellow students and share with them."
And for J'Mee Katanyag, a freshman at college in the Philippines, all the child-friendly workshops are a "release" for disadvantaged children. Although the Children and Youth Bloc at the Festival is no novelty for her, who has been an activist at the children's program under the Philippines Educational Theater Association, she still sees the changes on some of the delegates.
"It's not necessarily for them to be emotional, you don't see their tears or anger, but you just notice the changes," she added.
"We hope they (children and youths) would be a force for change when they get back to their own community," said Chen Shu, communications officer for the China office of Save the Children UK, another organizer of the five-day event.
Indeed, as more people are inspired as the Mekong Arts and Media Festival comes to an end on Friday, it's only a prelude for changes in the sub-region.
Editor: Xiong Tong
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