In last week’s part of what the arts meant to 2007, I\nlooked at what the arts community offered in terms of nation building,\npromoting heritage and arts-culture exchange. In the second part of this\noverview, I’d like to highlight arts outreach, arts for health, how options for\narts training as well as funding improved, and how the arts strengthened its\nbond with human rights, and the legal community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeking\ndemocracy through arts outreach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I may be one of those fortunate Malaysians who have\nbeen able to train in the arts in a mainly formal way but my journalism\nbackground has built my appreciation for the effectiveness of arts outreach\nprogrammes in teaching others about the arts and building audiences for a\nbigger arts scene. Arts outreach complements the nurturing of a democratic\nsociety in which as many people as possible are given the right to participate\nin decision-making processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of democratising the arts, nothing in the\nperforming arts quite matched Five Arts Centre’s “Bunga Manggar Bunga\nRaya”, which was one of the end results of Marion D’Cruz’s\n“Choreography for Non-Choreographers” six-week workshop held in\nmid-2006 (a part of the “Krishen Jit Experimental Workshop Series\n2006”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many people — within as well as outside the\narts community — who believe that there are good reasons why one is expected\nto complete formal dance training and accrue performance exposure before\ndescribing oneself as a dancer or choreographer, and that the same would go for\nany art form. While this approach goes towards creating and maintaining\nstandards (especially where audiences have paid good money to see a show),\nthere seems to be a need for complementary approaches like Marion’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ours is a nation facing teething problems of an evolving identity and thus how art –\u00ad as society’s mirror — relates to us. While the arts have come up with some strong works that would be able to resonate beyond the small (and partly elitist) arts circle, there is a huge need to let Joe Public know that the arts are — more than anything else — another powerful outlet for his voice. The more we bring arts to the man on the street, the more new audiences we will attract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the arts are a part of human expression and with\nthis basic constitutional right already facing worrying clampdowns (ahead of\nthe country’s general elections), artists need to encourage — not discourage\n— Joe Public to get inside the soapbox alongside them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marion’s efforts to honour the everyday with space on\nthe Malaysian dance stage seemed to symbolise one of the many ways in which the\narts can lead by example when calling for the government to have a greater\nrespect for public feedback, and for a stronger civil society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the visual arts, a gallery event that grabbed\nattention was The Annexe’s “Art for Grabs” (3rd<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup>\nNovember), a weekend exhibition where all kinds of artworks were going for\nunder RM100 a piece. In case you were wondering, the RM100 price tag ranges far\nbelow artwork prices in other private galleries like Valentine Willie Fine Art\nwhich has been hosting a similar (though, I must stress, not the same) annual\nexhibition, “Art around RM1000” (17th<\/sup> to 24th<\/sup>\nSeptember) since 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As The Annexe programme director Pang Kee Teik told\nart collector-businessman Andrew Hwang in the article “Size Does\nMatter” (31st<\/sup> December): “From the response, we hope to\nmake this a quarterly event in 2008. The public loved the event as it was\nextremely accessible and no one felt out of place.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of bigger-budget outreach efforts, Galeri\nPetronas impressed with its fortnightly public programmes that began from 3rd<\/sup>\nFebruary until 1st<\/sup> December. Whether it was a workshop on\n“Abstract Art – Made Easy” or a daytime excursion to the Parliament\nHouse for an outdoor painting session for kids aged eight to 12, these\nimaginative programmes set the standard on outreach activities for other\ngovernment\u00ad funded galleries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No gallery affair, however, came close to “Let\nArts Move You” (LAMU) — a creative and relatively well-organised public\narts project by an 11-member regional team headed by Rumah Air Panas. Held from\n27th<\/sup> October to 4th<\/sup> November at KL Sentral, KTM Komuter\ntrain platforms and inside trains along the KTM Komuter lines, the LAMU team\nbrought visual, performing, film and literary artworks to thousands of folk who\nuse this mode of public transport to get about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were several scheduling and logistical hiccups\nalong the way but these didn’t take away from the significance of this much\nneeded arts outreach project. The success of such a pioneering event also\nshowed the potential for similar events as well as the benefits of (even\nGLC-type) corporate support. Kakiseni, by the way, volunteered to be LAMU’s\nofficial media sponsor and yours truly excitedly documented much of the\ngoings-on on our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arts training<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a continuation of its aim to develop a strong\nsupport network and platform for Malaysian playwrights, the Instant Caf\u00e9\nTheatre pushed forward with its Firstworks playwriting programme. Having started\nin the first quarter of 2006, Firstworks began to really take off by mid-2007\nwith readings at The Annexe of three plays; “Melaka \u201807”, “Tahun\nMelawat Malaysia” and “Revenge” by Animah Kosai, Ridzwan Othman\nand Shanon Shah, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of these works-in-progress, Shanon’s work — a story\nof identity power struggles within a typical Malaysian boys’ school — grew\ninto a more complete play subsequently titled “Air Con” and performed\nin a full reading at The Annexe on 18th<\/sup> December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Actors Studio did their bit with their talent\ngrooming Malaysian Playwright Series. This year’s “produce” — which\nkicked off their 2007 programme — was “Ah Steve” (22nd<\/sup>\nFebruary to 11th<\/sup> March) by Mark Beau de Silva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Music-wise, the local western classical fan base and music education scene watched with interest as those members of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) blessed also with gift for teaching presented their young charges in the inaugural concert of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO). Formed in September 2006, the MPYO comprises 108 musicians selected from over 500 auditionees. Fed by an enthusiastic principal conductor Kevin Field — admired here for his efforts to promote new music and orchestral team-ups with the local music community, the MPYO played a near full house on 25th<\/sup> and 26th<\/sup> August. A national tour of Ipoh, Penang, KL, Kuantan and Johor Bahru followed between 2nd<\/sup> and 15th<\/sup> December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Awards and\nfunding for artists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Talk about funding and recognition in the arts to\nyounger Malaysian artists today and the topic of scholarships are sure to come\nup. Of these relatively few existing awards, The Datin Seri Endon Mahmood\nAwards (The Endon), which are part of The Astro Scholarship Awards, are opening\ndoors for youngsters who show promise in the arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Providing financial support of up to RM150,000 for\nundergraduate degree programmes in local and overseas universities, and\npostgraduate degree programmes in local universities, The Endon awards make up\ntwo of a total of 15 Astro scholarship awards given out each year. Since The\nEndon was introduced in 2005, its four recipients have gone on to study in the\nfields of classical studies, carnatic music, English and literature, and dance\nand journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newest arts scholarship bearing the name of the\nlate arts patron and wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is\nthe Datin Paduka Seri Endon Award for outstanding artists under the age of 35.\nSponsored by YTL Corporation and managed by KLPac, the inaugural award of RM50,000\nwas given, on 8th<\/sup> September, to former Aswara (ASK) dance student\nand award-winning choreographer A. Aris Kadir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tabla player Prakash Kandasamy (of the Temple of Fine\nArts) and classical singer Tan Soo Suan (who’s performed widely with Dama\nOrchestra) made it to the shortlist of this award that is bound to give our\nyoung artists a major boost in their training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aiming to provide in a similar capacity are the\nKrishen Jit Astro Fund grants which were introduced in April 2006 — a year\nafter the great man’s death — to help fund arts initiatives with grants of\nbetween RM5,000 to RM20,000. Last year was thus the first time we saw the\nfruits of this fund ripen, most memorably in the form of installation artist\nSharon Chin’s exhibition “Banned Books and Other Monsters” (The\nAnnexe, 27th<\/sup> September to 7th<\/sup> October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Film artist Au Sow Yee and arts academician Dr Ray\nLangenbach were the other two who gained from this award in 2006 while in\nNovember 2007, the fund’s grantees included filmmaker Amir Muhammad, composers\nHardesh Singh and C.H. Loh, visual artist Lim Kok Yoong and theatre artist Nam\nRon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage got into\nthe act of rewarding young talent as well by giving out the Arts Award (Young\nArtist – Performance) to Zamzuriah Zahari, a new drama graduate from Universiti\nMalaya and a young expert on the “Tari Inai”, a ancient Kelantanese\ncourt dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of these, one is inclined to view as outstanding\nDiGi’s (DiGi Telecommunications Berhad) continuing use of its corporate social\nresponsibility (CSR) to better the arts. After starting out with the Yellow\nMobile Culture Caravan, DiGi began the “Amazing Malaysians” project\nin 2005 which identified — through open nominations — five people already\ninvolved in aspects of conservation for natural, cultural, art, built and\nsocial heritage. Then, in the words of Kakiseni contributor Lainie Yeoh, who\nreported on the 06\/07 project, “DiGi comes along and connects these\nAmazing Malaysians with teams of eager schoolchildren and pumps in the budget,\npromotions and manpower necessary”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having funded work of people like Janet Pillai who\ndigs up Penang’s history with school kids, Eddin Khoo who documents Kelantanese\nperforming arts and Rashid Esa who revives Mah Meri woodcarving, the\n“Amazing Malaysians” project won Digi the Government’s (through\nKekkwa) first ever award for a heritage-friendly CSR initiative, the Anugerah\nPendukung Seni (Sektor Korporat) 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In privately-run arts spaces, corporate sponsorship\nwas at a high, riding on a continuing increase of arts funding and the public\nprofile that comes with this. KLPac led privately-owned theatre organisations\nwith a total of 13 sponsors who pledged their support from 2005, when KLPac\nopened and started receiving sponsorship on a three-year basis. These sponsors\nare HSBC Bank Malaysia, Barclays Capital, CIMB Group, DaimlerChrysler, Star\nPublications, Sunway Group, American Express, ECM Libra Foundation, Ericsson,\nThe MUI Group, Siemens, ASTRO, JW Marriott and Leo Burnett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A highlight of such sponsorship for the new performing arts centre was how HSBC, in taking a step further, pumped in the moolah for the annual HSBC Classics series –\u00ad a programme that includes a competition, masterclasses, performances, exhibitions with a three-year rotating focus on piano, winds and strings. A RM20,000 bursary award is going to be introduced in 2008, according to KLPac. Wonderful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The year also saw leading private commercial gallery\nValentine Willie Fine Art attracting a new sponsor, the Persatuan Nasional\nPenjanakuasa Bebas Malaysia (Association of Independent Power Producers of Malaysia)\nor Penjanabebas. With Penjanabebas’ generous support amounting to just over\nRM300,000, the gallery was able to organise two significant exhibitions,\n“Selamat Datang ke Malaysia” and “Between Generations”,\nthat were each shown at two different venues, and, thereby, to two different\ncontexts of viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Selamat Datang”, as earlier mentioned, was\nshown in Sydney and KL. “Between Generations” — which collated works\nby 25 Malaysian artists from the collections of Universiti Malaya (UM),\nUniversiti Sains Malaya (USM), and the corporate and private stashes — came to\nlight in UM (August) and USM (3rd<\/sup> to 31st<\/sup> Dec).<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the former exhibition showed contemporary\nviewpoints of the country both here and in “a Malaysian satellite\ntown” (i.e. Sydney), the latter presented arts academia — where the bulk\nof arts training is offered these days — a much needed curatorial, historical\nand educational perspective in making sense of local visual art spanning\ngenerations. Talk about how a little can go a long way and how the arts\ncommunity — so used to operating on the minimum — is a worthy cause for\ncompanies trying to outdo themselves in CSR!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arts for\nhealth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Converted long ago to the cause of “arts for\nhealth”, I did my usual of keeping an eye out for such initiatives and\n2007 had a few significant ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arts for health initiatives are not new to Malaysian\narts; ancient examples still used today are the Mag-Igal (dancing) of a\nMagduwata, a healing ritual ceremony of the Bajau Kubang people in Semporna,\nSabah. What’s new is the awareness among the country’s modern communities of\nthe therapeutic power of the arts. Still, it’s good to see the whole concept\ngaining ground in various areas of health practice and charity. The fourth\nedition of real life stories for the stage, “Life Sdn Bhd” (11th<\/sup>\n– 11th<\/sup> October, TAS BSC) took up the cause of breast cancer\nawareness and fundraising with survivors sharing their experiences on the\nboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former TV3 newscaster and disabled person Ras Adiba\nRadzi took to stage in “Merdeka di Mataku” (21st<\/sup> to 23rd<\/sup>\nNovember, KLPac), a combination of poetry, music and dance that allowed her to\nremind Malaysians that disability need not rob a person of their dignity and\nindependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dance teacher Teresa Chian, who stepped out on her own\nto open Living Arts Dance Studio in late 2006, managed to pull off her centre’s\nsecond charity concert under a campaign she calls “PATCH — Passion Aiding\nthe Children”. The November 2007 Patch concert was, in fact, not just\nabout one dance school doing their bit for a health charity but was a\ncollaboration between several other schools including The Music Professionals\nAcademy of Performing Arts and Celestar Studio of Performing Arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concert raised RM7,400 to pay for a whole year’s\nexpenses for Patrick Ding, 2, and Thanesvaran, 7, from Taman Megah’s\nHandicapped and Disabled Children’s Home. Both boys suffer from cerebral palsy\nand related complications, and come from low-income families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the increase in corporate sponsorship of the arts,\nart events also secured more links to health charities and awareness campaigns.\nOne example of this was VWFA’s “Between Generations” where a portion\nof profits from the sale of artworks exhibited were channelled towards\nCancerlink, a charity funded by one of the exhibition’s main sponsors,\nPenjanabebas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The arts,\nthe law and human rights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Old bedfellows that they are, the arts and legal\ncommunities joined hands in calling for more awareness and respect for human\nrights as well as improvements in the judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the notable events were “A Playwrights\nExchange – Malaysia, Indonesia and Iran: Women, Writers and Activists” (18th<\/sup>\nto 21st<\/sup> October, Annexe). Organised by ICT’s Firstworks, Kualiworks\nand Sisters in Islam, this very rare playwrights exchange took place at a time\npersonal liberties were being threatened, and, as a consequence, becoming the\ntalk of the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Featuring playwrights like Indonesia’ Ratna Sarumpaet\n— who was jailed for promoting workers’ and women’s rights in her play\n“Marsinah Menggugat” (“Marsinah Accuses”), the exchange\nbrought together local playwrights (who are to theatre what composers are to\nmusic) and social workers. Not only did participants speak about how local\ntheatre has been stifled through a culture of censorship but they also asked frank\nquestions about how far arts people were able and willing to work with the\nlegal community in fighting for a repairing of eroded civil liberties here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Annexe arts centre later played host to Amnesty\nInternational Malaysia’s 24 Hour Global Letter Writing Marathon (15th<\/sup>\nto 16th<\/sup> December), allowing the NGO another platform to get more\npeople to pressure world governments into respecting human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the shocker of an event — one that threw the arts\nup roughly against the wall together with legal eagles — was the Bar Council’s\nFestival of Rights 2007, “As I Believe: Freedom of Expression through Art,\nMusic, Culture and Conscience”. Barely had it started at the Bar Council’s\npremises on 9th<\/sup> December — an otherwise sunny Sunday — when Dewan\nBandaraya Kuala Lumpur enforcement officers removed the event’s posters (within\nthe Bar Council’s grounds) and, whilst doing so, arrested the festival’s\nchairman Edmund Bon for obstructing their actions. Artists like Jo Kukathas who\nwere performing inside the building, unawares to the goings-on outside, later\ncame out to find something of a battalion of enforcement officers and vehicles\nsurrounding the place as if a bunch of dangerous criminals would leap out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arts people who are used to the arts and the legal\ncommunity being bandied about in the run-up to the country’s general elections\nare bracing themselves for more occasions this election year when they will be\ncalled upon to remind the authorities to respect constitutional rights. There\nwill also be those in the arts community — some very successful artists and\ngroups, at that — who will continue to see no relation between their artistic\nwork, their patrons and how the country is run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But luckily for these people as well as for ourselves, we in the arts know that an essential part of being an artist means recognising and encouraging a variety of views. After all, it has and always will be about challenging the status quo, never quite allowing ourselves to settle inside a comfort zone aesthetically and otherwise, and touching the lives of others through our innate ability for imagery, poetry, song, dance, and drama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ~~~ <\/p>\n\n\n\n First Published: 18.01.2008 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In last week’s part of what the arts meant to 2007, I looked at what the arts community offered in terms of nation building, promoting heritage and arts-culture exchange. 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