The people behind Bangsokol
Creative Team
The people on stage
Performers
Commissioner
Cambodian Living Arts
For almost 20 years, Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) has worked tirelessly to regrow Cambodia’s arts sector and provide opportunities for artists to write the story of the country’s future. Founded in 1998 by genocide survivor, musician, and peace advocate Arn CHORN-POND, they initially focused on the preservation of endangered performing art forms and rituals. After the Khmer Rouge regime, 90% of Cambodia’s artists did not survive and arts that had been transmitted between generations were in danger of being lost forever.
Over the past two decades, the work of CLA has changed in line with the development of Cambodia and the rapidly re-emerging arts sector. Noting the need to nurture talent and equip emerging artists and young leaders with the skills and opportunities they need to start sustainable careers in the arts, they offer scholarships, fellowships, and other training opportunities; provide employment opportunities through regular performances and festivals, and create opportunities for international exchanges, research, and networking.
Looking forward, CLA will focus more on stimulating creativity and innovation in the arts sector. They will continue to build links between the arts sector in Cambodia and those of neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and further afield. They are also seeking to better integrate arts and culture into the Cambodian public school curriculum while also increasing performance opportunities for Cambodian artists.
Producer
THE OFFICE performing arts + film
THE OFFICE performing arts + film is an independent curator and production company based in New York and London. we work in ongoing partnerships with festivals, venues, and institutions to create cultural programming that is unique and mission specific, with a particular emphasis on serving communities. Across all of our projects, we aspire to create new cultural platforms that resonate with audiences of all shapes and sizes. THE OFFICE is the Curator of Performing Arts and Film at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, programs the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, New York’s longest running free outdoor performing arts festival, and created and programs the CenterSeries at the Williams College ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance. The past year has brought many wonderful and diverse highlights. In our continuing work with South African artist William KENTRIDGE, we had the pleasure of producing his expansive project Triumphs and Laments: A Project for Rome, which revitalized the banks of the Tiber River with a semi-permanent 500-meter frieze. We are also in the midst of producing Carrie Mae WEEMS’ powerful new piece Grace Notes, which examines themes of race and identity in our current political moment.
And on the other side of the globe, we are producing Rithy PANH and HIM Sophy’s Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, a project that reflects on the Khmer Rouge regime and its aftermath through film, music, and choreography. These multi-faceted undertakings are united by their commitment to the close link between art-making, community building, and social justice.