AirAsia Foundation supports Cambodian Living Arts
AirAsia Foundation and Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) signed a grant agreement on October 5th, 2012.
This year, AirAsia Foundation will be involved in CLA’s whole process of creating a sustainable environment where Cambodian arts can empower individuals and communities. As part of a year-long collaboration with CLA, AirAsia Foundation will fully fund the running costs of classes in Classical and Folk Dance and Yike Opera, including partial funding for classes in classical music ensembles and chanting. AirAsia Foundation will also fund skills development of CLA’s emerging Large Shadow Puppetry troupe in Siem Reap. The group will receive training from a Master of the art form, musical instruction and repair of damaged puppets.
To ensure continuous funding beyond the project period, AirAsia Foundation provided seed funding to launch Plae Pakaa (Fruitful), CLA’s new season of traditional arts shows, which will debut on November 1, 2012, at the National Museum of Phnom Penh.
This season will showcase three shows by artists who emerged from CLA’s classes: a Classical and Folk Dance show by the Children of Bassac, a Yike Opera story and Passage of Life, a theatrical play depicting traditional Cambodian ceremonies and using classical music ensembles and chanting. Proceeds from performances will fund future CLA classes.
Plae Pakaa also covers a wider initiative for CLA to begin collecting data on salaries and benefits of Cambodian arts professionals so as to better value their skills and talents and support development of the arts and culture sector as a whole, institutionalizing best practices and sustainable models across the industry.
“AirAsia Foundation’s vision is not to provide one-off charity but to support projects which aim for long-term sustainability. Through Plae Pakaa, we are applying social enterprise principles to ensure that arts and heritage projects have a chance of surviving into the future. We believe this has the potential of changing the way we look at arts and heritage conservation not only in Cambodia but also ASEAN” said Yap Mun Ching, Head of AirAsia Foundation.
Established in March 2012, AirAsia Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the AirAsia Group entrusted to share the company’s ethos of entrepreneurship, equal opportunity and innovation throughout ASEAN. The Foundation is mandated to support social enterprises as a way of empowering underprivileged individuals, as well as projects that seek to preserve and revive the region’s unique cultural heritage.
