KEO Sreypheak
is a painter who is passionate about the visual arts and performing arts. As a strong advocate for environmental protection and women’s empowerment, Sreypheak uses the arts as a mean to address and cope with social issues.
Project: Build a training course for women in the arts and sustainability.
Sreypheak works with specialized trainers to provide capacity building courses for an all-women music troupe in Siem Reap. The course focuses on team planning, development and creativity, and problem solving as a team leader. Her goal is to encourage the participation of women in the arts.
LEB Ke
was born in 1980 in Kampong Tralach district, Kampong Chhnang province. He is a founder of Cham Unicode fonts, Cham curriculum developer, a researcher of Austronesian linguistics and Cham culture in Cambodia. Currently, he is a master candidate at Royal University of Phnom Penh. He has done many publications such as: Cham Textbook, Cham Folktales and Cham Poem.
Project: Compilation of ancient Cham poems
Tampor and Kak Vang are Cham poems which could be treated as a rare to have any Cham in Cambodia could cite in these days. the fancy of Rhyme is in sleep in the hanging bag in the owner house due they are preserving them since their ancestor. The project would bring them back to make accessibility for Cham as well as poem lover and then there will be advantage to Cambodian culture.
SOY Chanborey
is currently a vice president of Lakhaon Khaol Youth of Cambodia and a civil servant at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, which he has served in since 2016. He graduated in 2015 from the Royal University of Fine Arts, majoring in Lakhaon Khoal. As a contemporary dancer, choreographer and Lakhaon Khaol artist, he has worked on a number of national and international projects. Presently, he is also a member of the SilverBell dance troupe and is involved in researching and documenting Cambodian classical dance (Lakhaon Khaol).
Project: Contemporary Dance: Blood on Water
Blood on Water [working-title]” is a new piece that tells the stories of the lives of Cambodian women, centering on their strengths and depicting the challenges that they have encountered and overcome. The piece will feature stories from women who work both in and outside the arts sector.
MAN Chantha
is a Kreung artist and troupe leader in her Kreung community in Ochum village, Ochum district, Rattanakiri province.
Project: Commemoration and Celebration of Kreung Communities Traditions will bring together 10 groups of Kreung communities in Ratanakkiri province to commemorate and celebrate their arts and culture by showcasing their traditions and new creations to the public as well as to open up a space for conversation among them. The 10 Kreung communities is from nine different villages.
MAO Sovandy
is a former staff member of the Department of Culture and Fine Arts in Kampong Thom Province. Now retired, he currently serves as an Assistant to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts based in Kompong Thom, a post he has held since 2020. Sovandy is passionate about supporting community arts clubs, and has helped forms 13 clubs across Kompong Thom Province. He has also won several awards from national literary and poem competitions.
Project: Establish a Dance Arts Club in Boeung Lvea Village in Kampong Thom Province
This community youth arts club aims to train the next generation of young people in Kampong Thom Province in Folk and Classical dance, and teach them the values of their arts and culture. The youth arts club is located in Boeung Lvea commune, which comprises 9 villages with 40 young people between the ages of 8 to 18. The club is strongly supported by the community for its long-term sustainability.
MECH Sereyrath
received her bachelor’s degree in media management from the Department of Media and Communications at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in 2018, where she developed her skills in photography and filmmaking. “I wish to document, through visual expression, untold stories and overlooked beauty in daily life, and to make meaning out of it, as the arts are there to free one’s soul. I do not see myself as just a Cambodian woman photographer, but as someone who holds responsibility for this generation and future generations.
Project: Small School, Big Heart
is a short documentary film project initiated by MECH Sereyrath, Choulay and Sokleng to raise awareness about social discrimination toward people with mental disability and physical challenges in Cambodia. This film also aims to showcase inclusivity in schools as a model for fighting against social discrimination toward those who are marginalized and vulnerable.