Cultural Canvas Thailand Newsletter

August  2014

Art Relief International Wants YOU to be our Pen Pal!


Imagine that your world is a blank canvas, how would you want to paint it?

 

As a friend of ARI you have been invited to participate in a global art project we are organising. In October 2014, ARI is holding an exhibition titled, "Imagine Your World," featuring the

artwork of participants throughout their workshops in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

 

These participants are part of various marginalized or stigmatized groups such as Burmese refugees and migrants, children and adults with disabilities, single mothers, Hill tribe children, incarcerated teens and mothers, among others. Art Relief International believes that all individuals have a human right to be creative and to express themselves, and to have their voice be heard. Our exhibition will give these individuals a place and an audience to have their voices be heard.

 

But we want to hear yours as well!

 

We are inviting you - or your organisation - to submit a postcard, illustrating the following concept: Artists have the power to express to the world their vision and their imagination through their art. You can do this in whatever two-dimensional art form you choose.

 

Art can bridge cultural differences and languages, and it can be used to promote positivity and peace

worldwide. Let us take a moment to use our innate creativity to say something from the heart.

Use art to share with us what it is that you imagine for our world, should you be given the

opportunity to create it from a blank canvas. You are the artist, you decide.

 

Specifications: Use one side of a 4 x 6 inch postcard to visually describe an idea for change that you envision for our world. Let your imagination and creativity run wild. On the back, please describe your idea in both your native language and in English. Include your name, age, and home city, and any additional information you would like. The postcards displayed at the exhibition will be hung in a manner for viewers to flip to the reverse side and read your description. Submitted artwork must remain flat to be considered for the exhibition. All received postcards will be featured. Submitted artwork is considered a donation and will not be returned to the artist, and Art Relief International

reserves the right to publish photos of all submitted postcards. We will always credit the artist

if they have included their information on the reverse side. Artists however may choose to remain

anonymous.

 

Deadline for acceptance: October 1st, 2014.

 

Please send postcards to:

 

Art Relief International

C/O Sarah Lovett

P.O. Box 118

Chiang Mai University,

Chiang Mai, Thailand 50202

 

Please note, ARI is able to provide blank postcards to organizations and groups upon request.

 

We can't wait to see your designs and read about your ideas... it will certainly make for a great addition to the exhibition!

 

 


Urban Light does Urban Dance... A Community Breakdance Workshop with B-Boy Boy

 

They say dance is the universal language, created and practiced throughout every civilization across the world throughout the centuries. Well then, what better way to engage marginalized young men than through the dance genre currently sweeping Hollywood and the world, from the streets of NYC in the 70's to the favelas of Brazil today - BREAKDANCE!

 

After the success of a workshop we ran with School For Life - a hill tribe school outside Chiang Mai - we knew we wanted to run a similar workshop with other groups that ARI work with, so when Gift (one of the workers at Urban Light and a talented contemporary dancer herself) found out about this and enthusiastically approached us, of course we jumped at the chance.

 

To recap, Urban Light is a support service for young male sex workers and young men at risk of trafficking. They are older than the kids at School For Life (generally between 16 and 24), they are private by nature and they are street savvy. The workshop would certainly need an injection of 'cool' if it was to be successful. Lucky for us, we had B-Boy Boy - a local professional breakdancer and teacher. Not only did he happily take the reins and teach the entire workshop, he did so with clarity, patience and a huge enthusiasm for the art form. And the boys responded.

 

We began with a warm up, and all thirty or so participants including workers, friends and the boys themselves got involved. We then moved in to learning specific but basic breakdance moves including top-rocking and the CC. The guys particularly enjoyed the part of the workshop where we worked on tricks such as holds and handstands... and some of them showed off some real talent, especially when it came to headstands. We even played around with a small routine.

 

The workshop finished with an all-in group battle, as we showed off our new moves and finally cheered on an inspiring demo by Boy. He really has the moves, and the tricks. I think the staff and volunteers got as much out of the workshop as the boys themselves, but there was a great sense of community and simple fun throughout the workshop, with much of the credit going to B-boy Boy for his great facilitation. I certainly haven't sweated that much for a long time, even in Thailand!

 

We really felt this workshop demonstrated the variety of work it does with its member organisations and the versatility of its volunteers and workers. It was also a great example of how ARI works with its local community, and having Boy there to run the workshop, for free no less, was an ingenious way of ensuring the guys from Urban Light would connect with the workshop. Grass roots arts practice works, and works well!

 

We certainly look forward to practicing some of these moves with other participants in the future.

 

 


The Day in the life of an ARI volunteer


It's ten am and we are off to school for Life, a home and school for 160 children from difficult backgrounds. Dan, our volunteer from Australia has prepared a breakdance and hip-hop dance routine. We are excited and for some of us un-coordinated folk, a little nervous. Usually, two volunteers head any given workshop and the rest serve as artistic assistants. Today, Dan and his partner in crime, our Irish volunteer Nash choreograph the workshop. We are also assisted by the lovely Pepo, our project Coordinator who translates and coordinates activities for us. Sarah, our art director was busy at the office but she often accompanies us and makes sure everything runs smoothly.  In a sheltered open area within the school, kids between the ages of thirteen and fifteen come to learn some dance moves. The workshop starts off with a little bit of dance history followed by a few video clips. Then, just to make things fun, we create braided arm bracelets for our two dance teams, yellow and red. There is going to be a dance off!!! But first, we need to figure out the routine! Everyone is up and eager to learn the steps. With Dan on the stage and everyone facing him, we start to warm up.  Left, right, arms up, arms down, the kids are following Dan to a tee. The moves get more and more complicated but still these kids are keeping up! Everybody is following and getting into the groove. The kids start clapping to the beat, the energy is palpable. It's the first workshop for our new arrivals, Americans Jill and Zara but they don't miss a beat, they are into it, elbows out and ready to dance! Once the group masters the moves, we separate into our red and yellow teams and prepare for the dance off. With lots of attitude, they show off their newly acquired skills. They are fierce!  Once the battle is won, we break into freestyle dance and discover some of these kids are already skilled little dancers with fresh new moves. When the dancing is done, we bid them adieu and head back to our office. Some volunteers prepare lesson plans for their next workshop, others blog about their latest project and when we all have a spare minute we assess our latest artistic outreach endeavours. Finally, we round out our day with our weekly in house activity. Art Relief International (ARI) has invited neighbourhood kids for the past four years to come create arts and crafts every Tuesday afternoon. Today, we are excited to see some of our regulars show up. Even though it is a rainy day, three kids find their way to us. Our Dutch/Kiwi volunteer Elle and Hannah, our Cypriot/ Brit lead us in the creation of jellyfish!!! Using cut up plastic grocery bags and crepe paper as tentacles, plastic bowls as jelly-heads, the young boys make awesome stinging jellies and get in touch with their artistic side. It is so much fun getting to know the kids that come every week. We see a lot of the same groups every week yet it's always new and exciting because we are always creating and discovering an incredible range of art with them, from breakdancing to jellyfish making! Well, it's already time to go home. That's a wrap for Tuesday!

 

  Yolanda Weeks, Canada

 

 



The mission of Cultural Canvas Thailand is to generate awareness and volunteer support for the current social issues facing Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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