|
|
|
Newsletter, February 2013
|
|
TAEC had a wonderful 2012, celebrating our five-year anniversary, publishing our first book, and showcasing our village artisans in America for the first time. However, we’re just as excited for 2013, with the launch of a program for community researchers, a panel organized at the Lao Studies Conference in April, and a new exhibit on the Katu ethnic group opening in September.
To learn more about our successful GlobalGiving fundraising campaign, a new project promoting women photographers with PhotoForward, and this year’s participation in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market and Lifestyle Vietnam, read ahead!
|
We are excited about a new project to empower minority women to share their stories through photography, interviews, and video. In November, TAEC finished the first phase of the project with our partner, PhotoForward. The participants, primarily young Hmong women from the night market, were given cameras, taught basic photography skills, and then asked to document women at work in their communities. The results were insightful and showed the strength of women in Lao society. We celebrated the women’s creativity and hard work by exhibiting their photographs and embroidery at Children’s Cultural Centre. To view their images, visit the online gallery.
 |
|
 |
|
The exhibition at Children's Cultural Centre. Visitors could leave comments on sticky notes for the photographers. |
|
Allison, the project developer, together with TAEC staff assistants and participants. |
We are now in the second phase of this project, working with a smaller group of women to further develop their photography skills and introduce them to basic research techniques. The women have been exploring topics of their choosing, from shamanism and polygamy, to single parenthood and festival food preparation. This project is a part of TAEC’s ethnic youth internship program, developing ethnic community researchers to document their own cultures.
 |
|
 |
|
Allison and Khasong, a local Hmong photographer, giving feedback to a participant on her work. |
|
The participants during a workshop session. |
To raise funds to continue the project, postcards featuring the women’s photography will be available for purchase in our TAEC Shop in March. We hope to expand this project into more remote areas of Laos and to develop a completely community-curated exhibition partnering with our community researchers.
|
Women's Day Activities - March 8th
We want to celebrate women, don’t you? For Women’s Day next month, TAEC will launch a special exhibition featuring the photography, embroidery, and interviews from the Stitching our Stories project in our café. The exhibit will be up for three months, so please come by to see it. Also, we will have a special Women’s Day Sale in our shop for the entire week of 5 – 10 March. If you’re far away, you can still be a contributor through our Facebook Exhibition! Take your own photographs and conduct interviews with women who have passed along valuable traditions to you or others in your community. Stories and photos will be compiled into a special Women’s Day Facebook exhibition. Please submit stories and photos to information@taeclaos.org by 6 March 2013. |
This April, TAEC is looking forward to presenting at the Lao Studies Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. TAEC Co-Director Tara co-organized a panel to address culture and change among Laos’ ethnic groups, with Lao, Australian, and Japanese scholars. The session will be chaired by Dr. Linda McIntosh, a Southeast Asian textile specialist and advisor to TAEC.
Knowledge-sharing encourages new approaches and partnerships for our work. We’re excited about contributing TAEC’s experience for the first time at this triennial event. As with each conference TAEC attends, our participation is only possible through sponsorship. We are fortunate to have raised over half the funds needed for travel and accommodation. However, we still have US$1,080 to go -- please consider supporting Lao scholarship! If interested, please contact information@taeclaos.org or go to TAEC's online donation page.
|
Thanks to your generous support, TAEC raised over $6,000 as a part of the GlobalGiving Winter Challenge. Fifty-nine individuals gave financially and many others helped spread word of our campaign through Facebook, Twitter, and word-of-mouth. There was a yoga benefit, a donor who pledged monthly, and an angel donor who gave us $1,200 for handicrafts work. As our first year-end fundraising campaign, it was rewarding to see how many people like you around the world believe in our heritage and livelihoods work in Laos. Keep reading our newsletters, our Facebook page, and our website for updates on how we’ve put your money to work! Also, remember you can contribute or refer friends to our GlobalGiving site at any time.
We would like to especially thank the following individuals:
Kathleen Adams
Kristi Adams
Michael Adams
Alicia Akins
Kara Akins
Alexander Almoian
Josianne Bertrand
Fandi Chang
Kwee Lan Chang
Grace Chung
Mary Connors
Julia Conover
Donna Dingle
Lauren Ellis
Angela Feverabend
Rita Gujadhur
Vishal Gujadhur
Chieko Hisamune
David Hobbs
Roy Hodgkinson
Tracy Hudson
Wessel Huisjes
Channapha Khamvongsa
Gabriel Kuperman
Justin Lancy |
|
Christopher Leung
Luang Prabang Yoga
Lee Man
Linda McIntosh
John McSweeny
Bo Morton
Lourdes Munoz
Marilyn Murphy
Jan Niemann
Katie O'Neill
Mary Ong
Kheng Lee Ooi
Martin Perschler
Alix Redden
Clee Rhodus
Kenneth Schepers
Judith Schneider
Jenny Spancake
Judith Smith
Carley Stenson
Aileen Teo
Hoo Li Teo
Wee Siong Teo
Lace Thornberg
Winnie Tseng
Vicky Wong
|
|
The Year of the Handicraft
For the second year in a row, TAEC will participate in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market! Khoun will be in Santa Fe with boxes full of traditional ethnic crafts from 12 – 14 July 2013. This is the largest market of its kind, featuring crafts and artisans from around the world. If you are interested in hosting a TAEC trunk show after the festival, please email information@taeclaos.org.
Also, from 18 to 21 April, TAEC will be exhibiting in the Lifestyle Vietnam 2013 Trade Show in Ho Chi Minh City. If you’re interested in wholesale home décor, this fair features 500 exhibitors, and TAEC will be featuring some special homeware. Later this year TAEC will also be releasing a wholesale handicrafts catalogue and revamping our online shop. We will keep you updated!
Handicrafts are an important part of our livelihoods and advocacy programme, currently supporting over 600 artisans (primarily women) with livelihoods based on traditional skills.
|
Our cultural events complement our exhibitions by offering visitors the chance to deepen their learning and gain hands-on experience with handicrafts and traditions. In 2012 we began a series of cultural events that we will expand in 2013. Announcements of these events are posted on our Facebook page and by e-mail.
In mid-November, we screened a short TAEC-produced film about Hmong New Year. There was also a chance for visitors to play traditional courtship games and to try their hand at the mouth harp and making music using a leaf!
Prof. William Klausner joined us in late November to give an engaging and insightful seminar about cultural changes he’s seen in the Isaan region of Thailand and in Laos over the past 50 years.
In December, TAEC screened the documentary, “Between Memory and Myth—a Three-Day Mien Wedding,” by filmmaker, Victoria Vorreiter, who narrated the stories behind the images. Please visit her website for more about her rich project. |
|
Lue, one of our Hmong staff, teaching a guest how to play the leaf after the Hmong New Year short film screening.
A group gathered for Prof. William Klausner's talk and question-and-answer session on cultural change in Isaan. |
|
During our yearly planning meeting, TAEC adopted a new mission. This new mission more closely reflects our current work and goal of empowering community-led heritage efforts and developing our advocacy work. The projects we will pursue over the next year—school outreach, community researchers, a temporary exhibit, and our shop—reflect these priorities. We look forward, in the coming months, to sharing the results of this work!
New mission
Old mission
To facilitate pride and investment in Laos' ethnic diversity and cultural resources by helping visitors and locals to understand and value the changing lifestyles of Laos' many ethnic groups, and providing an outlet for the development and selling of their handicrafts..
|
2012 was a great year for TAEC. In addition to celebrating our fifth anniversary, we:
-
Facilitated $83,237 of direct earnings for rural handicrafts producers through our Museum Shop
-
Published 2 books: “Cultural Diversity in Laos: Stories from the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre” and “My TAEC Museum Book”, a bilingual children’s activity book
-
Visited 9 schools, and reached 461 students through our outreach program, helping kids celebrate diversity
-
Introduced 19,680 international and Lao visitors to the diverse ethnic groups of Laos
-
Presented at conferences in Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand raising awareness of Lao heritage issues
-
Sent one of our handicrafts producers, Famchoy Saely, to Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
 |
|
 |
|
Students learning about Laos' cultural diversity through our outreach program. |
|
Collections Manager, Ton (center),showing off his skills making a carrier for a hat at a workshop about conservation methods. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
