The Khmer Arts Ensemble fosters the vitality of Cambodian dance across borders and engages in the global conversation of arts and ideas through the development and presentation of compelling works of performance and through the training of world class artists. It is a nexus of arts and culture in a community that is endowed with wonderful traditions and that is looking for ways of using those traditions to improve its quality of life.

Problem

During the last quarter of the 20th century, Cambodia was devastated by war, terror, political upheaval, genocide, poverty and isolation. But Cambodian culture is heir to more enduring legacies, including exquisite forms of dance and music which have long served as a source of rebirth. As the country and its culture attempt to overcome past traumas and flourish in the 21st century, they have the opportunity to embrace their rich artistic heritage. Local artists and artisans, drawing on local knowledge and skills, can become the wellspring of innovation and growth. Compelling dance and music productions that explore challenging, yet universal, concerns, have the capacity to engage audiences the world over.

Solution

Throughout most of its 1,000+ year history, Cambodian classical dance has been supported by authority (temples, kings, governors, colonial rulers, government ministries…) and, in turn, has celebrated those authorities’ right to rule. Part of this dynamic was economic; only the very wealthy could support a fulltime company of dancers in a poor agricultural nation. Following the 1991 peace accords, which ended decades of isolation, Cambodia embraced laissez faire capitalism and the dance, which had no independent infrastructure or history of entrepreneurship, failed to adapt. As a result, many talented artists have left the field and many of those who remain live in poverty. The country’s official performing arts institutions have suffered from neglect. Compounding the problem is a lack of imagination and energy, which are critical to the success of any art form and which are putting classical dance in danger of becoming nothing more than a museum piece. In 2007, the Khmer Arts Ensemble was established as Cambodia’s first fulltime independent professional classical dance company in order to develop compelling dances that resonate within contemporary Cambodian society as well as in societies around the world and to offer young dancers and musicians sustainable careers. The Ensemble takes a socially conscious entrepreneurial approach to its work, building earned income as a means to insure sustainability, remaining artist–focused and by questioning convention through its practices and creative work.

Example

The Khmer Arts Ensemble is developing a new model for how the performing arts can thrive in Cambodia’s quickly and unevenly changing society. During the past five years, the Khmer Arts Ensemble has offered 42 artists (the majority of whom are women) advanced training in classical dance and music, including courses in dance history, ethnology, movement analysis and international artistic exchanges with professional artists from Bangkok to Philadelphia. The idea has been to turn traditional practitioners into well-rounded artists who are versed in the classical canon and capable of developing new and challenging works of art. The Ensemble has created six new major dances, re-staged more than a dozen traditional dances, and presented these works in Cambodia and on major stages around the world, including Amsterdam’s Muziektheater, New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New York’s Joyce Theater, Los Angeles’s Disney Concert Hall, Reunion Island’s (France) La Foire Internationale des Mascareignes and Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival. The project has helped grow the economy for related artisans—including costume and instrument makers—and theatrical technicians and other production staff. It has also provided training for arts administrators, researchers and archivists.

Marketplace

Cambodia is an impoverished nation with a per capita GDP of $783 (2010). Infrastructures are underdeveloped, there is a lack of access to education, subsistence living is the norm, and gender inequality is pervasive. According to Cambodia’s National Institute of Statistics, in Kandal Province, where the Khmer Arts Ensemble is based, only about 40% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 attend school, 65% of women are literate, and 19% of females are formally employed. For these women, options are few and narrowly focused on the garment industry and tourism. Classical dance is a primarily female tradition. Most graduates of Cambodia’s only performing arts conservatory apply for jobs as civil servants under the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. Average salaries for such jobs are between $25-50 per month, which are below the average wages of garment factory laborers ($50-60 per month). Even in a poor country like Cambodia, no one can survive on this income. Furthermore, such civil service positions offer little opportunity for growth and development. Though some sectors in Cambodia have seen rapid growth (telecommunications, banking, real estate development, industrial agriculture…), many others have suffered stagnation or decline. The arts played a critical role in the rebuilding of Cambodian culture during the decade following the collapse of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime. But the past decade has seen the sale of the National Theater, which was destroyed by fire, and the performing arts campus of the conservatory to developers. (The campus was moved to a remote area on the outskirts of the capital.) Public performances of classical dance are rare and often geared toward invited guests or tourists.