English for Artists is a three-month pilot program designed to build the capacity of Cambodia’s young artists and cultural workers by developing their technical vocabulary, cultural context, and confidence necessary to thrive on the global stage. Participants gain practical, real-world skills through project-based learning, developing their abilities to read, write, and speak in the English language by writing artist statements, reading analytical essays, translating interviews, researching grants, and giving oral presentations.

English for Artists aims to:

• Nurture the next generation of Khmer artists and cultural leaders, giving them the language proficiency to effectively determine their own futures and to represent themselves on domestic and international stages.

• Develop arts administrators equipped with the skills and readiness to advance the work of their respective organizations, thereby contributing to a strongly networked, collaborative, and vibrant arts community.

• Build an efficacious model for language instruction and personal development that is life-changing and scalable.

The pilot will culminate in a special exhibition on August 25, 2018, where participants will present their work and a ten-minute artist talk before their peers and other members of the community. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected from participants afterwards, to assess the success of the program and future needs.

The project is a collaboration between Sa Sa Art Projects, Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, and Dambul. Classes occur once per week and are led by Prumsodun Ok and Vuth Lyno.

INSTRUCTOR BIOS 

Prumsodun Ok is an artist, teacher, and writer committed to the positive transformation of our world. Ok’s interdisciplinary performances contemplate the “avant-garde in antiquity,” and have been presented across three continents. Beloved, his latest project, was described by The Bangkok Post as “Radical Beauty.” Ok’s forthcoming book The Serpent’s Tail was lauded by Dr. Saori Hagai (Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto) as an “in-depth account of the historical diversity, contemporary dynamism, and future image of [Khmer classical dance] . . . a colorful and vivid interpretation of the value of dance to contemporary Cambodian society and its contributions to humanity.”

Ok is the recipient of grants and fellowships from TED, MAP Fund, and Surdna Foundation, and has been a guest speaker and choreographer at California Institute of the Arts, UCLA, and Santa Monica College. He was also associate artistic director of Khmer Arts, a member of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts’s Board of Directors, and an artist in residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. Ok is the founding artistic director of Prumsodun Ok and NATYARASA, Cambodia’s first gay dance company. His celebrated TED Talk has been translated into more than fifteen languages, and viewed more than 2.5 million times across various platforms.

Vuth Lyno is an artist, curator and co-founding Artistic Director of Sa Sa Art Projects—an artist-run space dedicated to experimental and critical art practices. One of the missions of Sa Sa Art Projects is to facilitate and support new generations of artists. Lyno also teaches art history at Pannasastra University of Cambodia. His artistic and curatorial practice is primarily participatory in nature, exploring collective learning and experimentation, and sharing of multiple voices through exchanges. His interest intersects micro histories, histories of photography, notions of community, and production of social situations. A Fulbright alumnus, Vuth holds a Master of Art History from the State University of New York, Binghamton (2013-15) and a Master of Social Science in International Development, RMIT University, Melbourne (2008-2009).

Lyno is a co-founder and co-organiser (with Roger Nelson) of Art History Forum, a platform to discuss and share Cambodian and other art histories. Lyno’s writing has been published in journals including Udaya: Journal of Khmer Studies and Trans Asia Photography Review, at which he is also an editorial board member. Lyno has exhibited his works as well as given talks and guest lectures internationally. His most recent exhibitions include Asia Pacific Triennial (2018), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Biennale of Sydney (2018) with Sa Sa Art Projects, the Art Gallery of New South Wales; and Public Spirits (2016-17), Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw. His recent curatorial projects include When the River Reverses (2017), Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh; Oscillation (2016), the Art Center of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok; and Traversing Expanses (2014), SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh.