Viva Circus presents ART IS POWER Festival which offers young emerging artists in Malaysia an opportunity to take new arts workshops & create. With the goal to inspire, transform and empower local artists in Malaysia with new skills performance and media arts. For urban and indigenous youth in Malaysia. As part of this two week ART IS POWER Festival is Empowering The Environment, a cutting edge environment awareness program integrating video mapping and, electronic media. Using new media Empowering The Environment will reach a new audience and spotlight social action
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Kuala Lumpur
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
l We will work directly with a population of young emerging artists who have requested workshops and arts for empowerment programs to advance their skills to an international level. Internet is a powerful tool for us not only in organizing our festival but in exchanging new artistic styles through video links. A new generation of artists are using the internet as a powerful tool to empower youth in isolated regions. We want to work with these artists as they have inspired our previous festivals and have been part of our Street Arts for Street Kids programs in Asia. Video mapping, music editing, skill sharing, video documentaries are enhanced through the use of computers and the internet, and vital to our empowerment program. Target participants are urban youth and refugee communities.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Participants are all cutting edge emerging young artists and NGOs
working with marginalized and refugee youth
LOSTGENS ARTIST COLLECTIVE
http://lostgenerationspace.blogspot.com/search/label/art%20festival
PSYCUSIX- http://psycusix.blogspot.com/
Viva Circus- http://www.vivacircus.com/ & digital storytelling- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVWo9q_GCco
SUKA Society- http://www.sukasociety.org/?p=1006
Motiofix, video mapping/ projections- http://www.motiofixo.com/
PUBLIKA-Festival Location; https://www.facebook.com/PublikaGallery
Secret Hide Out; https://www.o.facebook.com/thesecrethideout
Digital Arts Festival- https://www.o.facebook.com/pages/DAC-Festival/148788791827180
Street Arts Collective- http://www.thestreetartblog.net/
ASCA- http://ascassociation.wordpress.com/
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
As part of ART IS POWER Festival is Empowering The Environment, a cutting edge environment awareness program integrating video mapping, animation, community outreach, workshops, installations and recycled art creations. With a spotlight on new media such as video clips, street art will be broadcast via video streaming
Empowering The Environment; A six month preparation period will allow a creative youth exchange with the indigenous communities supported by SUKA Society creating installations to change the environment and give focus to key issues such as deforestation. This six month creation period prior to our Art is Power Festival will be documented and presented as a documentary in our festival to share to the community how to take active part in making change in the community.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
Our team is skilled at organizing many events and competition and our last festival Collision Arts Asia was a huge success, so much so that the complex that offered us their building have offered us again. This complex is owned in part by the Government. With an open air stage, black box theater, white box exhibition space, video, sound, lights we already have the essential for our festival to work. This large complex is in the middle of a great number of high rises where we plan to use video mapping for our performances.
A number of grants have been applied for, some in collaboration with SUKA Society which assures that our outreach in the indigenous and refugee communities and successful. We have applied for funds from UN Small Grants Fund and will continue to seek support
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
l Within two weeks we estimate to join over 300-500 workshops participants and reach a public with performances and conferences of over 1,500. Currently we are seeking funding from Embassies and and local cultural departments to cover the expenses of the teachers and participants so the event will be free and open to the public. As may of our beneficiaries are coming from marginalized or indigenous communities there are a great number of grants available. This one of the important reasons for applying for this assistance with Rising Voice, so we can employ someone in charge of funding and sponsorship research. Produced by Viva Circus this festival has a maximum potential of outreach as Viva is a pioneer of acrobatics, new circus, new media in South East Asia.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
l Contemporary performance is challenged by highly technical advances that are very expensive to local artists in Asia. Large scale productions including inter-active video, mapping and light installations are extremely costly and not realistic to our young community. The training will focus on creative innovation combing physical or acrobatic movement with technologies such as inter-active mapping. Collision Arts is a fusion of all urban arts with the goal of communicating an idea or message, we will concentrate on technologies available in our community with our strength being artistic audacity. In many parts of Asia fusion is still a new idea and our festival seeks to open doors by having collaborations with teams unaccustomed to working together to bring about innovative results.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
Mission
MAP provides opportunities for arts and cultural producers from multidisciplinary backgrounds to develop their ideas while promoting compelling encounters to a broad audience.
General information
Facilities provided by MAP includes:
– White Box : 5,000 sq ft
– Black Box : 5,000 sq ft space- for 250 seating or 300 seating. The space is sealed from daylight and equipped with lighting and AV system.
– Art Row : 6 creative lots (500-600 sq ft) including outdoor terrace (300 sq ft)
Technical includes high speed internet, video projectors, everything for light and sound in all spaces
Calling itself the newest arts platform for Kuala Lumpur, it provides a space for artists from the region from multi-disciplinary backgrounds to share their cutting edge works with a wider audience.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
Over the last three years Viva Circus has been the forerunner in fusion and audacious new styles of performance and also social outreach with at-risk communities. Not only in Malaysia but all over Asia with school in both Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Organizing competitions, festivals and special events Viva Circus has a very close relationship with both young artists and dynamic NGOs working with refugee and indigenous communities. The community has a very close relationship via social media and look to Viva a source of new training, new ideas and open doors for new work.We are aiming that ART IS POWER Festival be an annual event to meet the demands of the community. Viva Circus is running Street Arts for Street Kids program in Vietnam, showing how arts can empower disadvantaged youth.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Major challenge at present is finding sponsorship and funding to cover costs of international teacher and living expenses. As the spaces for the workshops are secured, promotion can be covered easily through social media and our Viva Circus has great experience organizing workshops, funding for the teachers is major issue. This is why we are seeking support at this moment to have six month preparation period to seek sponsorship or funding for the teachers, so that our workshops will be the highest quality.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Achieving success is measured simply in the response of the participants, as with our street kids project, the happiness of the children is the best response. From my experience a high level teacher will stimulate and inspire the participants, and that is our goal. Art is Power and the best tools for advancement are exceptional teachers. The results of this event, as with our previous Collision Arts Asia has huge success in the digital community and photos and videos are seen worldwide, joining our local Malaysian artists with the global community
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
June-July 2014; Funding and Sponsorship Research, teacher selection and preliminary on-line media communication
August- September-October; Continue research into funding, begin environmental documentary in indigenous regions of Malaysia/ Environmental awareness with SUKA Society. Creation research for performances with mapping and social issues. Confirm workshop and performers participation- Promotion with social media
17-23 November: White Box for digital art/ mapping with UN environmental awareness/climate change themes
21-23 November: Outdoor Stage for multi shows and activities
24-30 November: White Box Video Mapping and live performance with UN environmental awareness/climate change art exhibition
24-30 November: Black Box for workshops, talks and screenings
28-30 November: Outdoor Stage for shows and activities
17-23 November: Black Box for workshops, talks and screening
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
l3 months costs for sponsorship and grant writer to get additional support for inviting guest workshop leaders; $1,000
Transport: $400
Creating on-line promotional blogs and communications; $300 Administration for workshops & Festival; $300
Total; $2,000
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Assisting us in promoting our festival, outreach programs and suggesting workshop leaders. Streaming our festival during the actual dates. Advising us of similar events in Asia so we may create an empowerment and street arts network for artists and marginalized youth.
Contact name
Jerry Snell
Organization
Viva Circus