REPORT ON

CAMBODIAN PUPPETRY WORKING GROUP ROUNDTABLE

Siem Reap, 22 & 23 November 2016

Organized and Reported by

Funded by

Cambodian Puppetry Working Group Roundtable

The roundtable was held on 22 & 23 November 2016 at Cambodian Living Arts Center, located

in Wat Bo’s campus, Siem Reap. This 2-day session consisted of 28 people representing 19

arts organizations/troupes who work both in the puppet and non-puppet form.

The objectives of the roundtable are:

To get the participants to know each other better (individually and as the troupe)

To form the platform to respond to all the concerns around the Cambodian

puppetry arts forms

To strengthen and develop Cambodian puppetry arts forms in Cambodia

Before the day of the roundtable, Cambodian Living Arts who is the initiative and moderator

gauged the consensus regarding the major concern around Cambodian puppetry by posing three

main questions to all participants. The 3 main questions are:

What are the three top challenges (excluding money) you could see Cambodian puppetry arts forms have been facing?

What are the challenges you have experiences within your work in your puppet theater?

What are resources and strengths you and your troupe can offer to build Cambodian puppetry arts forms?

According to the answers to the three questions above collected from the participants, there were three main themes identified. They are:

Theme 1: Audience development and engagement Theme 2: Creativity Theme 3: Professionalism in Cambodian puppetry sector

At the beginning session of the roundtable, all participants were asked to introduce their names, their institutions and their work via various activities.

After getting to know each other better, all participants were arranged to visit Sbaek Thom Ty Chean Troupe which is the oldest large shadow puppet troupe in Cambodia.

With the three identified themes, the roundtable run on that basis by having the participants worked and discussed on each theme. On the discussion of theme 1, all participants were divided into 6 groups of 4 and 5 people. All 6 groups went out to meet and interview people. Within the interview, each group had to determine the critical issues found out directly from the people who are the potential audience to the puppet. Doing this is also to engage the audience as well as the artists to start learning from each other better, especially the artists themselves that they need to understand more about their audience. After pointing out the clear issues from the interview, each small group had to discuss to find the resolution to the issues and put out the actions to be taken accordingly by the participants from their existing resources. Below are the critical issues found out by the participants:

The limitation of the promotion: The promotion of the puppet forms at countryside levels is so limited that caused the people unable to get any information at all about the puppet.

Time limitation: The business with their daily earning work, they don’t have enough time to think of any art show. They would not have time even if they found out the information of the show.

Ticket price is too high: the people cannot afford to pay for the ticket.

Lack of creativity: It is the same at all times. Nothing is new. It is too difficult and sometimes not at all to understand the show and the story.

More options in the arts: some people like classical dance more than puppet.

No puppet program on TV.

Responding to the above issues, each group set out the resolutions as following:

Increasing the promotion through celebrating a huge festival of the puppets, involvement of the public people, i.e., collaboration between the artists and non-artists who are interested in supporting the puppets, using the social media that doesn’t need any cost, partners, TV’s programs, celebrities, public performances, demonstrations and workshops, providing the training of the puppet to the public schools’ teachers. But these have to be clearly set out the target audience to be promoted with.

Creating more options for the tickets: The ticket should be classified with more types to enable the target audience who have different ability to afford the price. For instance, the ticket should be set with a variety of price such as for student, for the public audience, and for international tourists.

Having as many creativities as it can within the puppet show in order for the different background audience can understand both the show and the story. For example, the idea of the pre-show explanation, the show along with the subtitle in Khmer and English (for non-Khmer spoken audience), sign language that can help the people who are hard-hearing, etc.

From all of these resolutions, some actions were set out and committed to get done by each group:

Bopha Audi-visual Center offer a space for brochures and flyers from any puppet troupe, the archive room to keep any puppet documentation, and help share the information regarding the puppet on its social media.

Phare Ponleu Selpak Association helps share the information on its social media, integrate the puppet into their circus show, and provide the space for any puppet practice.

KCDI provides the methodology of story writing if any troupe needs to write a new story to perform with the puppet.

Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) helps integrate the puppet program into its arts and culture education program which is the program to put arts and culture education into the public schools in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education and UNESCO and organizes the roundtable once a year.

Funan Association is committed to hold the Heritage Festival every year and ensure the puppet program is included and also to launch the weekly puppet performing program in Phnom Penh by the year of 2017.

Pleurng Kop is committed to ensure that the puppet program is included in their Bonphum’s program and create and manage the Facebook group of Cambodian Puppetry Family after the roundtable.

Department of Books and Reading of the Ministry of Culture (Mr. San Phalla) is committed to republish about the puppets on its newsletter and to volunteer to help edit any text in English or Khmer for the puppet show.

Bambu Puppet Troupe is committed to create a new form of puppet which is known as Paper Puppet.

Sovanna Phum Association is committed to share all knowledges of the puppet they have gained through their many-year experiences to any writer who is interested in writing a book about Cambodian puppetry and help convince the celebrities to promote the puppet form.

Khmer Magic Music Bus is committed to integrate the puppet into its performing program whenever they go and perform in the countryside

After having the facebook group, all participants agreed to keep updating on their work as well as the actions they were committed to do. If having additional or any action each group have not yet raised in the roundtable and thought they can join to do it as a part of supporting the puppet, they will keep all the puppet members informed in the facebook group.

In the session of issue 2, all participants were divided into three groups by categorizing the small group to the type of their organizations/troupes. For example, those who are from the organizations/troupes who work on only the puppet are in one group, those who work on other things but involves the puppet are in one group and those who are not working on the puppet, but willing to support the puppet are in one group.

Each group was asked to discuss to find 3 creative ideas/activities that they can also take them into practice with their existing resources. After that each group has to create an impressive shows to tell about the three ideas/activities they found in their small group.

As a result, here are the creative activities and ideas from the whole participants:

Creating the children program with the puppet form

Creating the puppets from the paper

Putting all forms of Cambodian puppet together

Producing the a new production of puppet by basing on the traditional forms

Creating a pre-show explanation

In the session of Issue 3, each participant was given three sticky notes. On each sticky note is only for writing one word. So each participant had to think three words and wrote each word down on one sticky note. The question were posed to the participants so that they could think of the word. The quest is “When you heard the Professionalism in puppet sector, what word you think of?” At this point, there needed to be a bit more discussion on the term of Professionalism as it is not the term of professionalism in Khmer is not normally used and it was found no word to be used in general. So in this point, it required to have more explanations on the term and what we wanted to them to do.

After writing one word on each sticky note and put on around the term of professionalism, the terms were clustered by giving one key name/word to cover each cluster. The key words covered by the clustered words are: Respect, Responsibility, Commitment, Sharing, Communication, and Punctuality.

All participants agreed that all key terms above should be called “Principle” for all Cambodian puppet artists to apply in order to build professionalism in the puppet troupes as well as work that is the factor to be mainly part of improving the quality in the puppet sector in Cambodia.

Principle =

Professionalism

Respect

Responsiblity

Sharing

Punctuality

Communication

Commitment

Principle = Professionalism

All participants also raised how this principle should be applied. After the discussion, they agreed that this principal should be promoted broadly because this is not just only the puppet artists but also the others should apply as well.

Additional sharing by Terence Tan, Director of ArtsOlute and Representative of UNIMA Singapore:

Part of the program, Terence Tan, the Director of ArtsOlute and Representative of UNIMA

Singapore flew all the way long from Singapore to attend the two-day roundtable and at the end

of the core session, he shared information among all puppet artists and activists about APEX program and UNIMA Singapore.

Terence addressed that APEX (Asean Puppet Exchange) is a program designed for all

puppeteers including the musicians in ASEAN to exchange their work through creating a joint puppet show and it moves from one to another within ASEAN.

The purpose of his visit in Cambodia is to build network with puppeteers in Cambodia. After APEX

in Hanoi taken place in this December finished, Terence starts to think of a long-term puppet plan

for APEX and he wants to invite the puppeteers from Cambodia to attend through this network. This network can appoint any representative to attend the APEX.

UNIMA is a global organization, established since 1929 in Europe. It is a center with its hundred

members. Its mission is to build peace around the world through puppetry work. UNIMA

Cambodia is not formally registered in UNIMA yet, but Mr. Kompheak from Kork Thlok Association

for Artists is now representing UNIMA Cambodia. Nang Yanna is another member to work for

UNIMA Cambodia. To fully complete the registration, UNIMA Cambodia has to have 10 members

and has to be formally registered as an entity. UNIMA is like a platform where the puppetry works

around the world come and show. This is really about the promotion. So this is good that the

roundtable raise up the issue regarding the promotion of the puppet forms.

The promotion is very important for 3 main reasons: 1). expressing ourselves, 2). convincing the

donors to provide more fund to us after seeing our lively show, and 3). having more and more

new audience. Obviously, most audience are non-local. They know about us through media. Our competitors can be entertainment entity.

Terence also shared base on his experience that to achieve a success in the project, there are 3 main components: Value, Capacity, and Legitimacy. For example, if you do not have training,

materials and skill, you cannot become a doctor. It is alike for the puppeteer. If the public could

not see the value of this career, we cannot survive. Puppeteers and audience have to give value

to the puppet. We also learn how to convince our audience to give us value. After 2-day session, we can find what audience needs. However, we also have to maintain our own work value.

Terence added that there are 3 recommendations that he usually puts in his project proposal and it always accepted. They are Education, Cooperation, and Resource.

Education and Cooperation: the work should show how puppet is used for educational purpose

and how to educate the children to work as a team. The children’s mind connects with the body.

They focus on eye and mouth movement, but not all other complicated parts of the body like

beard, mustache, etc. So this means the puppet is suitable to be used for the child education.

As a puppeteer, we should be creative. For example, we can make the puppet out of recycled items to respond the global recycle policy that the world really care about.

So three main principles: Education, Cooperation, and Resource will express more value of the puppet and attract more and more foundations and supporters.

When doing promotion on social media, you must think of who will see it. So we need to choose the right people for our network and the right events for our work.

There is a strong competition among Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore. To deal with

this competitive market, we can work together to expand the market size. It means that we are

still a small piece of the bigger market, but we are bigger than before.

The abrupt change of the global situation is happening a lot and everywhere, but we should not

follow those changes. We should keep our focus more on the course of goals.

Participants’ review: Before closing the roundtable, the moderator asked the participants to

share their impression on this two-day roundtable.

Khuon Chanreaksmey from Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang: I think that this session is

very important because everybody has chance to learn more about the problem and creativity to deal with puppet arts form. I am committed to put this subject into Phare’s performing program.

Mann Kosal from Sovanna Phum Arts Association in Phnom Penh: Firstly I think that I would

stay only one day but later on I found the session very interesting. I am really interested in promotion and marketing. I promised to assist Bamboo Puppet Troupe.

Sorn Soran from Bambu Puppet Troupe in Siem Reap: My troupe is very small and newly

born with some performing materials. I expected that after this two-day roundtable there will be a

huge project of the puppet forms appeared and each participating troupe is carrying back what

they need to accomplish that new project. But now I don’t see any new big project at all.

Mann Kosal from Sovanna Phum jumped in and respond to Soran’s comments that this is just the beginning of gathering of our puppet community and what the roundtable wants to see is what

each of us can use our existing resources and capacity, even the existing program we are doing

also can be part of the job we need to do to improve the puppet in Cambodia. So all the actions

we identified so far are what we can do easily and happily. This roundtable doesn’t want to put any pressure on each troupe to complete the job.

Phat Savuth from Bambu Puppet Troupe in Siem Reap: I would suggest that all puppet troupes

in Cambodia should work together to celebrate a grand event which includes every puppet forms

in Cambodia so that we can draw more attention from the government so that they can join to invest.

Song Seng from Cambodian Living Arts in Siem Reap and the moderator: I would

recommend all participants that please think what you can share to make things happen and not

looking at the weakness of the others. Don’t just sit and complain of not getting enough support from the ministries or others, but think what you can do from what you have or your strengths.

Lomorkesor Rithy from Pleurng Kop/Bun Phum in Phnom Penh: I am so impressed of this

roundtable with hopes. And I really want to do it now. I feel I can’t wait.

Eang Hoeun from Kork Thlok Association for Artists in Phnom Penh: What the roundtable

got this time is so similar to Kork Thlok’s activity. Kok Thlok is now doing more researches on

Reamker story to produce large shadow puppet show of a full version of Reamker that no one

has done ever. Now Kork Thlok decided to produce the show based on the Reamker version from

Ministry of Religions and Cults. The purpose of the production is to promote the work at primary, secondary, and high schools across Cambodia.

At the end of the session, a name of Cambodian puppet community was created as Cambodian Puppetry Family in English and ‘Kruosar Tokata Kampuchea’ in Khmer.

On behalf of the roundtable as well as Cambodian Living Arts, I would like to acknowledge

all effort of all troupes, associations, organizations and individuals with all means of their contribution to make this extremely-fruitful roundtable possible.

They are: Amrita Performing Arts, ArtsOlute, Bambu Puppet Troupe, Bon Phum/Pleurng Kop, Books and Reading Department of Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Cambodian Living Arts, Department of Performing Arts of Ministry of Culture and

Fine Arts, Epic Arts, Funan Association, Khmer Culture Development Institute (KCDI), Kok Thlok Association for Artists, Khmer Magic Music Bus (KMMB), Kruosar Thmey, Sbaek Thom Ty Chean Troupe, Sovanna Phum Arts Association, Wat Bo Puppet Troupe, UNESCO, and Pou Thonevath

(individual)