About Us

Mission and Vision

The mission of Cambodian Living Arts is to support the revival of Cambodian traditional art forms and to inspire contemporary artistic expression.

We envision Cambodia in the year 2020 as a country experiencing a cultural renaissance so dynamic that the arts have become Cambodia’s international signature.

A vibrant practice of Khmer traditional arts will thrive alongside flourishing contemporary arts, both inspired by worldwide collaborations of Khmer people and their friends. Khmer people of all ages around the world will share ownership and pride in their common cultural heritage.

Khmer arts will have become a wellspring of Cambodian strength and resiliency, and a vital source of healing and reconciliation.

History

Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) was founded eight years ago by Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian-American refugee who was featured in the Emmy-nominated movie, The Flute Player. Originally called the Cambodian Masters Performing Project (CMPP), Arn founded this organization when he first returned to Cambodia in order to support the music teachers who helped him survive the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.

Approximately ninety percent of Cambodia’s performing artists died during the Khmer Rouge regime, a devastating blow to all of Cambodia’s oral traditions. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, this cultural tragedy was compounded by two subsequent decades of economic hardship, when very few of the surviving master musicians could make a living performing or teaching.

Cambodian Living Arts stepped in to support those masters who, despite their deep knowledge and skill, had either retired or reduced their teaching and performing loads. When it was founded, it supported three masters and their classes.

Since then, CLA has grown tremendously. Now, it funds sixteen classes throughout Phnom Penh and seven other provinces. CLA now provides the masters with a living wage, basic healthcare, instruments, costumes, and classroom space, and CLA works to engage the masters in the planning of projects and activities that help them both teach the students and generate income.

From its first few dozen students, CLA currently supports nearly 300 students, provides instruments, stipends for public school, university-level scholarships for an exceptional few, and has recently opened its first teaching and learning center in Phnom Penh. CLA encourages students to organize, form student government and leadership positions, and provides them performance opportunities. Furthermore, we encourage and foster relationship and partnership-building between the students, masters, and private companies like major hotels, so the students are able to use their specialized skills to earn money.

In general, CLA has also fostered a wide-range of commercial and non-profit partnerships which have brought its students and teachers exciting new career and learning opportunities, while also working to strengthen the Cambodian arts community more broadly. As part of its vision, it is committed to supporting the arts community as a whole.

Our Work

CLA’s four core programs—teaching, performing, recording, and new commissions—support 16 master musicians and nearly 300 students and assistant teachers to develop skills and relationships that will enable them to generate income and develop as leaders, while also helping to preserve and celebrate their heritage.

CLA works with the belief that supporting arts education is a way for people to grow and develop and heal from the traumas and hardships of both the past and the present, not only because knowing the traditional arts keeps younger generations connected to their heritage and the elders in their community, but because through the mentoring and guidance process, the students and masters build their confidence, are able to exercise leadership skills, and nurture hopes for the future.

Cambodian Living Arts is managed by a bi-continental advisory board of directors with members based in the United States and in Cambodia, and it raises most all of its own operating funds. A project of World Education since 2001, Cambodian Living Arts benefits from World Education's accounting and financial infrastructure, technical and administrative expertise, office space and equipment, and a modest financial contribution towards CLA's administrative costs.