In the Tonle Bassac squatter community, the air buzzes with flies, the alley-ways are paved with trash, and many of the young people who live there are sex workers. But to over a hundred of CLA’s students, this is the only home that they have ever known. Three of CLA’s master teachers—some of the most highly respected musicians in the country—live in this slum. With the support of people like Dickon Verey and CLA, though, these masters and students are moving to a brighter place.
Since 1999, CLA has been part of the Tonle Bassac squatter community, providing the masters with new jobs and a living wage; basic medical care; technical assistance in recording and archiving their work; and support in cultivating performances and other income-generating opportunities. Through a monthly stipend, CLA supports the students to stay in public school and helps them to cultivate artistic and earnings opportunities. CLA works to encourage them to preserve the fragile legacy of Khmer culture while nourishing dreams and plans for a better future.
Last year, amidst confusion and intimidation over local property rights in the community, a construction company bought the Tonle Bassac property from the government and announced that it would force the residents to relocate in order to make room for a shopping mall. A Cambodia Daily News reporter wrote: “The residents seem nearly unanimous in their dedication to their community. They say, if the relocation occurs, they will almost certainly be scattered, since many residents cannot afford to live at the new site outside the city.”*
Now, thanks to the generosity and vision of CLA supporters Dickon Verey and Andrew Wilson, the vibrant performing arts community in the Tonle Bassac slums has a chance of staying together. CLA has signed a lease on a new three-story building located within walking distance from the slum. Since April 2006, this new facility, CLA House, will accommodate four classes with over 100 students, as well as providing living quarters for three CLA Masters and their families.
Dickon’s support for CLA and his desire to help the Tonle Bassac community was inspired by a performance of Master Khi Mom’s yike opera class. Dickon wrote an article describing the fragility of these performers’ dreams to restore Cambodia’s performing arts and to rise out of their impoverished surroundings, and posted it on the Internet. From Japan, Andrew Wilson was touched by this article and responded by flying to Phnom Penh, meeting Dickon and CLA Project Coordinator Song Seng, and then pledging his support, with Dickon, for the capital improvements and first year’s operating budget for the house.
Working in close collaboration with CLA Staff, Dickon consulted with CLA masters and led the charge both in giving and in raising money for the new CLA House. Serving as CLA’s first cultural center, the new building houses spacious classrooms for dance and musical theater, living space for masters and visiting artists, a resource-meeting room for books and computers, and a small performance space. In addition to teaching and performing, the facility provides a venue for demonstrations, workshops, and visiting artists.
For many students and assistant teachers, the future is still uncertain. They do not know when they will be forced to leave the Tonle Bassac community, or where their families will choose to resettle. But what they do know is that no matter where they may move later, CLA will bring their arts community together through this center, a place that will inspire them and others to a better future, where they can meet and learn together, and preserve and celebrate their Khmer culture for generation after generation.
