For almost 5 years, i've been making effort to pursue higher education through master program and any scholarship available. Not really my strenght or my luck, it's either my IELTS score missing 0.5 points or I got myself accepted in desirable university but without scholarship. Until around 2018 i realized, working in cultural and art sector for almost 9 years, I've been through quite a lot and need to level up my game. While my game not necesarily in university as student again, I might change my strategy to focusing on my network and work in particular area. I believe this way will help me better to pursue career in particular project and targeting right people towork with. Long story short, I apply for SEAD Fellowship and accepted in 2019. This program is rather a bit complicated to explain, even to understand myself until I experienced it.
So these are the steps for a year: Exchange, Create, Share and Reflect. As an individual, we represent ourselves from each country in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and ,UK as this program co-created by British Council and Mekong Cultural Hub. Each of us coming from different background related to art, culture and work with sustainable development goals. The longtern goals are to have collaboration in between fields and countries, yet explore communication through process within those four steps. And there goes, I met 9 amazing people who has similar interest with me but coming from different background.
As much I fancy another seven fellows, for now I'd like to share one profile of fellow from Thailand, Tanawat or I call him M, as the alphabet after L and before N. I met him during Exchange in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia last November. We spent almost a week for introductory session of the fellowship and whole lot more about what we do back home. What I learnt about him during our time in sunny Phnom Pehn, he works as manager for stage art performance based in Thailand, Artpedia. He works closely with artist across the country. What I also remember was his work with lights when he created one of his performances. I kind of get the idea of his signature style on how producers portray in body of works. Furthermore, stage performance works a bit different with film which I work with on regular basis. Technicalities on stage might stay the same but those styles can embodied the journey of the artists themselves. Until our last day together before I embark from Cambodia, he told me about his upcoming activities with Japan Foundation in Yokohama and another one in Chiangmai. I was looking forward to hear more on the next stage we will meet, Share in Bandung, Indonesia. That was supposed after he's done with his Create part of this fellowship to Vietnam while me and team went to Myanmar. I can't wait to hear complete experience about all of that. 
But then, Covid-19 just arrived right after I finished Create part in Myanmar and unfortunately M's team failed to complete their trip and project in Vietnam. I was curiousabout he's other project and also his condition. From what I saw from his Facebook after came back from Japan, he has to do several health test, not sure whether it's related to Covid-19 or not. Then I talked again to him, after we did Share part online, since we cannot fly and meet each other. A bit explanation about Artpedia, as 10 Fellows of SEAD consist of artist and manager- as in the one who manage either artwork or any project related to culture or SDGS, I found myself similar with M. His work with Artpedia covers relationship between performing artists and exhibitions. People like M has responsibilities to initiate the program or project, curate artists and artistic approach they want to exhibit, also to engage more into other stakeholders like fund raising or grants. The work between management and creative side need to balance, yet to take into more neutral position so both side can feel satisfied. From what M share and I read, Artpedia tries to facilitate both needs of artist and prospectives collaborator on performing arts. Since live and work in Southeast Asia country, especially like in Thailand where art is already rich within the local culture but yet another forms of modern arts still struggling to penetrate mass audience. Not a secret how open Thailand for any kind of art; music, films, or performing arts, even for LGBTQ content where is not easy to express in my country. But yet, not a secret as well how censorship become boundaries for artist to express their freedom of speech. When I asked, have you ever experience this kind of situation during preparing performance? "We had. There was one time, someone talk over to authority about show I saw and suddenly they came to inspect. Some shows are censored or team were threatened by Military government if it may include political criticism in the show. It happened both in text based and movement-based" M explained.
Before all this global pandemic strikes, M joined the program Living a collaboration of four artists from Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Korea held in Chiangmai where Artpedia took role as producer. This is one of collaborative project where collaborators evolve a performance from living being in earth. Not so far from that, M traveled to Japan to accomplished Performing Arts Meeting or TPAM 2020 invited by the Japan foundation in Yokohama. Over 40 artists from Asia Pacific region gather to celebrate arts and seek opportunity through this meeting. For M himself, experience like this not only accomodate his needs to travel - to enrich vision on how he's project his works through space but also through people. "During this difficult time, everything is online. Eventhough some of is actually proved that art can be consumed in any forms, I found out it's hard. It's lacking of human interaction, face to face communication. And that's one is missing in the past four months" He mentioned, during our conversation, online back in July. He also explained, some of projects he might loses because either its cancelled or postponed. "Some of our project postponed it to unknown time in the future. I gotta say, if they say to do it rather online, I might want to re-think about it" He laughed. It's not that I disagree, but I have the same feeling with him about this. Not everything can have experience through online even though it helps to connect with no limitation. Another thing I asked M about his income beside producing stage performance; because again one of the objective of this interview is to see on how people make effort to keep themselves alive, sane and earn living through this unforeseen circumstances.
I just knew that M owned a business focusing on education. "It keeps me to earn money during this time" He explained. Another hustle that any striving artist needs to balance is to have side hustle, where fortunately might bring more to keep them more than enough to put food on table. I can sense M and his troops can bounce back faster than me here in Indonesia. "Restaurant and malls are starting to open in Bangkok and no more curfew. I actually enjoy night time driving in an empty street. It's relieving!"M said happily. So what next? "Preparing more into my personal project. It's about sustainble method and approach project to support performing art in long term and initiate culture of people acknowledgement"
Tanawat Asawaitthipond is an emerging stage performance producer born in 1988 and live in Bangkok. Graduated from Thammasat University (International Economics, Thailand) and Yonsei University (Economics major & Korean language and culture as minor, South Korea).
He's a fellow in SEAD 2 and member of Artpedia,Thailand.
Picture credits: Tanawat Asawaitthipond personal properties & Jennifer Lee (Mekong Cultural Hub)
#SEAD2 #artsforchange #sgds
