Foundation grantee brings Pacific voice to Malaysia producers camp

It had been 23 years since I was last in Malaysia, as a first year dance student representing Aotearoa at a folklore dance festival alongside other nations.

I remembered the humidity, the spice filled cuisine and my street market version of the ‘...So Addictive” album by Missy Elliott. One of a collection of different CD’s that I had purchased at a night market in Kuala Lumpur. Six CD albums for the price of one in New Zealand dollars, suited my student budget back in 2001.

Upon arriving in KL this time, I went sightseeing around our hotel area, walked through the Petaling street markets to have dinner at the michelin guide recommended world famous Lai Foong Lala Noodles.

I Visited the RexKL, an old theatre that had been transformed into a multi-purpose cultural arts venue including one of the most beautiful libraries that I have ever seen.

We were first introduced to our fellow participants at the GMBB Creative Community Hall in Kuala Lumpur, where we attended an open forum on contemporary Malaysian performing arts titled "You Think You're Broke, But How Broke/Broken Is the Arts?".

This was a very effective way to learn about the arts scene in Malaysia. IBeing in a room full of international producers, we were able to align ourselves with the experiences of each speaker.

A couple of statements that stood out for me were:

Jo Kukathas: “We cannot and should not be purely reliant upon the government, the government needs us more than we need them."

Arjun Thanaraju, who is also a qualified neuropsychologist, acknowledged how the most impactful people in his life were the community artists and teachers as opposed to the people that he had met throughout his training and career in Science.

Mark Teh spoke of how Penang had more of the foresight and imagination to resource the arts, in comparison to Kuala Lumpur and an example of that is the annual Georgetown Festival held in Penang.

In the days to follow, we visited the Rimbun Dahan artist residency space in Sungai Buloh, which is set in an exquisite setting, with a pond, native trees, plants, herb gardens, historical architecture, sculptures and different studios spaced out on the 14 acre property. It was tranquil and had several living quarters for the artists in residence. I could envision some of our most avant garde artists from Aotearoa producing works in that space.

The Damasara Performing Arts Centre in Petaling Jaya was a living performance space. It felt very familiar to me. There were two dance studios upstairs, one main theatre and one black box theatre.

They host an annual dance festival and residency that would be of interest to some of our choreographers in Aotearoa.

We divided into small groups to discuss and dive deep into various issues at th heart of what we do as producers.

My working group focused on audience engagement, which involved spending time with the founders and operators of CloudJoi—an online platform dedicated to connecting with audiences and promoting the arts.

They are a group of tech savvy individuals who are very passionate about supporting artists and getting audiences to engage with live performing arts.

Other organisations we connected with included, ArtsEd in Penang, which embodied the importance of arts education. They are making art practices accessible for different communities throughout Malaysia.

Similarly, the ASK dance company had a great vision for succession, making heritage arts practice accessible for youth and in doing so encouraged youth to become experts in their own cultural arts, eventually becoming leaders for the organisation and passing that knowledge on to their communities.

The establishment of multi-disciplinary spaces such as REXKL and the Hin Bus Depot were very exciting, creating spaces where performing arts, technology and architecture were intertwined.

One of the highlights in terms of economic sustainability was the Temple of Fine Arts in Kuala Lumpur.

We were walked us through their 33 studios, black box theatre and fully equipped 600 seater auditorium.

This organisation was fully funded by their community of dance graduates and the businesses that operated on the ground level - a vegetarian buffet restaurant and travel agency. It was a prime example of entrepreneurship and economic sustainability with their dance community of graduates as the key stakeholders. Such an admirable feat that I wish for some of our indigenous dance communities in Aotearoa and throughout the Pacific.

There are many opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration and professional development between Asia and Aotearoa.

We are fortunate to have Creative NZ, a government funded crown organisation that prioritises the Arts throughout our country and encourages the diverse creative voices in our country.

There can be much censorship in Malaysia where shows which acknowledge themes such as sexuality and racism have to happen in secret locations.

They also do not have an organisation such as Creative NZ and therefore have to mobilise, facilitate, create, practice and present with very little government support.

At our final gathering, I shared a quick warm-up/ hype exercise of basic Sāmoan calls and movements.

Some of our colleagues from Singapore and Korea found it to be a very spiritual experience and even highlighted it as one of their favourite moments in the camp.

The Foundation's Arts Programme brings Asia into the mainstream of New Zealand arts by inspiring New Zealand arts professionals to grow their connections and knowledge of Asia. It also supports the presentation of Asian arts in partnership with New Zealand arts organisations and events.

Our Arts Practitioners Fund provides support for experiential opportunities for individual New Zealand-based arts practitioners to deepen artistic and professional connections with Asia, including residencies, work placements, research tours and exchanges.