Opportunity

Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship

The Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship (អាហារូបករណ៍សិល្បៈអមតៈ អាន ចនផន) funds arts study in Cambodia for Cambodian artists and culture workers.[1][2] Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) started the program in 2010, and it now takes 10 new students each year.[1][3]

Sponsorship

The scholarship is named for Arn Chorn-Pond, the musician who founded CLA in 1998.[3] It is a core part of CLA's Training and Development program.[4] CLA has its office in Phnom Penh and lists a Scholarship Programme Coordinator, Meth Monthary, among its staff.[5] CLA also offers the Dam Dos Project Grant, for new creative, community arts, endangered music and research projects.[6] It also runs New Creations grants. In 2025 a New Creations grant paid $3,000 for a project plus $1,000 for an arts mentor and $1,000 for a presentation.[7]

Award and support

For the 2025 to 2026 year, each scholar received $1,500 to study at a school or with a private teacher in Cambodia.[2] The award was $1,200 a year until October 2022, when CLA raised it to $1,500.[3] Students may study artistic skills or skills that support an arts career, such as languages or management.[3] The scholarship year runs for 12 months, October 2025 to September 2026 for the latest cohort, and it continues into the next year for students whose support runs longer.[2] Support can last up to four years.[3]

Besides the money, students get:[4]

  • soft-skills training, mostly on full-day weekends
  • small group projects for the community
  • accident insurance
  • visits to arts sites in Phnom Penh
  • a network of artists and earlier students

In the first year, training covers personal development and leadership. In later years the training turns to the arts world, civic responsibility and managing projects, and in the fourth year each student runs a project with a budget of their own.[3][8] Students meet the program manager every six weeks and must attend at least 90% of their classes each quarter.[2][4] The program is run in Khmer.[2]

Eligibility

For the 2025 to 2026 call, applicants had to:[2]

  • be Cambodian citizens living in Cambodia
  • be 18 or older
  • have studied an arts or culture skill, or worked in the sector, for at least three years
  • aim to reach a professional level in their field
  • have time for every training session

Holders of a K-Visa could also apply.[4] At least half of the places go to women, and at least 30% go to people who have never held a CLA scholarship. CLA encourages applicants from underserved communities.[4] Its 10-year review counted students aged 20 to 35, including Indigenous people and people with a disability.[3]

Application

Applicants send the application form by email or Telegram, or bring it to the CLA office in Phnom Penh.[2] The form and an information sheet are on the scholarship page.[1]

Selection has three steps. CLA screens the forms, invites a shortlist to a group activity at its office, and an independent committee with arts and culture experience interviews them the next day. CLA pays part of the travel costs for shortlisted applicants from the provinces.[4]

The latest printed cycle ran as follows:[4]

  • Applications: March 1 to May 31, 2025
  • Shortlist notice: third week of June 2025
  • Group activity: July 5, 2025
  • Interviews: July 6, 2025
  • Results: fourth week of July 2025
  • Guarantor confirmation: August 2025
  • Orientation: September 2025
  • First quarterly payment: early October 2025

As of October 7, 2026, the scholarship page is marked closed and shows no call for 2026 to 2027.[1]

Recipients

By the program's 10th year, in 2021, CLA counted 110 students in one account and 120 in its program review.[8][3] The scholarship page names 10 students for each of the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 cohorts.[1]

Students named in the 2025 cohort include:[1]

  • Bot Sonea, an archaeology graduate of the Royal University of Fine Arts, general English
  • Sien Sokny, general English
  • Meas Saroem, an archaeology graduate of the Royal University of Fine Arts, French
  • Por Chenda, writing in the choreography faculty of the Royal University of Fine Arts
  • Kim Noeng, an archaeology graduate of the Royal University of Fine Arts, English
  • Tiv Sim, from Ratanakiri, a doctorate in management
  • Sin MaoTheang, linguistics and choreography, including male mask dance
  • Seing Panha, an archaeology student at the Royal University of Fine Arts, French
  • Krak Tythlea, English literature

Another 2025 student studies media management at the Department of Media and Communication.[1]

Ry "Fia" MoniSovanya, a painter and performance artist, first received the scholarship in 2019.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Cambodian Living Arts, (Closed) Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Cambodian Living Arts, Announcement: Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship 2025 to 2026 (2025)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Cambodian Living Arts, Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship Program Review (2010-2021)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Cambodian Living Arts, Program Overview: Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship 2025 to 2026 (2025)
  5. ↑ Cambodian Living Arts, About
  6. ↑ Cambodian Living Arts, (Closed) Open Call for Dam Dos Project Grant
  7. ↑ Cambodian Living Arts, (Closed) Open Call for New Creations (2025)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cambodian Living Arts, A Weekend in the Woods with Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholarship students (2021)
  9. ↑ Cambodian Living Arts, Arn Chorn-Pond Living Arts Scholar Uses the Arts as a Tool for Social Change
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This page was last edited on 7 October 2026, at 20:08.