Organization
Sovanna Phum Art Association
The Sovanna Phum Art Association (សមាគមសិល្បៈសុវណ្ណាភូមិ) is an independent arts association in Phnom Penh that stages Khmer performing arts.[1] The shadow puppet master Mann Kosal founded it in 1994, and its shows center on Sbek Thom, the large shadow puppet theater.[2][1]
History
The association gives "Golden Era" as the meaning of its name. In its own description, it was set up so that Cambodian artists could perform and earn a living from their art, and so that Khmer culture could reach more people in Cambodia and abroad.[1] In 2017 The Independent called it the first independent art association in Cambodia.[2]
From 1997 the association has made performances for awareness and prevention campaigns at the request of international organizations, NGOs and the government. Their subjects include health, education, AIDS, the environment and human rights.[1] Among the projects it lists are a campaign on avian influenza in 120 communes, shadow puppet shows on fishing issues in Stung Treng province and a shadow puppet project on peace and disarmament.[1]
The Independent wrote in 2017 that a year earlier, after 20 years of running the theater, Mann Kosal had nearly given it up to drive a tuk-tuk. The theater had no government or NGO funding, and ticket sales did not cover rising rent and other costs. Supporters, among them the team behind the Bonn Phum festival of traditional arts, ran a Kickstarter campaign and held puppet-carving workshops to keep it open.[2]
Performances
In 2017 the association's small theater in Phnom Penh held weekly shows that combined music, dance and Sbek Thom, with performances every Friday and Saturday evening.[2] Mann Kosal carved the two-meter puppets by hand from cowhide. The Independent wrote that his choice to include women among his performers broke with tradition.[2]
The association describes a network of more than 200 professional artists. They study or teach at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, or have graduated from it.[1] Its repertoire, as it lists it, takes in classical and folk dance, the shadow puppet theaters Sbek Thom and Sbek Touch, traditional music such as chapei and the pinpeat orchestra and the masked theater Lakhon Khol. It also lists spoken theater, Lakhon Bassac, Yike, clowning and contemporary dance.[1]