I I A S N E W S L E T T E R # 4 7 S p r i n g 0 0 8
I n F o c u s : C u l t u r a l H e r i t a g e
T
here have been 48 Asian laureates
in the 11 years that the Prince Claus
Fund has been granting awards. They
come from 22 different countries and ter-
ritories, from Papua New Guinea to Tur-
key, from Malaysia to Syria, from Armenia
and Tajikistan to West Timor, and Burma.
They represent a wide range of different
cultural disciplines: They are actors and
visual artists, architects, cartoonists,
dancers, filmmakers, graphic designers,
historians, museum directors, musicians
and musicologists, poets, philosophers,
puppeteers, weavers, writers, and even a
Chinese rock musician. Some are not indi-
viduals but organisations, such as Bhu-
tan’s Archery Federation, the Reyum Insti-
tute of Arts and Culture in Cambodia, the
magazine Jahan-e Khetab in Iran and the
Al Kamandjâti music school for children in
Palestine. They represent a very rich tapes-
try of Asian arts and culture, and they form
an invaluable network of advisors for the
ongoing work of the Fund.
In addition to granting its yearly awards,
and the special Cultural Emergency
Response program, the Prince Claus Fund
for Culture and Development is active in a
number of other ways:
- It extends financial assistance for spe-
cial projects, including a ‘travel budg-
et’ to help promote artistic exchange
by allowing artists to participate in
workshops, festivals and other activi-
ties in other countries. Nepalese poet
Chirag Bangdel, for example, was
able to participate in the International
Poetry Festival in Medellin, Colombia
in 2007 and Indonesian composer
Michael Asmara was given the oppor-
tunity to take part in ‘The Timbre of
Hue,’ the International Symposium of
Composition in Vietnam, in 2006.
- The Fund publishes its own occasional
Prince Claus Fund Journal together
with a publishing house in Asia, Africa,
Latin America or the Caribbean. The
latest Journal, #15, on the theme ‘Cul-
ture and Conflict’ deals with Cultural
Conflicts in China. It was published
together with the magazine (and
museum) Art Today in Shanghai.
- It supports cultural publications and
through the Prince Claus Fund Library,
it initiates books of special interest,
particularly in the visual arts. For
example, an interdisciplinary book on
the graphic design and visual culture
of Pakistan, From Mazaar to Bazaar,
will be published shortly in coop-
eration with Oxford University Press,
Karachi.
- In its Network Partner programme,
the Fund selects cultural organisations
around the world with whom it forms
a longer term, collaborative relation-
ship. Its recent Asian Network Part-
ners include Komunitas Utan Kayu in
Indonesia, the Drik Picture Library in
Bangladesh, the Reyum Institute in
Cambodia and BizArt Art Center in
China.
Each year the Prince Claus Fund grants awards to artists and cultural organisations who are doing outstanding work in their
fields. The Fund’s criteria include artistic quality, innovation and social engagement. Each year the Fund identifies a theme,
such as ‘Culture and Conflict’(2007) or ‘The Positive Aspects of Migration’(2004) that helps focus the search for laureates
and the activities undertaken in that year.
Prince Claus Fund Asian
Laureates, partners and activities
of responsibility and independence among people whose lives have been
shattered.
Political choices and consequences
The identification of cultural heritage and its reconstruction is inevitably a
political process. When assessing emergency relief proposals, CER always
tries to consider the position of the proposed cultural heritage in its local
context and its significance to the surrounding community. As a program
of the Prince Claus Fund, CER shares a particular concern for heritage in
‘Zones of Silence’ – that is in communities that are marginalised or dis-
advantaged. The ‘silence’ may also mean smaller scale or geographically
remote emergencies that might otherwise go unnoticed.
But societies are complex and a choice to restore a particular object will
not only have political consequences for the community in question, it
may also affect CER’s image and effectiveness within that region. As a
Western based organisation, CER has to be very sensitive to competing
interests and to the potential impact, for instance, of getting involved with
the restoration of an exclusively Christian heritage in a Muslim-dominated
area. Local sensibilities must always be considered when providing cul-
tural emergency relief, as the very act itself can and will be interpreted
along political lines.
In the five years since its inauguration, the Cultural Emergency Response
program has steadily expanded its reach. CER works together with other
international organisations concerned with the protection of cultural her-
itage, like UNESCO and the International Committee of the Blue Shield
(ICBS), an umbrella organisation that includes ICOM (the International
Council of Museums), ICOMOS (the International Council on Monu-
ments and Sites), ICA (the International Council on Archives), IFLA (the
International Federation of Library Associations) and CCAAA (the Co-
ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations). This network of
heritage associations it is not structured to respond quickly to emergency
situations but it offers a wealth of knowledge that is invaluable in CER’s
selection and restoration processes.
In its first few years, CER could accommodate up to 4 projects a year.
In 2007 it contracted 10 projects, nine of which had been completed by
March, 2008. CER’s budget initially came directly from the Prince Claus
Fund, but its message that culture is a basic need especially in times of dis-
aster has drawn the interest of other funders. CER has received €200,000
for a period of five years in additional funding from the Dutch National
Postcode Lottery. CER has also approached the Dutch Minister of Devel-
opment Cooperation and begun talks with other organisations, including
the Centre Ceramique of the Municipality of Maastricht, which flagged
funds for release as soon as the next emergency project was identified.
In March, 2008, CER gave a presentation in Maastricht at the European
Fine Arts and Antique Fair, TEFAF. Subsequently, several individuals came
forward with pledges of €10,000 each for the ‘CER Guarantee Fund’ to be
tapped as emergencies arise.
Why not prevention?
Catastrophes, by definition, are not preventable, but being prepared can
make recovery a lot easier and faster. One of CER’s objectives, like those of
other heritage organisations, is to draw national and international atten-
tion to the importance of cultural heritage and to the need to document it.
After the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, it became apparent that there were
no official records of heritage sites in the affected area, so it was difficult to
take any action. Privately funded organisations like the World Monuments
Fund and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture are taking inventories around
the world and helping countries set priorities for their own cultural herit-
age under threat, not only from disasters but also simply from neglect. In
Indonesia, heritage associations are systematically identifying, recording
and photographing important sites. So when an earthquake strikes, they
are immediately prepared to visit each site and assess any damage. They
understand what information they need to preserve their heritage and, if
necessary, to react quickly to a cultural emergency.
Ginger da Silva,
Communications Department, g.dasilva@princeclausfund.nl
Iwana Chronis,
Coordinator, CER,
Prince Claus Fund, The Hague
Asian Laureates
Mehri Maftun
(Afghanistan) musicologist
Omara Khan Massoudi
(Afghanistan)
director of the national museum
Lida Abdul
(Afghanistan) visual artist
Michael Poghosian
(Armenia) actor
Harutyun Khachatryan
(Armenia) filmmaker
Bhutan Archery Federation
(Bhutan) archery
Tin Moe
(Myanmar/Burma) poet
Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture
(Cambodia) cultural institute
Tian Zhuang Zhuang
(PR China) filmmaker
Cui Jian
(PR China) rock musician
Wu Liangyong
(PR China) architect
Wang Shixiang
(PR China) crafts
Kumar Shahani
(India) filmmaker
Jyotindra Jain
(India) museum
Communalism Combat
(India)
publication/magazine
Bhupen Khakhar
(India) painter
Komal Kothari
(India) musicologist
G.N. Devy
(India) cultural activist
Sardono W. Kusumo
(Indonesia)
choreographer, dancer
Jim Supangkat
(Indonesia) art critic
Heri Dono
(Indonesia) visual artist
Ayu Utami
(Indonesia) writer
Lembaga Kajian Islam dan Sosial
(Indonesia) organisation
that promotes debate and liberal discussion/
interpretation within Islam
Slamet Gundono
(Indonesia) puppetry
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
(Iran) filmmaker
Jehan-e Ketab
(Iran) publication
focusing on cultural criticism
Ebrahim Nabavi
(Iran) writer
Reza Abedini
(Iran) graphic designer
Jawad Al Assadi
(Iraq) theatre director and author
6 Redza Piyadasa
(Malaysia) art historian, critic
Ken Yeang
(Malaysia) architect
Arif Hasan
(Pakistan) architect/urban planner
Madeeha Gauhar
(Pakistan) theatre director
Michael Mel
(Papua New Guinea) performance artist
Elena Rivera Mirano
(Philippines) musicicologist
Tsai Chih Chung
(Taiwan) cartoonist
Farroukh Qasim
(Tajikistan) actor/theatre
Biboki Weavers: Yovita Meta
(West Timor) weavers
18 Duong Thu Huong
(1947, Vietnam) author
A CER action in West
Sumatra, Indonesia:
The restoration of the
mosque of Rao-Rao
Copyright:
Prince Claus Fund