Event
Resilience Strategies & Resources for Independent Practitioners
Online
Friday, March 15
4pm-5:30pm Bangkok time
Zoom
Resilience is the ability to keep going despite challenging circumstances, and to bounce back after challenges and set backs. It is an essential skill for artists in Asia, who face ongoing challenges including lack of resources, isolation, lack of public support for their work, and having limits placed upon their creativity and expression.
For this session, MCH is delighted to welcome representatives from three different organizations doing practical work to improve conditions and opportunities for practitioners working at the intersection of arts and society: Manu from Artists at Risk Connection, Deepthy from Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Right Asia and Pacific, and Yohann from On the Move. Moderated by MCH’s Program Manager for Networks & Alliances, Zun Ei Phyu, the group will start by setting up a framework of what we mean by resilience as it applies to artists and cultural workers in Asia before moving into a discussion which will explore:
- The strengths and the gaps we see in the Asia region from the perspective of resilience among independent arts practitioners
- Perspectives on the importance of networks in building resilience
- Lessons to be learned from other sectors
- Feminist approaches to resilience
Participants
Yohann Floch is director of operations at On the Move, the international information network dedicated to artistic and cultural mobility, and manages FACE, a resource platform that facilitates European capacity building programmes in the contemporary performing arts field. Working for independent arts organisations and cultural institutions, Yohann has designed, coordinated or contributed to many European cooperation projects and pilot international collaborations over the years, including AAA (led by IMMART), iCoDaCo (led by ilDance), Learning Trajectories (led by Eunia), and SHIFT (led by the European Music Council). He has been an external expert for governmental bodies and private foundations, and led or (co)authored European studies, including the Cultural Mobility Flows reports for On the Move.
Deepthy leads the Shifting Narratives and organisational learning work at Urgent Action Fund Asia and the Pacific, a rapid response feminist fund that support the resistance and resilience of women, trans and non-binary human rights defenders. As a former journalist who ventured into the development sector, she uses her experience, networks and skills, to support innovative storytelling on feminist learning, movement building and resourcing. She is an emergent learning enthusiast, and is a staunch advocate for shifting unequal power dynamics that exists across international development. She is currently based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Zuni Ei Phyu
Zun Ei is a medical doctor, artist and expressive art psychotherapist based in Yangon, Myanmar. Zun Ei pursued her career in visual art for over 20 years. Zun Ei’s primary interest concerns public participatory art works and community art projects. Main themes of her works are social and ecological issues related to children and elderly people. During the different crises in her country and around the world, her works become involved in peace, justice and psychosocial rebuilding toward resiliency. Her artworks are collected not only locally but also internationally. She is one of the founder of Tharaphy Healing Space where she facilitates many psychotherapy and healing workshops using expressive art therapy since 2019. She was involved in many international art projects and worked with different communities across South East Asia and some European countries. She is a fellow of Mekhong Cultural Hub and one of the member of 5 SEA countries( Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia) collective group called SEA*5 Team. She is currently working as Project Manager of Association for Myanmar contemporary Arts.
Manojna Yeluri (Manu) is the Asia Regional Representative for ARC (Artists at Risk Connection) and a lawyer specializing in artist rights, entertainment, and intellectual property rights. Additionally, Manojna is the founder of Artistik License, a legal consultancy catering to independent artists and creative practitioners. She is also a co-founder of the initiative “Contracts for Creators.” Manojna holds a law degree from the NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, India. She furthered her legal education by obtaining a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Entertainment, Media, and Intellectual Property Rights Law from the UCLA School of Law in Los Angeles, USA. Manojna has co-authored notable publications, including “Arresting Art: Repression, Censorship, and Artistic Freedom in Asia.” and “Connecting the Dots: Artist Protection & Artistic Freedom in Asia,” reports published by ARC in collaboration with the Mekong Cultural Hub (MCH) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).
