Catch up on everything that’s happening at Phare Ponleu Selpak we work to change lives through the arts in Battambang, Cambodia.
Meet the Volunteers of Phare Ponleu Selpak: KIM Eunkyoo, Language & Music Teacher
The campus of Phare Ponleu Selpak is home to volunteers from Cambodia and all around the world. This week we’re proud to interview KIM Eunkyoo from South Korea who’s helping change lives through the arts across a few different subjects. Across the table, KIM Eunkyoo...
Join Us for the Sangker River Run: A 30 km Fundraiser Run (or Cycle!) for Phare Ponleu Selpak
On your marks, get set…it’s time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Phare Ponleu Selpak! That’s right, 2024 is the year that Phare Ponleu Selpak turns 30, and we’re celebrating all year long with a series of special events, fundraisers, art festivals, and more....
Don’t Miss the Battambang imaginée Art Festival This Month
It’s time to celebrate art, culture, and development in Battambang! Phare Ponleu Selpak and AFD – Agence Française de Développement – have joined forces to bring a new art festival to Battambang Province, Cambodia entitled: បាត់ដំបងក្នុងក្តីស្រមៃ / Battambang...
Vanthan’s Story: How a Phare Music Student Rose to National Stardom
LY Vanthan – better known today as just “Vanthan” – is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist. You probably know him as the musician behind “Khmer Gentleman,” but did you know that Vanthan is also a graduate of Phare Ponleu Selpak?...
Views of Preah Vihear: A Student Art Exhibition from Phare Visual & Applied Arts School
Khmer culture is an essential source of inspiration for art students at Phare Ponleu Selpak. The architecture inherited from their ancestors is present throughout Cambodia, and is often found in temples and places of religious worship. A Special School Trip to...
Teacher Interview: How Child Protection Works at Phare Kindergarten
The Child Protection policy was updated and improved in 2019 at Phare Ponleu Selpak. In the kindergarten, the program creates a climate of security and trust between students and teachers at school, and between children and parents at home. SOK Mochchara has been an...
How Nutrition Plays a Vital Role in Child Protection at Phare Ponleu Selpak
Nutrition is vital to the health and welfare of every child. After all, a child’s growth is regulated by the food they eat, and meals must include vitamins and nutrients in sufficient quantities to ensure long-term wellness. That’s why nutrition is such an important...
![Artist Talk: Understanding Khmer Contemporary Art [Video]](https://phareps.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sart-festival-contemporary-arts-battambang-cambodia-400x250.png)
Artist Talk: Understanding Khmer Contemporary Art [Video]
The tension between Khmer art preservation and development has been growing recently. During the 2023 S'Art Urban Art Festival, there were several discussions about arts and shared cultural heritage. This discussion with artists attempted to explain and understand the...
How the Mobile Library Brings Books, Arts, and Joy to Battambang Communities
Earlier this year, Phare Ponleu Selpak re-launched a mobile library program for the children in the surrounding community. The mobile library goes out into the surrounding community every Thursday and Friday to give everyone, but especially youngsters, a chance to...
![Meet the Volunteers of Phare Ponleu Selpak: Juliette DELORON, Graphic Designer [Video]](https://phareps.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/volunteering-battambang-cambodia-phare-ponleu-selpak-juliette-deloron-400x250.jpg)
Meet the Volunteers of Phare Ponleu Selpak: Juliette DELORON, Graphic Designer [Video]
Changing lives through the arts requires the work of extraordinary teachers, staff, and volunteers from across Cambodia and all around the world. One volunteer we’re proud to have worked with is Juliette DELORON from Strasbourg, France. Juliette has been working...
Podcast: Hope of Lokru Srey Bandaul, the Smiling Hero
Earlier this month, on 4 August 2023, was the commemoration of two years since the passing of Lokru Srey Bandaul, one of the beloved teachers and co-founders of Phare Ponleu Selpak. We remember the great meaning, purpose, and vision he gave to the Phare Ponleu Selpak...
In Memory of Lokru Srey Bandaul: Inaugurating a New Reflection Garden at Phare Ponleu Selpak
Since 2021, every year in early August the Phare Ponleu Selpak community grieves the loss of one of our co-founders, Lokru SREY Bandaul. On August 4, 2023, we celebrated the memory of Bandaul who passed away two years ago from COVID-19, with the inauguration of a new...
![UNESCO: Understanding Shared Cultural Heritage in the Mekong Region [Video]](https://phareps.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/unesco-sart-festival-panel-mekong-shared-cultural-heritage-400x250.jpg)
UNESCO: Understanding Shared Cultural Heritage in the Mekong Region [Video]
What is cultural heritage? And what does it mean (or not mean) to share it with other overlapping ethnicities and cultures in the region? If you didn’t attend the S’Art Urban Arts Festival in June 2023 held here in Battambang, you might have missed out on the panel...
How Does My Circus Show Ticket Support Phare Ponleu Selpak?
When you purchase a ticket to the Phare Battambang Circus, did you know you’re supporting an entire community? It’s true. The funds from your ticket impact a wide variety of people and programs throughout Battambang Cambodia. But First… Before we dive into specifics,...
A Glimpse into the Life Skills Workshops at Phare Ponleu Selpak
You might know about Phare Ponleu Selpak for our circus shows in Battambang or for the arts education we offer to children, youth, and young adults in the community, but did you know we also offer our students a wide range of social support programs? One of those...
Smashing Success: The S’Art Festival Brought Urban Arts to Life in Battambang in 2023
That’s a wrap! The 2023 edition of the S’Art Urban Arts Festival was a remarkable success. From 12 to 17 June, the biennial S’Art Festival drew in over 7700 attendees across a wide range of activities and who hailed from around Cambodia and across Asia. After the...
Join Us at the S’Art Urban Arts Festival 2023!
The S’Art Urban Arts Festival is back! Join us on the streets of Battambang from 12 to 17 June 2023 for this biennial festival that introduces the public to urban art forms like hip-hop music and dance, as well as graffiti and mural painting. After cancelling the 2021...
A Year Gone by: Highlights from 2022 at Phare Ponleu Selpak
2022 has come to a close, and it is with both pride and gratitude that we look back on all the things we have achieved in this first full post-lockdown year. The highlights are too many to count, but here – in words and in pictures – is our attempt. Guinness World...
Arts Integration in Early Education: How We Trained Battambang Public Schools’ Kindergarten Teachers
Through a series of workshops in the fall, we’ve focused intensely on training Battambang’s public school kindergarten teachers on integrating arts in the education of young children. The first workshop took place back in September, where we hosted kindergarten...
Fight for Light: Virtual Fundraising Gala for Phare Ponleu Selpak
December 18th marked a day we had been looking forward to for a very long time. After months of hard work, we were able to present our virtual fundraising gala "Fight for Light," a one-of-a-kind musical circus adventure and multimedia love story about Phare Ponleu...
How Phare Ponleu Selpak Won the Guinness World Record for Longest Circus Performance
Cambodian non-profit Phare Ponleu Selpak completed an incredible journey that started on 7 March 2021, when it performed a 24-hour circus in a last-ditch effort to raise funds to survive the pandemic and set a Guinness World Record. Phare was finally able to announce...
Want to connect with us beyond weekly blog posts? Sign up for our (mostly) monthly newsletter to learn more about how Phare Ponleu Selpak changes lives through the arts.
***