Catch up on everything that’s happening at Phare Ponleu Selpak we work to change lives through the arts in Battambang, Cambodia.
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...
A Recap of the “Love Does Not Hurt” Mini Arts Festival
Celebrating 3 Years of the Love Does Not Hurt Campaign On Friday 14 October, we held a Mini Arts Festival on our campus called "Today’s Tomorrow," wrapping up all the lessons learned during the past three years of implementing the LDNH project. Love Does Not Hurt was...
Meet Karona, the First Recipient of the Srey Bandaul Art Development Fund
The story of first recipient of the Srey Bandaul Art Development Fund.
Social Support Workshop: Be Like Bamboo, Bend But Don’t Break
As societies evolve, the difficulties that young people face – and the social support they need – change accordingly. For example, today's youth in Cambodia have to deal with a number of challenges, including: Scholastic and peer pressure Family breakdowns or abuse...
Promoting School Nutrition & Gardening at Phare Ponleu Selpak
Current situation Malnutrition still impacts many children in Cambodia. Rice, some meat and vegetables is in their diet but seldom fruit and dairy products, because they are not affordable by vulnerable households. Moreover, Cambodians consume excessive amount of...
Phare Ponleu Selpak Creates a Mobile Community Library
Out of the Tini Tinou International Circus Festival spotlight, which took everyone’s attention during the months of May and June, our education team was busy launching the community mobile library. Books have always played a significant role at Phare, engaging many...
Phare Ponleu Selpak Hosts Roundtable on Positive Discipline
On 23 March 2022 Phare Ponleu Selpak hosted a roundtable discussion on child protection and the promotion of positive discipline for children under the topic, “How to Apply Positive Discipline at School”, with seven guest speakers, including Mr. Chhun Ramy, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) and Mr. Teng Visal the Deputy Director of the Provincial Office of Education (PoE) in Battambang and representative of a few public schools. Student representatives participated in the audience as well.
Arts Integration in Phare Kindergarten & Child Development Center
Here at Phare Ponleu Selpak, we believe strongly in the power of the arts to change lives. And science is on our side!
Check out our visual artists works created during the pandemic
It’s been more than a year our visual arts students have been on and off school following the Government’s protocol as the pandemic spread over the Country. We had shown you back then how the first home confinement had provided Phare artists with time to reflect on this huge wave affecting us all. While Cambodia is facing a new outbreak, they have been expressing their insights and their appeal to pay closer attention to protect ourselves and others. Have a look at their latest works!
Tribute to Lokru Bandaul wrote by Kunthary, a supporter of Cambodian Arts
“My family’s connection to Phare, as I came to learn, dates back to the 1980’s when my father, as a Member of the Executive Committee of one of the resistance groups at the Thai-Cambodian border, had an oversight responsibility of the civilian affairs of all the refugee camps the group was overseeing, of which Site 2 – where Phare founders grew up and started drawing classes – was part of.”
Phare Ponleu Selpak grabs 4 gold trophies at the Stevie International Business Awards
After the most difficult year in our history, including the closure of our circuses with disastrous impact on funding, we have triumphed against the odds to win four gold awards at the Stevie International Business Awards (IBAs)! Phare has just been recognised once again for our audacious 24 hour circus World record attempt and fundraiser.
Schools closed: Phare tries to keep the students, teachers, parents engaged
This June 2021, the Cambodian Ministry of Education announced that all schools will remain closed and children will continue learning through online classes. For rural and less privileged communities, it still means a lot of active participation from teachers and parents to compensate for the lack of access to internet and digital devices, and the long term gap it is digging to reach back the standard education level all children are entitled to get.
LOVE DOES NOT HURT: Phare is advocating for children rights and wellbeing
Phare is still taking an active role in the ‘Love Does Not Hurt Campaign’: a three-year advocacy campaign launched in 2020 to push for an end to Humiliating/Corporal Punishment and to promote Positive Discipline in the Southeast Asian Region. In May and June, our social support team conducted a new series of awareness sessions in 16 villages of Battambang Province, to which more than 330 persons attended. You might not be familiar with the concepts of Corporal Punishment and Positive Discipline? Read our article to know more!
Phare Ponleu Selpak enhances the quality of education of the children
This pandemic has brought the inequality and inequity in education to the forefront. While we did our best in extending kindergarten classes to the communities with “home” schooling, this reality gave us the motivation to take a fresh look at our Kindergarten serving 200 children.
Guinness World Record: Phare artists performed 24h
History was made at 08.10AM on Monday 8th March, when no less than 90 Phare circus performers took a final bow after a continuous circus performance that lasted 24h, 10min and 30sec in a stunningly ambitious Guinness World Record attempt in the category of Longest Circus Show.
Phare into the Future: Join our Virtual Gala & Guinness World Record Circus Show
Do you want to be a Guinness World Record Breaker?
And help Cambodia’s leading arts and education NGO Phare survive the pandemic?
Then please join us on March 7th for our thrilling virtual gala and record-breaking Longest Circus Peformance Ever!
Keeping our visual art students’ vocations alive thanks to FinDac & Tribe Gallery
Those who have visited our campus after fall 2019 must remember the iconic «Anapyabal» mural on our circus building, painted by the world-famous Irish urban artist FinDac. After his visit to Cambodia and Phare, he made limited edition prints of Anapyabal for Cambodia sold through our partner Tribe Gallery and another one for the international audience. 100% of profits have been donated towards Phare Visual and Applied Arts School students’ scholarship fund.
« Voice of older people » is making its way across Western Cambodia
Along with our main programs targeting the youth, we continue to develop greater community outreach projects with « Voice of older people », which aims to use the arts as an innovative tool to raise awareness in the community about the condition and challenges of the elderly women, and notably the disabled.
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