Catch up on everything that's happening at Phare Ponleu Selpak we work to change lives through the arts in Battambang, Cambodia.
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.
Save the Date: Online Screening of « Cirque du Cambodia »
Cirque du Cambodia is a documentary film showcasing the success story of Phare alumni Dina and Sopha. Starting on UN World Children’s Day, a special online benefit screening will be organized to raise money for our school and inspire people to help changing other Cambodian children’s lives through the arts!
![What Worries Us & What Keeps Us Strong? Phare Voices [Part 2]](https://phareps.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Capture-decran-2020-10-02-a-16.19.38-400x250.png)
What Worries Us & What Keeps Us Strong? Phare Voices [Part 2]
These are strange times we are living in. Behind the scenes of Phare are slices of life stories, with their ups and downs, but mostly carrying with them the hope of brighter days to come. Listen to Phare voices, round #2!
Ensuring the youngest’s development while Phare kindergarten is closed
After all Cambodian schools closed in March, Phare’s Education Department responded by developing outreach programs in the surrounding communes to provide our kindergarten children with face to face, socially distanced classes. Meet our teacher Hanny, who has been very actively engaged in teaching her students in the communities.
Realising our first circus “summer camp” with the Metta Karuna’s kids
Phare had the pleasure to co-organize a day of circus workshops to entertain and bring joy to the children of the « Metta Karuna » Center, a like-minded organization of Battambang Province which provides education and care to young people coming from dire family circumstances including severe poverty and abandonment.
Phare Creative Studio’s movie to protect the elderly against COVID-19 reached 1.2 million views!
Phare is well known for its circus and arts schools, but did you know it is hosting a professional graphic design and animation studio under the very same roof, whose latest COVID-19 animation movie amassed more than a million views?
COVID-19: What worries us, what keeps us strong? Listen to Phare voices!
Working in times of COVID-19 can be unsettling. Behind the scenes of Phare Ponleu Selpak, our staff and students tell us about their concerns and their strengths.
How we support the communities we serve in times of COVID-19
In these troubled times, our first thought has been for the many impoverished communities in Battambang Province who are counting on Phare’s support. Social support has always been at the core of our mission. To understand the economic situation and immediate needs of families affected by this global crisis, Phare’s social workers conducted a detailed survey in April.
Phare’s little artists joined the UNESCO online exhibition
Our passionate and dedicated teachers Lon Lao and Chen Phy joined this exciting initiative with six students from their leisure drawing classes to learn, create and discover about the natural and cultural heritage sites in their country, their region, and around the globe.
Stories of hope from Sovandy, Dana and Sreyleak
With schools being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic many of the children are at risk of dropping out of school permanently. Our mission to empower children and provide the support needed for them to stay in school and pursue their passions has never mattered more.
“Wash Ya Handz!!!” to fight COVID-19 with our performing students!
Like many content creators around the world, who are responding to the COVID-19 crisis online with engaging public health videos, Minor Act has teamed up with us to create a very unique Cambodian creative response: “Wash Ya Handz!!!”.
Phare Artists’ Creativity Has Been Flourishing During COVID-19 Confinement
Home confinement has provided Phare artists with time to reflect on this huge wave affecting us all and adapt to the situation by doing what they know best.
COVID-19: Help the Brightness of the Arts keep on shining
I never imagined to be in the midst of a global pandemic during my lifetime. It is as if we have been thrown into an horror movie activating our survival instincts. Everyone in the world is being impacted in some way or another.
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