Thank you very much for every support! :)
LAF Fundraising Campaign
Be a part of a cultural benchmark in Loei Art Festival (LAF) 2021!
Payment by credit card is available through the PayPal service. A PayPal account is not required.
You can log in as ‘guest’ to complete the payment.
For people who has Thai bank account.
Bank : Kasikorn Bank
Account name : Wayla Amatathammachad
Account no. : 041-2-54279-9
or scanning the QR code.
Donation
Your donation will contribute to
Empower
local artists and creators by covering production costs for art exhibitions of local and visiting artists in public spaces. Expenses include transportation, installation, maintenance of exhibited artworks, both temporary and permanent.
Provide
the dormitory & working infrastructure for staff and volunteers, before and during LAF. The longer we can afford to let our team and artists sink into the community, the more we can be creative and build a robust and sustainable network.
Create
a documentary project to archive Loei’s spirit in LAF. This archival documentary will be an asset for us and the people in Loei to promote and negotiate our vision for future actions.
1. WHAT IS LAF?
Loei Art Fes, or LAF, is a community-based contemporary art festival in Loei province in northeast Thailand. LAF is born from the collaborative effort of Prayoon for Art network, the networks of Loei artists and creators, and many other local stakeholders to empower and spread out the charms of Loei’s spirits. While adjusting our ways through the ‘new normal’ of Covid-19, we will organise the festival on 23 Jul - 31 Aug 2021; alongside the local festivals of Loei. After the festival period, several art activities will be continued as long term projects to be apart of creative ecosystem incubation.
From the team that brought Low Fat Art Fes to life, we will now move ourselves to areas that are further outside of Bangkok and operate under the name of Loei Art Fes (LAF). LAF will be a kick-starting event to ignite the local community network, public spaces and re-visiting traditions with a contemporary view. We aim towards creative community development under our long term 5-year plan. Our curation has always been centred around the participative process and creating accessibility for quality contemporary art beyond a blackbox theatre or a white cube gallery.
Our festival program will consist of;
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Art exhibitions of local and visiting artists in public spaces (Our partners include local schools, markets, municipal facilities, town hospitals, temples etc.)
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A cultural map and curated activity routes for visitors to explore Loei’s existing treasures (cuisine, crafts, indigenous culture etc.)
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‘Phi Ta Khon Intervention’; public performance and exhibitions as a result of an international (virtual) residency program to open up diverse interpretations of tradition
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‘Smells like Loei Spirit’; a participative incubation program that offers a collaboration between professional artists and art students of Loei.
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‘Dansai Chef’s Table’. Discover Loei’s Dansai town through its authentic folk cuisine.
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‘Dansai Creative Well-being Project’
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And more
2. Why LAF?
Creation, distribution, and contemporary art exposure in Thailand have been limited to the capital and very few major cities for far too long. With limited recreation and cultural facilities in Loei, young students only have the internet for creative inspirations. We believe that everyone should have access to art, and we should be able to find art as a part of our everyday lives. LAF aims to approach the rich resources of Loei via the lens of contemporary art and use that to…
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Empower the community
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Promote creative tourism that coincides with the local lifestyle
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Plant seeds for sustainable economic development
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Bridge to the long term well-being of residents
Our mission is to create LAF as a model project for further local socio-cultural development initiatives in other parts of Thailand in the future.
3. Why LOEI PROVINCE?
What kind of place is Loei, and what exactly is its ‘spirits’?
Loei is a unique province in the northeast of Thailand with cultural diversity and heritage, beautiful scenery, anthropological value - most notably its social bond. The way of life for most people in Loei is still based on a mixture of Buddhism and animism beliefs passed on through generations. The spiritual beliefs of Loei weave into the contemporary social fabric harmoniously. Loei is most well known for being the home to the Phi Ta Khon festival. It is also equipped with local active citizens ready for change and development with a generous, sharing and caring spirit. This enthusiasm roots down from the ‘Ao Hang’ (เอาแฮง) tradition; a social gathering to help one another harvest crops or accomplish something. Most importantly, Loei has been exporting numerous art students to other major cities.
We aim to embrace Loei’s unique spirits and valuable resources through art intervention and create a ‘Mangala’ (มงคล) or auspicious empowerment for the local community leading to sustainable economic growth and wellbeing. On a personal note, we want to make Loei become a home for creative minds. We believe that with this movement, we are igniting an industry of the creative economy in Loei - creating alternatives for talented young people to be within the rich environment they have, but also having similar opportunities as living in bigger metropolitans.
We want to reduce the opportunity gap and bring artists back to their homes.
4. OUR IMPLEMENTED ACTIVITIES IN THE PAST
Since mid-2020, we have been traveling to Loei to conduct participative activities in our target communities. These participation processes (interviews, workshops, public hearings, seminars etc.) are vital to our curation since our value lies in listening to Loei residents’ voices and avoiding gentrification. Having as much interaction as possible with the community will lead to an original and relevant festival to the community. Most importantly, developing a sense of ownership for Loei residents both of the event and of their definition of contemporary culture in the long run.
We have gained allies in the district of Muang, Wang Sapung, Dansai, Nhong Hin, and Chiang Khan. Our local co-creators include Buddhist monks, spiritual leaders, medical doctors from the local hospital, entrepreneurs, primary students, youth groups, local university teachers, municipal officers, craftsmen, older generations with folk wisdom, etc.
We are determined to plant more seeds and create an intergenerational network among the private, public, and civil sectors.
Visit our gallery showing photos of our previously implemented activities in Loei province which were part of our incubation process and "STAR TIER" project.
5. OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
Our long term target for the movement is developing Loei into a sustainable art festival city in 5 years through the contribution of every sector (Low Fat Art Fes Vol. 4 - 6).
Our area of work is creating common ground among the development of economy, tourism, and quality of life. We are now starting from the collaborative efforts of the civil sector, and we aim to push this movement towards policy-making and coordination with the community’s infrastructure.
Planting seeds for the younger generation is also a significant aspect of our envisioned future.
One of our main contributors in Loei is “Canvas Gangster”; a collective of art students at Rajabhat Loei University. By participating in our activities and being a part of the Loei Artists and Creators Club, they are now taking inspirations, gradually taking ownership of the local resources for a future career path.
Young generations of the Tai Song Dam ethnic community in the Chiang Khan district revisited their heritage through the lens of contemporary art in our “New Narrative Youth Camp”, which planted a seed for intergeneration bond and cultural preservation. Upon our introduction to the abstraction and multidisciplinary art workshop, one student commented: “This is my first time knowing that performances can be non-verbal and you can express yourself as such”. She has now founded a creative club in her high school. We strongly wish that our movement can be an inspiration to many others more.