The Hai-O Arts & Culture Grants- 2018

 Hai-O Enterprise Berhad was founded in 1975 by a group of compatriots who place great value in national independence, socialism and human rights. Despite having limited start-up capital since inception, it has donated generously to promoting education and culture. As the company grew and expanded over the years, it began to provide monetary sponsorship for impoverished individuals and needy groups.

The company has always viewed its role seriously in a healthy society, hence, it does not shirk its corporate social responsibilities in promoting multi-ethnic harmony, inter-ethnic interaction and understanding through arts and sports. Hai-O Enterprise Berhad acknowledges the significance of arts in the advancement of society, and has henceforth, diligently supported the Sasaran Art Festival, theatre, poetry recitals, dance and cultural performances, performing arts centres, as well as national literary laureates.

The annual Hai-O Arts and Culture Grants was created under the patronage of Hai-O Foundation, to encourage and support Malaysian arts and cultures with a view to promoting participation by all ethnicities. In its very spirit, it seeks to celebrate the rich diversity of Malaysian arts, uphold social justice and promote multi-ethnic harmony.

All arts that bring together a wide range of contrasting spheres, through inter-disciplinary, multicultural and experimental approaches, articulating Malaysian identity are welcome.

The amount proposed for the Hai-O Arts & Culture Grants is RM50,000.00 (Ringgit fifty thousand) to commence in December 2018 as follows :

1. RM5,000.00 (Ringgit five thousand) for one Lifetime Achievement Award;
2. Grants ranging from RM1,000.00 (Ringgit one thousand) to RM20,000.00 (Ringgit twenty thousand) for:
   • Creating new work in music, dance, theatre, film and visual art
   • Experimental productions
   • Research and documentation
   • Training
   • Workshops
   • Residencies

The Lifetime Achievement Award is only for Malaysian practitioners. Only Malaysian applicants, inclusive of Malaysia born or Malaysian permanent resident, are eligible for the grant consideration and at least half of the participants in the project has to be Malaysians. Work/projects sited in Malaysia will be given priority.

Applications will be assessed based on the project's potential capacity to promote socialism, advocate social justice or inspire interethnic interaction and harmony.

The Selection Panel for awarding the grants is a one-year appointment and shall comprise of five renowned members.

Guidelines for selection

1. The Lifetime Achievement Award is only for Malaysian practitioners.
2. The Lifetime Achievement Award winner is not eligible for grant consideration in the same year.
3. Only Malaysian applicants, inclusive of Malaysia born or Malaysian permanent residents, are eligible for the grant consideration and at least half of the participants in the project has to be Malaysians.
4. Work/projects sited in Malaysia will be given priority.
5. Applications will be assessed based on the project's potential capacity to promote socialism, advocate social justice or inspire interethnic interaction and harmony.

Panel of Selection

1. YBHG Tan Sri Norliza Rofli

   (Director-General National Department for Culture and Arts, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia)

   Tan Sri Norliza Rofli was appointed Director General for Culture and Arts in May 2005. She obtained her BA in Geography (Honours) from the University of Malaya and masters degree in arts management from Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburgh, USA. As the Director General, Tan Sri Norliza Rofli has played a keyrole in developing Malaysia's performing arts scene through promotion conversation guidance and training, as well as the development of non-government organization and cultural infrastructure. Tan Sri Norliza Rofli also plays an active role in the culture component of ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (ASEAN-COCI), and has represented the department at a ministerial level through her attendance of the Meeting of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) and the Asia Europe Ministers of Culture Meetings (ASEM). A member of International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA), she has been appointed as Board of Directors which is responsible for governing the organization in keeping with its Constitution.

    

2. Bilqis Hijjas

   Bilqis Hijjas writes about dance, produces, performs and teaches in Malaysia. Currently the President of MyDance Alliance, a membership organisation supporting dance in Malaysia, she has produced the popular Dancebox performance series, and was artistic director of MyDance Festival 2011 and 2013, and co-curator and producer of Tepak Tari in DiverseCity KL International Arts Festival in 2015. Bilqis lectures in dance criticism and performance theory at University of Malaya, and is editor of the Malaysian arts criticism platform Critics Republic.

   Bilqis also directs the dance program at private arts centre Rimbun Dahan, which offers residencies for contemporary dance choreographers. Since 2006, she has produced numerous dance performances in theatres all over the Klang Valley, as well as the occasional Dancing in Place weekend of site-specific works at Rimbun Dahan and elsewhere. Bilqis is also the Southeast Asia vice president of World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific, for which she edits the biannual magazine Asia Pacific Channels, and one of the core members of Asia Network for Dance. She also runs the annual Southeast Asia Choreolab for emerging contemporary dance choreographers from the region, which takes place at Rimbun Dahan mid-year, facilitated by international choreographers, since 2014.

   Bilqis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies from Harvard University, and post-graduate degrees in anthropology, dance and arts politics from Victorian College of the Arts, Australian National University and New York University.
    

3. chi too

   chi too (b. 1981, Kuala Lumpur) is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist whose education background is in Mass Communication and Sound Engineering. His practice demonstrates confident exploration of humour, satire, and visual poetics. It is at times difficult to say exactly what he does as an artist, largely because his artworks touch on a large spectrum of themes and issues. His practice vacillates between the high-minded and the frivolous, the social and the personal, the transparent and the esoteric.

   He has held five solo exhibitions to date: Sometimes When We Touch, OUR ArtProjects, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2018); Like Someone In Love, Lostgens' Contemporary Art Space, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2015); The Artist chi too Looks at Artworks as He Contemplates the State of the Nation's Institutions a.k.a. How Can You Be Sure, Art Row @ Publika, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2013); State of Doubt: Seven Actions Towards Dilemma, Art Lab AKIBA, Tokyo, Japan (2012); and Longing, Black Box, MAP @ Publika, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2011). He has participated in OPEN GATE 2017, Sapporo International Art Festival, Japan, OPEN GATE 2016, Aichi Triennale, Japan, and OPEN GATE 2015, Hin Bus Art Depot, Penang, Malaysia. His work, Longing #11 a.k.a Instructions for Longing was also included in the 2013 Singapore Biennale exhibition If the World Changed. He became a Nippon Foundation Asian Public Intellectual (API) fellow in 2011. Most recently, he was an artist-in-residence at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (NTU CCA) Singapore in 2017.

   In his free time, chi too serves refreshing beverages and works in the arts and television.
    

4. Sharmilla Ganesan

   Sharmilla Ganesan is a presenter/producer with BFM 89.9, where she hosts Front Row, the radio station's arts show. She is also a writer and critic, with in-depth experience covering and commenting on Malaysian arts and culture. She was a features journalist with The Star for over a decade, where she wrote extensively on the arts, books, and film. Her articles have been published in, among others, The Atlantic, South China Morning Post, NewNaratif, and ArtsEquator. She was runner-up for the Malaysian Press Institute's award for Best Column 2016, for her literary column. Sharmilla also writes fiction, and has been published in several Malaysian and regional anthologies/literary journals. She was an Asia Journalism Fellow with the National University of Singapore in 2017, and a Fulbright/Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow with the University of Maryland in 2015/2016.

    

5. Yap Sau Bin

   Sau Bin teaches at the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University and is a member of Rumah Air Panas [RAP], an artist initiative based in Kuala Lumpur. His art practice encompasses conceptual work, installation, performance, mapping and curation. Yap has also worked on the Narratives in Malaysian Art volumes published by Rogue Art. He has served on the jury panel for the 2013 Young Contemporary Arts Award by the National Art Gallery Malaysia; as a nominator for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2014 - 2016, Arts Maebashi Artist-In-Residency Programme 2016-2018 and the 2017 Hugo Boss Asia Art award.
    

The Winners of The 2018 Hai-O Arts & Culture Grants

Congratulations to the eight winners sharing the amount of RM 50,000