The Hai-O Arts & Culture Grants 2022

Hai-O Enterprise Berhad was established in 1975 by a group of compatriots cherishing national independence, socialism and human rights. From the day of its inception, it has donated to education, even though with limited start-up capital. Throughout the progress of Hai-O Enterprise Berhad , it has been donating to and sponsoring needy and impoverished individuals and groups.

Hai-O Enterprise Berhad has been practising CSR, fulfilling the Groups’ social objectives of promoting multi-ethnic unity and harmony, advocating inter-ethnic interaction and understanding through activities, arts and sports. Hai-O Enterprise Berhad acknowledges the significance of arts in the advancement of society, and has continuously supported the Sasaran Art Festival, theatre, poetry recitals, dance and cultural performances, performing arts centres, as well as national literary laureates.

The Hai-O Arts and Culture Grants is created under the patronage of Hai-O Foundation, to encourage and support Malaysian arts and culture with the view to promote participation by all ethnicities in Malaysia, celebrating the rich diversity in Malaysian arts. Social justice, multi-ethnic unity and harmony form the spirit of the Hai-O Arts and Culture Grants.

Arts that bring together a wide range of contrasting spheres, through inter-disciplinary, multicultural and experimental approaches, articulating Malaysian identity are welcome. The amount for the Hai-O Arts & Culture Grants is RM 50,000.00 (Ringgit fifty thousand). The fund will give out:

RM 5,000.00 (Ringgit five thousand) for one Lifetime Achievement Award;
Grants ranging from RM 4,000 (Ringgit four thousand) to RM 10,000 (Ringgit ten thousand) for:
Creating new work in music, dance, theatre, film and visual art
Experimental productions
Research and documentation
Training
Workshops
Residencies

Panel of Selection

YBrs Encik Rosnan Bin Nordin (JKKN)
Timbalan Ketua Pengarah (Kebudayaan & Kesenian), Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara.
Bilqis Hijjas

Bilqis Hijjas writes about dance, produces, performs and teaches in Malaysia. Currently the Secretary 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.

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.
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.
Fasyali Fadzly

Fasyali is a director, playwright, researcher and educator. He had written and directed his own plays such as Teater Juta-Juta, Berani Mati, Kotak Hitam, Mati Hidup Kembali, Ingatan and directed several plays from other playwrights such as Faisal Tehrani, Leow Puay Tin, Yasmina Reza, Alfian Sa’at and many more. His theatrical works have been staged in Malaysia and abroad such as Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Canada and Czech Republic. He also writes theatre-related articles and reviews and was published in local and international web portals such as Critics Republic (Malaysia), Arts Equator (Singapore), Dewan Budaya (Malaysia) and Jurnal Svara (Malaysia). In 2020, he self-published his first collection of plays titled Teater Juta-Juta: Koleksi Skrip Teater Fasyali Fadzly. Currently, he works for Malaysian theatre archive project, My Art Memory Project as a researcher. Fasyali is now serving at The National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage of Malaysia (ASWARA).
Wong Jyh Shyong (JS)

Wong Jyh Shyong (JS) received his Master of Fine Arts from the Graduate Institute of Choreography, Taipei National University of the Arts in 2013 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with First Class Honours in 2005. Previously, he was a dancer with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan from 2005 to 2009. In Malaysia’s 9th and 11th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, he received the Best Featured Performer award in 2012 and 2014. In 2014, with the DPAC Dance Company, he won the Best Group Performance (Dance) at the 12th BOH Cameronian Art Awards in Malaysia.

From 2013 to 2016, he was the artistic director of DPAC Performing Arts Centre and DPAC Dance Company in Malaysia, dedicated to producing the “D for Dancing” dance performance series, the d’MOTION International Dance Festival, and the establishment of the “Dancer’s Training Program”. He is currently a dance department lecturer at the Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya, and the President of MyDance Alliance, a non-profit organization that brings together a community of dance practitioners and enthusiasts supporting and promoting dance in Malaysia.