Message from Art for Refugees in Transition:

January, 2005
My dear friends,
Happy New Year!

2004 was a wonderful and eventful year for ART and its programs to help rebuild refugee communities through their indigenous arts.

Thailand
The year began with a return visit to northern Thailand where we evaluated and then helped to expand ART’s pilot program in two Burmese refugee camps in Mae Hong Son Province. Over 600 children and 50 adults participated in the intergenerational traditional arts program. The response was overwhelming and more teachers were recruited and trained in order to accommodate the additional children who were interested.

This summer, the program was handed over to the refugees and is now fully self sustaining. The refugees themselves are running the program, coordinating the classes, performances and festivals. They even built an additional structure in each camp to house the musical instruments and costumes. We could not have asked for a better outcome.

Colombia
In October, 2004, ART was approached by the Caring for Colombia Foundation, a New York based foundation that helps to fund and implement humanitarian programs in Colombia. ART traveled to Colombia in December to explore the feasibility of establishing our traditional arts programs for in-country refugees fleeing from Colombia’s drug and guerrilla wars. After two weeks of traveling around the country, we concluded that ART’s work was needed and welcomed at all of the locations we visited.

The highlight of our visit was Popayan, a small city in the mountains south of Cali. Popayan has a large community of internal refugees displaced by over 40 years of civil war that lives in the hills at the edges of the city. The community is spread across several shanty towns, with no running water and little, if any electricity.

Currently, there is a local NGO (Non Governmental Organization) working with the community – providing literacy programs for the children and adults. The NGO – Foundacion Infantil y Junevil del Cauca - has asked ART to partner with them to implement our traditional arts program in one of the displaced communities – Gran Conquista. The NGO has money in its budget for a project next year, is looking for a project to support, and would like ART to be that project! In addition, the University of Cauca (Popayan is located in the state of Cauca) has also asked to partner with ART. The University will assign students from its anthropology, music, ethnology, psychology and other departments to help ART institute and then administer the program; the students will earn academic credit for this work.

The Bogotá office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) expressed great interest in ART’s work as well. After several successful meetings with them, UNDP asked to partner with ART for the International Human Development Report they are preparing in partnership with the Colombia operations of UNESCO. The specifics of the partnership are now being worked out, but the fact that they are so interested in ART’s work is very positive. And finally, after meeting with the UNDP program officer for Conflict Prevention and Recovery, UNDP offered financial assistance to ART.

So, as you can see, it was an incredibly successful visit. We plan to return to Popayan in February to begin implementation.

Many thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement throughout this process. Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2005!

All the best,
Sara

Please visit our website: www.artforrefugees.org
(soon to be updated)

Art for Refugees in Transition
P.O. Box 456
New York, NY 10113-0456
e-mail: info@artforrefugees.org