Friday, June 1, 20128 THE MONGOL MESSENGER 

 Arts Council o Mongolia, Delta Foundation Center, IV foor, Tourists Street-38, Chingeltei District Tel/Fax: 976-11-319015 E-mail: education@artscouncil.mn Web: www.artscouncil.mn

 ARTS COUNCIL OF MONGOLIA

ART&CULTURE

The Mongol Messenger is operated by the government news agency MONTSAME and is printed by the MONTSAME.Home Page: www.mongolmessenger.mn;E-mail: monmessenger@magicnet.mn (ISSN 1684-1883)

The Arts Council of Mongolia(ACM)’s strategic objective is tocontribute to strengthening thesustainable capacity of Mongolian

arts organizations and arts leadersin the new emerging democracyand market economy. In thisregard, ACM has implemented itsthird year of the Young Leadershipin the Arts program.

For the last two years, this program has been supported bythe Royal Norwegian Embassy

in Beijing. This year, nineteenFabulous young artists werechosen to participate in the program and offered trainingand access to practical exercisesin leadership, marketing &effective communication, projectdevelopment, cultural policy,intellectual property, copyrightand fundraising.

ACM has provided a 10 part mentoring program on artsadministration and leadershipskills and provided accessto international festivals andnetworking opportunities. Themajor focus of the program is

to build a sustainable and viablenetwork of young emerging artadministrators and artists and tosupport the participation of youngleaders and artists at a Festivalin Norway. Six successful participants will attend a Festivalin Norway and gain experiencewith music festival management.

By Jessica Lumb

As a part of their 10thAnniversary celebrations, theArts Council of Mongolia (ACA)is getting Lost (and then Found)in the Gobi.

In a world of internet,Facebook, smart phones and24/7 news channels, there arefewer and fewer places left on the planet which allow us to switchoff completely. The Gobi regionhowever, is one such place wherefalling off the radar and beingenveloped by the vastness of theworld is a real possibility.

With this idea in mind,ACM initiated a residency project designed to supportinnovation, experimentation andcreativity of Mongolian artistsand increase their contributionto the development of humanand rural areas. S.Sarantsatsral(State Laureate Artist);D.Enkhgerel (choreopgrapher 

and dancer of Ulaanbaatar Ensemble); D.Dorjderem (Artist);A.Amarmend (journalist of “GooDali” Magazine); J.Batzaya(Musician of Morin Khuur Ensemble); Ts.Khulan (Jasssinger) from Ulaanbaatar andB.Galindev (Long song singer of Music and Drama theatreof Dundgobi province) fromDundgobi province will work together to produce an art group based fusion performance mixingtraditional and modern art under the theme of ‘Lost & Found’.As a collaboration includinglocal artists and people at Gobiattractions, it will maintainexchanges and contribute towarda more intensive collaborationamong freelance artists of the two provinces.

The main message expressedthroughout the project is the lossof contact that human beingshave with nature. Ever since wewere created in the universe, wehave slowly become more and

more urbanized – to the point infact that many believe we havelost our inner consciousness andability to interact with natureat all. Have we lost the naturalconsciousness of our life? Whendo you last remember spendingtime with no other purpose thanto connect with what was aroundyou?

As separated and as lost as weappear to be, the good thing is thatthere are always opportunities to be found again. In an effort toachieve this, the group of artistswill spend time in the pristineenvironment of the Gobi, allowingthem the chance to look into andlisten to their inner conscience,reacting and interacting with thenature that surrounds them. Theseresponses will be presented in their combined nal performances.

Travelling and workingtogether from the 3rd of June,the nal performance will be presented on two occasions.The rst on June 7th, will be at

Baga Guzriin Chuluu, locatedin Adaatsag Soum of DundgobiAimag. The second will be presented on June 10th at BulgunSoum of Umnugobi Aimag. Bothof these locations are nationalreservation areas of granite rock formations in the middle of theGobi desert with ancient humanrock paintings, natural springs,and the remains of a destroyedmonastery.

Ms. Sarantsatsralt, a visualartist herself, will travel withthe group as a curator, bringingtogether all the disparate aspectsof the participants to create onecohesive fusion. A TV crewwill also travel with the artistsand project team to record the process and provide the nationalaudience an opportunity to watchthe collaboration. A catalogue todocument the story will also be produced and include interviewswith the individual artists about the project and photos of their traveland of the nal performance.

Through the residency,ACM hopes to establishworking partnerships betweencultural organizations andindividual artists and promotecultural and creative exchanges between Ulaanbaatar, Dudgobiand Umnugobi provinces andencourage an innovative anddynamic arts community.

“Stand still. The trees aheadand bush beside you are not lost,”said Albert Einstein many yearsago, and the same can be said for the sand and the granite of theGobi region. Perhaps we shouldall take ACM’s example and getLost for a little while in order to be Found.

Lost and Found in the Gobi

 Young artists organize Children’s Day event

A networking e-list for artiststo share and exchange ideas wascreated by ACM. The artistsinvolved in the program willalso learn to develop their ownmarketing and promotion strategyfor their work and as result, TheFabulous Club www.thefclub.mn blog site is updated with newentries and portfolios of newly joined artists.

The Young arts leadersorganized a one day event called‘Young arts leaders for Youth’ for Children’s Day with the childrenof the Children Nurture center which houses and educates onehundred children. The Youngarts leaders initiated the eventfor the children, giving them agreat opportunity to experiencethe arts. The Young arts leaderscontributed their social ability andhumanity through the event. They promoted skills and shared talentswith children. The goal of theevent was to celebrate Children’sDay with kids, especially thosewho don’t have parents andvulnerable children; beingtogether and spending a happyand creative day with them.

They organized the One dayevent program, which consistedof music and dance performances,drama, contortion, painting,calligraphy, fashion, photographyand video. It was a complex arts

eld. Young leaders also ran agreat art education program. Allthe children were very activeand involved in all the programactivities and got smiles andcondence from this event byYoung art leaders.

Young leaders have created avideo from the event and it will be broadcast on Mongol televisionon Children’s Day. They want toappeal to other fabulous youth tocontribute their skills and abilityfor social and culture of Mongoliathrough the video.

Young Leadership in the Arts

Program’s graduation ceremonywill be held at the end of June.Fabulous Nineteen YoungLeaders are ready to contributetheir great work and talent in thearts and culture eld.

Finally, thanks to Mr. SveinO.Saether, the Ambassador of Royal Norwegian Embassy inBeijing, and other colleaguesfrom the embassy for supportingMongolian arts and culture andimplementing this project and providing this great opportunityfor Mongolian young artists andarts leaders.

Children are making puppets

 Participants of the ‘Young Arts Leaders for Youth”

 Joint artwork by Young leaders & Children

 Purevdorj, one of the happy participants