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 the 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 organize 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.
Your donation will contribute to
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
The contemporary Phi Ta Khon mask creations were initiated by a local artist who aims to develop his local cultural creation into contemporary artistic work.
The Buddhist statue made by a local craftsman to offer to the temple. Instead of sacrifice the buffalo life, as a local tradition, he decided to make a buffalo horn-shaped statue.
Local craftsmen voluntary work together to maintenance jobs for the temple. All their technique are self-taught
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.
For full information about the Festival please visit www.lowfatartfes.com
Our heart from Loei to every supporter
We also prepare special gifts from Loei province for everyone who donates to support our causes. All the gifts are produced by the local craftsmen. Of course, it's will help to stimulate the local economy during the pandemic. And we will send out all the gifts to you by December 2021. Our staff will contact you directly within 30 days after your donation to confirm the shipment information. For more information please contact [email protected]