Event Description: Join the CCE on March 8^th for a talk “Healing from Genocide: Creating Peace Through the Arts in Cambodia” by Arn Chorn-Pond, founder of Cambodia Living Arts.

Cambodia Living Arts was founded in 1998 by genocide survivor and musician Arn Chorn-Pond, to preserve and restore traditional Cambodian performing arts and rituals. 90% of Cambodian artists did not survive the Khmer Rouge Genocide. Cambodia Living Arts aims to protect Cambodia’s artistic heritage.

Arn Chorn-Pond is a musician, human rights activist, and survivor of the Khmer Rouge period. He was born into a family of artists, but in 1975 was sent to a children’s labor camp. Under the instruction of a Master Artist, he survived by playing propaganda music. He escaped, spending time at a refugee camp in Thailand, before aid worker Peter Pond adopted him in 1980. He was educated in the US, and started up several community projects in his new country. In the 1990s, Arn returned to Cambodia to find his former teacher and to rebuild the artistic legacy of his family. After seeing the desperate conditions faced by Cambodia’s remaining Masters, Arn was moved to help. In 1998, along with a group of dedicated people from the US, he created the Cambodian Masters Performers Program, which grew into Cambodian Living Arts.

Come hear about his incredible journey on Thursday March 8^th, 9:25am-10:40am in the Sargent Hall Function Room. Refreshments will be served. Hosted by: The Center for Community Engagement, the Government Department, the Philosophy Department, and the Rosenberg Institute for East Asian Studies