Myanmar Artists Freedom Fund is a non-profit campaign to support Myanmar artists and cultural professionals who are facing risks and dangers and who are in need so that they can continue their lives and careers and to fight for democracy in Myanmar. As a result, many of them have been arrested or listed on the military’s wanted list, some of them have been tortured or even killed. As a result, man
y of them have had to flee their houses, towns and even country. The primarily aim of MAFF is to support those artists and cultural professionals who are facing risks and dangers and who are in need so that they can continue their lives and careers in order to keep fighting for achieving true democracy in Myanmar. Our Story:
It all started about a month after the February 1st coup. The military, who illegally seized power, started more and more frustrated and impatient with the never-ending resistance from citizens, started aggressively arresting and shooting demonstrators and CDMers (workers that participated in Civil Disobedience Movement). The authority decided to target influential figures such as rally leaders, celebrities, artists, writers and poets, and thus the mass arrest began. Responding to that, a group of Thai theater artists, namely B-floor, BIPAM and Thai theatre foundation, decided to share some of their funds, which they had raised to help their own artists’ legal fees after they were arrested by the Thai authority during protest events, to help Myanmar artists. I was contacted by them regarding this matter and at the beginning I tried to send the money to inside Myanmar – I myself lives in Thailand – and I found it very difficult to do so as the banking there had collapsed. Meanwhile, more and more Myanmar people who fled Myanmar started to arrive in Thailand. Whichever third country they would go, the first country that many of them arrive is Thailand. Most of them have had to flee in a hurry, leaving everything, family and friends, jobs and belongings, behind. Some of them arrive without any money or acquaintance. And this is when I realized that the money can be also used to assist those that fled and in need. Meanwhile, a league of Indonesian independent film festivals, which was initiated by Minikino in Bali and joined by Cinema Cirebon of West Java, Jakarta Short Film Gig and Ace Film Festival, also started to raise funds for Myanmar filmmakers in need by screening the selection of Myanmar films from Wathann Film Festival(the annual Myanmar independent film festival). They also wanted to talk with Myanmar filmmakers to learn about the actual situation inside. I was really touched by the spirit of solidarity by these independent art, theater and film communities and hence I decided, together with my Myanmar friend who had been working on a similar effort, to create a fund not only to help Myanmar artists in need by financial means but also to make it a community exchange arena so that these artists can actually interact each other – although this is a public place and these Myanmar artists have to hide their identities, they cannot openly do it but we can facilitate more secure way of private conversations between the Myanmar artists and international community. During such conversations, a network, future creative collaboration or any other activities of exchange may arise. After all, artists are alive as long as they can create. Our fund hence may not be a traditional fund-raising and donation campaign/organization and we cannot even offer more convenient methods of donation for those who want to support by financial means, because we prefer more personal way of exchange. Our logo, for example, was designed for free by a Myanmar artist who appreciated our efforts. We are also collaborating with AMCA: Alliance for Myanmar Contemporary Artists based in U.S.A. Therefore we would appreciate anybody who would like to support Myanmar artists by any kind of means to contact us first so that we can start a conversation. Thank you very much for your attention and interest. Lastly, we would like to note that “artists” here means cultural practitioners in all genres, visual, performance, theater, dance, literature, film, etc. Statement from the co-founder
