“I live in a country where the culture (and costume) is unique. Every day is a celebration of our unique culture. But the ‘tshechu’, an occasion celebrated with mask dances is the most special. Because the dancers wear beautiful masks, sometimes scary masks too. And they also wear bright colorful costumes,” writes a 12-year-old girl from Eastern Bhutan. She also has a colorful drawing of a chham in session.
Hers is one of the 95 entries that were displayed at VAST for the National Level Screening of the Enikki Festa 2017-18 organized by Bhutan National Commission for UNESCO.
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| Chief of JICA and Dasho discuss the entries |
Sherig Dungchen Dasho Karme Yeshey graced the occasion with Chiefs from MoE, school Principals and UNESCO club coordinators of Thimphu. He congratulated all the 3000 plus children who had participated in this competition in the schools across the country.
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| Dasho goes through the essays accompanying the art |
“Through this, we’re able to capture the feelings and emotions of children,” Dasho shared. “It also provides opportunities for children to reflect on their life.” Among the invitees was Chief Representative of JICA Mr. Koji Yamada, who was also very impressed by the bold displays.
Enikki is the illustrated diary that portray daily events and thought in the form of a picture and short essay. This is organized in Asia by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ). The Mitsubishi companies have supported this Enikki Festa since 1990 in order to encourage children of Asia to understand and respect each other’s culture and to strive for a better future together.
Themed “Here is my life”, children aged 6-12 are invited to draw on an A4 sized paper and illustrate what they do, see, experience or have in mind in their daily life that they want their Asian friends to know and understand, such as nature and climate, favorite games, family and friends, school life, and local festivals and traditional performing arts.
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| With the Judges and guests |
In our country, Bhutan Natcom has been the local partner in organizing, along with the Education offices in the Dzongkhags. Each participant submits five entries. The screening takes place at school level, Dzongkhag level and national level.
After the National Level Screening the best eight are submitted to National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan for international level screening, who then declares the winners. Winners are provided with certificates from the organizers. As part of the prize package, a Grand Prix winner is invited to the Award Ceremony and a cultural exchange program in Japan.
The selection focuses on (1) Originality; original work in every sense and have not been made public, (2) Creativity; manually drawn or painted, (3) Uniqueness; whether or not it reflects the unique features of a country or region (culture, local customs, local life, local nature and environment), (4) Sensitivity; viewpoints unique to the child, and (5) Variety; whether the child has covered variety of topics.
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| Children from Rosemary school also visited VAST |
Mr. Jigme Dorji, a teacher in Trashiyangtse LSS was just 12 when he participated from Changzamtog LSS in 2002. He won a trip to Japan with his father.
“Enikki Festa gave me a lifetime’s opportunity to visit Japan with my father, which I am proud of it. It's a great platform for our youth to participate in such international realm and express their feelings and inert expression through art. I got inspired after my short visit to Japan and I promise myself to help my students to participate in any art competitions, be it local, national or international. I'm always encouraging my students to participate in any art competition. After decades of participation, this time four of my students from Trashiyangtse LSS and VAST-Yangtse got through for National level screening from Dzongkhag Level,” he shared.
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| Jigme Dorji poses with the students who were selected from his school to compete at the National Level Screening |
“After winning the Grand Prix Award, I wanted to create a platform for younger generation to build up their artistic talents and expressions. After my graduation from College of Education, I was posted in remote Trashiyangtse. There were no any other recreation facilities for kids to engage them. I was dying to open an art space," he adds.
"In mid-2012 with friend Chojay Tshering we opened an Art club known as VAST-Yangtse under the guidance and support from Asha Karma. Our club’s main idea is to engage our youth in socially productive works during weekends and holidays and create the platform for them to showcase their artistic talents. Currently we have 35 registered members.”
VAST Yangtse stands for Visual Artists Studio of Trashiyangtse, and is only the contemporary art center in Eastern Bhutan
The four Judges for the National Level Screening were all with art background; one from PCE, RUB, VAST and a teacher from a school in Thimphu.
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| An example of an entry. |