Arts for Cambodian Children & Teens at Champey

 GlobalGiving Annual Bonus Match Day is June 15  from 9:00 am New York time !

• Bonus Match Day  ( 9:00-23:59  EDTon June 15, 2016 
• There are $110,000 in matching funds available.
• Max donation  of $1,000 per donor per organization ( not per project!)

About Champey Academy

For more than 15 years, Kasumisou Foundation has offered classes to disadvantaged children and teens impacted by HIV/AIDS and poverty. Our  Champey Academy of Arts, which opened in January 2013, teaches students about their rich cultural heritage and builds individual and  team skills,  developing and utilizing  the many wonderful talents of our students.

A long journey to today

When you watch our videos that show the stage at Champey and you see the beautifully painted back drop and well costumed dancers, it is  hard to remember back to January 2013 when we opened Champey. There was no stage, just a courtyard and small classrooms.

When we talk about building and utilizing the skills of our young team, we are talking serious business. The stage that you see, our new patio  canopy covering, the canvas stage backdrop  are all the results of our student’s efforts.Several of our college students, who work part time at Champey, grew up on farms in Prey Veng province and have practical experience in small building projects.

There is a saying that help comes to those who help themselves and our student’s hard work is tangible proof of that sentiment. Now, after three years, our students have a stage, scenery and the ability to practice and stage performances and allows indoor classrooms to be used for painting and drawing classes.

Setting the stage has been  a team effort

• Our inside space is small, but we do have a courtyard, so our students built our stage   using  the traditional wooden sleeping platforms that most Cambodians still use today.  By cutting the legs off of the platforms, the strong platforms were then sanded smooth and joined together, these platforms give our students an ample stage at a cost of about $1000.
• Other students from our drawing and art program painted the canvas backdrop.
• Cambodia has a rainy season, which could limit use of the stage, so the next project was to build a secure canopy using heavy industrial plastic tarps and steel  cables to shield the stage from rain at a cost of about $600
• Our students most recently to built a thatched canopy to provide cover for a seating area at a cost of  $425.

Our classes in traditional Cambodian dance, music and art are all  free of charge. Our goals are to help our students to foster pride of culture  and  to  build a sense of  individual empowerment.   Our program also offers safe and suitable jobs for high school and college  students  ranging in scope from apprentice teacher to guest relations , greeters, maintenance and   performing  administrative tasks.

Our staff utilizes many of our students as apprentice workers who receive small stipends to cover the costs of their transportation and to give them a small income for personal use. Some of our youthful team are students in our college program who earn money for basic necessities and a few of the college age boys live at the school. Despite the fact that the costs for every aspect of managing Champey is run at minimal cost, in aggregate it costs about $ 45,000 per year to run the school.

We hope that you will join us on the GlobalGiving Match day in continued support of Champey Academy. We are deeply grateful to you all for your generous support.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

Links:

• Video's at Champey

Video of Champey Dancers & Students

Leap Forward for Art !  Please participate in our fundraising activities!

GlobalGiving Pro-rated Match Day on March 16 !

• Bonus Day  ( 9:00-23:59  EDTon March 16, 2016 
• There is $75,000 in matching funds available.
• Max donation  of $1,000 per donor per organization ( not per project!)
• Matching will be determined on a pro-rated basis:   ($  you raise/total $  raised) x $75,000 = match 
• Final match %  decided  March 18^th

                           ^{( May 2015 partner match was 25.9%)}

Leap Forward for Art !

In this Leap Year, we are hosting a variety of activities to encourage our supporters to Leap Forward for Art!  

Beginning on February 29, 2016, Kasumisou Foundation is  concentrating on  raising  money for  arts programs for disadvantaged children and teens in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Kasumisou Foundation is a California based US 501 c  ( 3 ) non profit organization.

For more than 15 years, Kasumisou Foundation has offered classes to children and teens impacted by HIV/AIDS and poverty.  We offer instruction   in traditional Cambodian dance, music and art  free of charge, helping our students to build pride of culture . Our  Champey Academy of Arts teaches students about their rich cultural heritage,    while building individual and  team skills, discipline and developing the wonderful talents of our students. Our program also offers safe and suitable jobs for high school and college  students  ranging in scope from apprentice teacher to guest relations , greeters and performing  administrative tasks. These student workers, many of whom are themselves from disadvantaged backgrounds, serve as peer role models to the children in our programs.

Please view the videos and see our kids in action !  In the second  video you will also see a little girl who besides fidgeting with her skirt and belt, looks far too young for instruction. Yet, to our surprise, she suddenly shows us that she too, is learning , formally and informally.

The scenery you see was painted by some our art students.

Our complete payroll list has 25 names but a large number of those on the list  are  young girls who study dance with us but who are sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to act as part time  assistant teachers a few hours a week, other do administrative tasks such as greet guests, prepare the stage, help young students learn to manage their costumes and so on. Some of these young people  are  orphans or they  come from families of very modest means so we give them very small monthly payments of $20 to $50 to encourage them to continue their study of dance. As such, they are included on our staff list, and so they also are eligible to  receive very basic accident (not health) insurance coverage under our group plan.

Our basic, bare bones   operating budget for this project   for 2016 is projected at  $45,000. We are hoping in addition to raising those funds, we hope  to raise money for more  new costumes and masks to perform more traditional dances. Our students are increasingly invited to give performances but we need more costumes and masks.  We also  need additional musical instruments so that each student can spend a meaningful amount of practice time using an instrument.

But most importantly , we need to plan  to replace our temporary outdoor wooden   garden stage  which was made by tightly  tying together the legs of wooden sleeping  pallets and replace it with a  properly constructed and  sturdy stage. Estimated cost is about $ 2500 to do this.

We are deeply grateful to all of our supporters for their generosity which continues to bring the arts to our students.

Barbara & Mark

Links:

• Video of our Student dancers and musicians
• InMenlo - Kasumisou Foundation, local charity