Intensive Visit of Professional Exchange 2025
About the program
Under the scope of the Professional Exchange Program, Intensive Visit is one modality as response to the professional development needs of artists and cultural workers in the Mekong region. MCH observes the needs of professional development in the Mekong Region and partners with local organisations’ programs to support the training, learning and professional development needs locally. The mutual learning between peers is the structure and also the effects. Networking building is also one of the key outcomes.
In 2025, MCH partnered with Cambodian Living Arts and its “Chakto Choreography Writing Workshop: Emerging Choreographers” program in Phnom Penh, Hanoi Grapevine and its Art Coordination Annual Meeting(ACAM) in Hanoi, and Khao Niew Lao Theatre’s Vientiane Youth Theatre Festival in Vientiane. Those programs reflect what the local organizations saw the needs and their programs are supporting the professional development for artists in contemporary dance, for arts coordinators’ skills, roles and career, and for the young to explore and learn puppetry arts.
MCH curated our Fellow Wei-wei WU to work with Cambodian Living Arts and supports its program of developing skills of emerging performing artists, by serving on a panelist and a jury for “Chakto Choreography” program. She also provided some one-to-one sessions for artists/managers from performing arts to consult about their specific plan or questions in their professional development.
(Photo credit: Cambodian Living Arts)
ACAM is the first annual gathering by Hanoi Grapevine in Vietnam dedicated to the crucial yet often overlooked work of art coordinators. It recognizes this labor and aims to cultivate a collective space for knowledge sharing, skill-building, and solidarity over the three-day event. MCH invited Yi-Kai KAO as the panelist to contribute his expertise and also participate other sessions to mutually learn with local practitioners and invited international speakers. KAO also explored connections of contemporary performing arts community in HCM city.
(Photo credit: Hanoi Grapevine)
Khao Niew Lao Theatre initiated the first 2025 Vientiane Youth Theatre Festival to incubate the youth to learn puppetry arts as their creative way to tell their stories. The youth would have chance to write their stories and the selected 9 groups from 9 districts of Vientiane. MCH invited Helmi Fita to work with Khao Niew Lao Theatre and co-designed a 3-day workshop of puppetry arts, offering his experiences and knowledge creating, design, and theatre technology. He and Director of Khao Niew co-facilitated the training workshop to support the youth to make their stories into a new piece of puppet show and presented in the 2025 Vientiane Youth Theatre Festival.
(Photo credit: Khao Niew Lao Theatre)
The Program is implemented in collaboration with host organisations Cambodian Living Arts (Cambodia), Hanoi Grapevine (Vietnam) and Niew Lao Theatre (Laos).
Thanks to a collaboration with Ministry of Culture Taiwan, we are able to have three Fellows who are arts experts from Taiwan to work with local organizations form Mekong Region to support the professional development needs in their arts community.
The feedback from the visiting Fellows and the hosting organizations were very excited with positive impacts, both sides expressed they benefited from the program. Some of them continued their next collaborations without MCH’s support.