Event Report "Culture Begins to Speak: From the Frontlines of Cambodia’s Art Scene"

Arts and culture fulfill a crucial function in Cambodia— both as a process of recovery from the unbearable tragedies, and as a strength for improving people’s lives and advancing the nation’s development. SO Phina, Executive Director of the Creative Industries of Cambodia Association for Development and Advocacy (CICADA), visited Japan under the Japan Foundation’s Invitation Program for Cultural Leaders in the summer 2025. While in Japan, she spoke at the public talk event sharing her insights on the current state and challenges of culture and the arts in Cambodia. The session was led by HOASHI Aki, Deputy Executive Director of the Organizing Committee for the Yokohama Triennale.

The Revival Journey of Cambodia’s Arts and Culture

Here in this photo (*1) is the founder of the Cambodian Living Arts and a genocide survivor, Arn CHORN-POND. The genocide in Cambodia began in 1975 and ended with the fall of the Pol Pot regime in 1979. Arn survived this mass atrocity by learning how to play the flute from a flutist master, YEOUN Mik. Arn was exploited by the Khmer Rouge for propaganda purposes, allowing him to live through the genocide. After this period of tragedy came to an end, he immigrated to the United States and lived there for nearly 20 years. When he came back to Cambodia to reunite with his flute master, he discovered that a few surviving master artists were in poor health and were living in extreme poverty.

We believe the Khmer Rouge killed 90% of the country’s intellectuals, academics, and artists, and that only about 10% survived the genocide—and they survived with a very special mission. Surviving artists lived with the fear that once they were gone, the arts and culture of Cambodia would disappear with them. As a result, despite their poor state of living, they continued to travel to different places to teach arts and transfer their knowledge so that their culture could live on. To me, they are invisible guardians—unsung heroes of the Cambodian arts.

To help alleviate their poverty, Arn established a Master Development Program, which later developed into the Cambodian Living Arts and is now one of the biggest art organizations in the country.

Today, various supporting programs throughout the country, together with the government and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, continue their work of preservation, restoration, and documentation of Cambodian arts. As the art sector grows, civil society has begun to realize that while the masters were passing down their skills to the younger generation, these young artists were also emerging as artistic leaders in their own right, and thus, programs aimed at helping this younger generation of artists realize their true potential must also be established. Simultaneously, creative expression among these young leaders must be cultivated. We are now witnessing a developing contemporary art scene in Cambodia that is showing growth and promise. In response, the government is exerting efforts to create policies aimed at developing Cambodia’s creative industry.

However, artistic freedom is still limited, and market opportunities are scarce. Cultural infrastructures that can serve as galleries or theaters where artists can perform or create artworks are extremely limited. Unfortunately, our education system remains very weak, as well. Nonetheless, Cambodian arts and cultural practitioners are resilient in that they strive with what little they have.

CICADA—Its Role and Challenges

Many people in Cambodia tend to believe that the policymaking is only for the government, not for the artists, leaving a significant gap between artists and their involvement in policy making. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many artists were forced out of employment, leaving them with no source of income. Consequently, six cultural leaders, each representing a different cultural organization, came together to find ways to support the arts community. During the pandemic, the tourism sector united to file for a petition and obtained immediate support from the government because they were supported by many associations, such as the tour guides association, the hotel worker association, and many others. Consequently, tourism workers were able to receive some financial assistance, approximately 40ドル per month. Although minimal, it was still more than what artists received, as they received none.

As most of our arts and cultural sectors are informal in Cambodia and there is no official representation for the art sector, we decided to create an independent association called CICADA, which stands for Creative Industry of Cambodia Association for Development and Advocacy. The name was inspired by the cicada, an insect known for singing throughout the day. We believe the cicada resembles artists in their talent and persistence, symbolizing artists’ perseverance in their need to speak with one voice. We aim to create an impact on national policy through research and capacity-building programs to help artists and informal practitioners understand cultural policies, what they entail, what their rights are, what they are entitled to, and how they can access those benefits.

Our advocacy focuses on improving working conditions of cultural and creative industry (CCI) workers, advocating for social protection, fair incomes, and effective implementation of intellectual property rights. We are also developing policies to safeguard artists and informal practitioners from exploitation and harassment. Additionally, we consulted 100 art workers to propose a CCI definition to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, which has not yet been officially adopted.

We also advocate for a review of the overlapping roles between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the CCI institution, as we found that 19 ministries and national councils are currently supporting the CCI sector in isolation from one another, making it difficult for artists to seek support because there are simply too many ministries involved. We also urge government ministries to invest in developing artistic skills of future-ready artists, while ensuring that the indigenous and minority communities are also included.

These photos (*2) are from our provincial visits, where we held workshops and handed out leaflets with information on where they can gain access to social protection, how to register for intellectual property protection, and how to make proper agreements. We discussed freedom of expression, helping artists understand how to navigate it and express themselves safely through their art. We also engage in international public policy dialogue with the government and various stakeholders. Given that most of CICADA’s 152 members are based in rural areas, long reports with complex data can be difficult to read. Thus, we focus on producing concise and visually engaging numbers so that people can read them effortlessly.

One of the CICADA’s main challenges is that the CCI is a very large and complex sector, which is also a very new concept. Contrastingly, at CICADA, we only have two full-time staff members. Despite our hard work, this limited capacity significantly affects our influence. There are also several trust issues within the arts community, as some of our peers are still waiting to see how effectively we can perform. Since we are registered as a civil society organization, the government does not always view us as a "friendly face", so to speak.

Another major challenge is the lack of reliable data to measure CCI as a whole. This makes it difficult to convince the arts community that policy making takes time and that the benefits we aim for are collective and not immediate for individual artists.

Contemporary Literary landscape in Cambodia

Given my background as a writer, poet, and publisher, I would like to take this opportunity to share my literary journey. When I completed my master’s degree and came back from Australia in 2013, I witnessed how women in Cambodian society continue to suffer under oppressive traditional rules. This inspired me to collaborate with my female friends to write about strong Cambodian women who still want to live in contemporary Cambodian society the way they choose.

It took me two years to finally publish the first book in 2015, the year I co-founded the Kampu-Mera Editions (KME) with my colleague as an informal independent press. We envision ourselves as a leading actor in championing ethical and professional standards in Cambodia’s publishing sector. Besides publishing books, I also work to support the literary community by organizing literature festivals, panel discussions, and creative writing workshops for aspiring writers, while advocating for gender equality and creative freedom.

My latest book features 25 writers. Many of them are being published with me for the very first time, and when they see their names in print, I can truly see the joy and pride on their faces. It feels like they’ve achieved something meaningful in their lives. This inspires me to keep moving forward.

In recent years, contemporary Cambodian literature has been growing in a very positive way. One major milestone is the Cambodia Book Fair, which in 2023 attracted around 200,000 visitors—a truly inspiring achievement. During the fair, a single booth even sold 10,000 copies of various titles, showing the increasing enthusiasm for reading and local literature. There are now three major literary events in the country: the Cambodia Book Fair, the National Reading Day, and the Khmer Literature Festival, which I founded in 2017. The festival has continued as an annual event since then. Among Cambodian readers, romance remains the dominant genre.

The literary sector remains largely informal, much like the CCI sector in general. Publishers, writers, or editors in the literary community heavily rely on self-funding due to the lack of funding from the government. Literature remains underprioritized at the policy level, copyright enforcement remains weak, and although literary translation is gradually increasing, it is still very limited. In this regard, I believe there is a strong need to enforce intellectual property rights to increase investment in the arts and culture. It is also essential to ensure freedom of expression and to foster a positive change in the attitudes of government officials toward the creative sector. These ideas are not solely my own—they are drawn directly from the national cultural policy.

Ways forward

When it comes to freedom of speech, we all understand how sensitive and difficult this issue can be. I think most artists tend to self-censor or at least think twice before expressing certain ideas or creating particular works—which is unfortunate, but understandable. I believe that artists learn how to navigate the system in their own ways, not only in Cambodia but everywhere in the world. When we talk with artists, we tend to adjust our language slightly—instead of saying "freedom of speech," we often say, "freedom to create." In this way, we can still discuss important issues while navigating the system carefully.

It is true that some government officials still see themselves as the "parents" and the artists as the "children," which reflects the traditional mindset embedded even within the national policy for arts itself. But over time, CICADA has gained recognition—not only among the arts community, but also within the region. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts now sees that we’re doing meaningful work, so there’s a sense of mutual respect and willingness to collaborate. These positive relationships and energies keep me motivated. Personally, I hope to see a more inclusive cultural policy—one that truly represents the diversity of Cambodia’s arts and culture.