PROCEEDINGS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

PANDEMIC CHALLENGES AND ENDEMIC OPPORTUNITIES
FOR MAK YONG PERFORMANCE IN KELANTAN, MALAYSIA

Patricia Ann Hardwick
Faculty of Music and Performing Arts / Institute of Malay Civilisations,

Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjung Malim, Malaysia
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
Mak yong is a form of Malay theatre that can be performed as entertainment and as a healing performance.
Variations of the mak yong tradition can be found in the vernacular cultures of Yala, Narathiwat and
Patani in Southern Thailand, Kelantan and Terengganu in Peninsular Malaysia, the Serdang Sultanate
and the islands of the Riau Archipelago in Indonesia. Mak yong was nominated as a United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and was inscribed in 2008. Citing mak yong’s links to ritual and pre-
Islamic religious systems, transgender performance and the prominent role of women as performers,
Parti Se-Islam Malaysia (PAS) banned mak yong performance in Kelantan, Malaysia in 1991. UNESCO
recognition brought mak yong international visibility and encouraged the development of a federally
supported urban form. However, the UNESCO declaration and subsequent inscription had a marginal
effect on the viability of mak yong as a community-based oral tradition in rural Kelantan. The PAS ban on
Kelantanese mak yong was officially lifted September 25, 2019, shortly before the onset of the Covid-19
Pandemic. This paper will explore the challenges Kelantanese mak yong performers faced during the
Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and some of the programs and opportunities developed to facilitate mak
yong performance and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge in the endemic period.

Keywords: Covid-19, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Mak Yong, Malaysia, UNESCO

A. INTRODUCTION
Music, dance, theater and other forms of performance are part of Malaysia’s cultural heritage and play
an important role in traditional healing practices, rites of passage and cultural collaboration within and
between communities in Malaysia. The sustainability and transmission of performance forms has long
been a topic of discussion by folklorists and ethnomusicologists. Expanding fields like ecomusicology
explore relationships between music, materialism and the environment. Discussions of ownership,
continuity, nationalism and heritage politics are particularly relevant to the sustainability of traditional
forms of performance in Southeast Asia. Rapid modernization, urbanization, political movements, and
debates regarding appropriate forms of religious practice influence the transmission and transformation
of these forms. Performance forms that are economically unsustainable or deemed irrelevant to current
cultural concerns are discouraged, while performance forms that have been officially recognized as
Intangible Cultural Heritage are transformed in a process that recognizes them as national heritage or
tourism commodities.

Ethnomusicologists have written about their experiences, approaches and methodology in advocating
for cultural sustainability (Pettan 2015; Schippers 2010). As one of the ways to “give back” to the
musicians and communities ethnomusicologists work with, ethnomusicologists provide community
members with access to strategic models and conservational techniques. Jeff Todd Titon has developed
a sound ecology model that emphasizes new approaches focusing on cultural resilience, advocacy and
activism. Titon’s work encourages communities to value, renew and sustain cultural practices (Titon
2015, Cooley 2019). In Titon’s this brought senior blues musicians to American college campuses in

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the 1970s, thus introducing older African American musicians to a new audience demographic (Cooley
2019). Titon engaged simultaneously in documentation work and advocacy, leading him to become a
lead consultant with the American National Endowment for the Arts when they began to establish public
folklore programs. Titon continues to be a leader in applied folklore and ethnomusicology and promotes
this type of active engagement as a moral obligation of reciprocity with the people and communities that
ethnomusicologists, folklorists and anthropologists work with (Cooley 2019). Inclusion makes communities
of practice part of the decision making processes and facilitates the long-term sustainability of their art
forms as they are introduced to new audiences who are educated to appreciate their performances.
Collaborative work between community members, researchers and advocates rather than top-down
approaches to sustainability are important for long-term viability. Titon (2009) notes that the best practices
for music sustainability arises from “partnership among ethnomusicologists, folklorists and music culture
insiders (community leaders, scholars and musicians). Matarasso (2001) emphasizes the importance of
mobilising a “bottom-up” approach whereby local communities are invited to participate in the planning
and implementation of cultural sustainability projects. Similarly, Tan Sooi Beng approaches sustainability
through the argument that cultural festivals utilizing the bottom-up approach are vital to enhance the
sustainability of vibrant local cultures as well as communities.

Mak yong, a form of Malay theater was proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity by UNESCO in 2005 and incorporated into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity in 2008. As Michael Dylan Foster notes, “in some places a UNESCO designation
is seen as a financial boon in some places it is a point of pride and identity, in some places, it is a
burden and elsewhere it is merely an adornment” (2015: 10). Citing mak yong’s links to ritual and pre-
Islamic religious systems, transgender performance and the prominent role of women as performers Parti
Se-Islam Malaysia banned mak yong in Kelantan in 1991 (Hardwick 2013; Khoo, Tikamdas and Wong
2003). While the selection by UNESCO brought mak yong international visibility and encouraged the
development of a federally supported urban form the UNESCO declaration and subsequent inscription
had a marginal effect on its continued viability as a community-based art in Kelantan and Terengganu.
On September 25th, 2019 the PAS government lifted the official ban on mak yong in Kelantan, although
proscriptions on public female performances remain in place. The lifting of the ban led to the development
of a National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) sponsored syariah compliant form of mak yong with
all male performers shortly before the development of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Malaysian government reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic by issuing four Movement Control Orders
(MCO), a Conditional Control Movement Order (CMCO), a Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO),
and a National Recovery Plan (NPR). These measures to protect public health restricted the movement
and ability of Malaysians to gather to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from March 18th, 2020 to December
31st, 2021. These movement restrictions had negative effects on already marginalized traditional
performing arts communities in Malaysia. In Kelantan, the pandemic lockdowns lasted longer due to
regional infection rates. The lockdowns isolated traditional performers and eliminated supplementary
means of earning a daily wage for nearly two years. This paper will explore how the Covid-19 pandemic
lockdowns affected members of the Kelantanese village arts community and programs and projects
developed during this period to try and assist artists during the Covid-19 pandemic and into the endemic
period.

B. METHOD
This research uses the qualitative ethnographic methodology of participant observation to research
cultural sustainability and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mak yong. My data collection methods
include participant observation, interviews, archival documentation of traditional performers, audio

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recording, video recording, sound recording and still photos. Through analysis of specific case studies,
I explore the conflicts and challenges faced by members of the Kelantanese mak yong performance
community as they sought to promote the continuation of expressive culture, heritage, and performance
traditions perceived as endangered by rapid cultural change, globalization, political movements, religious
change and the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

While my own travel to Kelantan was constrained during the Covid-19 lockdowns, I was able to make
several trips to rural Kelantan from Tanjong Malim, Perak, where I work as a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty
of Music and Performing Arts, Sultan Idris Education University to conduct interviews and sponsor mak
yong performances for documentary purposes. These research trips were a continuation of my long-
term involvement in traditional Kelantanese performing arts communities and were funded in part by a
Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education Grant for which I am the principal investigator entitled Sustaining
Sustainability-Fundamental Research Strategies of Resilience and Adaptive Management in Malaysian
Performing Arts (2020-0262-108-02) FRGS/1/2020/WAB10/UPSI/02/4. Toward the end of the third and
last lockdown, many performers noted that they and their families were suffering poor physical and
emotional health due to a lack of income, and performance opportunities during the pandemic. To assist
members of the mak yong performance community, I worked with my research team to help sponsor a
mak yong-main ‘teri’ healing performance to address these issues for one mak yong family. My field trips
to Kelantan during 2021-2022 are summarized below.

March 26 to April 3, 2021
I obtained a police permit to travel interstate from Perak to Kelantan. I collaborated with my colleague,
Fara Dayana binti Mohd Jufry, and Rosnan bin Rahman, the officer of JKKN Kelantan, to organize a
special documentary recording of the story of Dewa Pechil with village performers at JKKN in Kelantan.
This recording was funded by an FRGS entitled Segmen Pecah Cerita Makyung Sebagai Cerminan
Adab Melayu Kelantan Dalam Membina Hubungan Sosial (The Introduction of the Story Segment in
mak yong as a Reflection of Kelantanese Malay Islamic Etiquette in Building Social Relationships) (2020-
0236-106-02) for which Fara Dayana binti Mohd Jufry is the principal investigator and I am a research
associate. As this performance took place during the lockdown period it was impossible to film the mak
yong performance in a village setting. This event was a closed recording with veteran village performers
strictly for archival documentation. All required government Covid-19 protocols were followed for this
documentation. I was unable to take my research assistant, Noor Sabiha binti Hatta, with me for this trip
as she was in voluntary isolation in Kuala Lumpur at the time due to suspected exposure to Covid-19.
Shortly after my return from Kelantan on April 3, 2021, the number of Covid-19 cases began to rise
sharply in Malaysia and I was unable to return to do any more ethnographic fieldwork or interviews until
November 2021.

November 15 to November 23, 2021
Interstate travel was permitted and I traveled to Kelantan with my research assistant, Noor Sabiha binti
Hatta. We spent nine days in Kelantan interviewing mak yong performers regarding issues of sustainability
and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their lives. We were able to obtain police permission to film
the opening of the stage ritual and a recording of the Mak Yong tale of Raja Muda Lakleng with veteran
village performers at the home of Wan Midin bin Wan Majid in Kampung Gabus To’ Uban, Pasir Mas
only after a week of applying at both the village and district level. This was a difficult time to do research
in Kelantan. Kelantan state was still under a partial lockdown due to the Covid-19 infection level and
police permission needed to be obtained from the village and regional police departments. We followed
all Covid-19 protocols as requested by the police including hiring six volunteers to help us control and
disperse the crowd. We also taped off the area surrounding the performance with warning tape as

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requested by the police. We requested that performers register their presence through a MySejahtera
QR code. MySejahtera is a contact tracing application developed by the Malaysian government to assist
in managing Covid-19 outbreaks in the country. In line with Covid-19 protocols required at the time,
we documented the contact information and vaccination status of all mak yong performers, took body
temperatures, and administered Covid tests to performers onsite before they were allowed to enter the
stage to perform. During this research period we also conducted interviews with Mak Yong performers
Mohd Gel bin Mat Dali, Wan Midin bin Wan Majid, Wan Rohimah binti Zakaria and Zawawi bin Ismail on
issues of sustainability of the mak yong tradition.

April 18 to April 21, 2022
I traveled to Kelantan with my research assistants Noor Sabiha binti Hatta and Nor Nabilatul Nisya binti
Azani to conduct interviews on the sustainability of the vocal tradition of mak yong. Interviews were
conducted over two days period with two groups of senior mak yong performers. On April 19, 2022, we
interviewed Wan Midin bin Wan Majid, Nisah binti Mamat, Mohd Gel bin Mat Dali, Aminah binti Hussien,
Rohimah binti Zakaria and Zawawi bin Abdullah. On April 20, 2022 we interviewed Wan Mohd Azmi bin
Wan Deraman, Nor Ameria Saila binti Ramlee, Noorhayati binti Zakaria, Che Seman bin Mat Yousof and
Sidek bin Tok. My research team worked in collaboration with Made Mantle Hood of Tainan National
University of the Arts who joined us via Zoom. Made Mantle Hood was unable to travel to Kelantan to
interview mak yong performers in person due to Taiwanese and Malaysian restrictions on international
travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This research was funded by the Taiwanese grant Towards the
Sustainability of Vocal Heritage in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia (108-2410-H 369-001 MY2).
All interviews were conducted at a hotel conference room in the state capital of Kota Bharu as a stable
internet connection was needed. Stable internet connectivity is not yet available in most rural villages
in Kelantan. As this series of online interviews was conducted during the holy month of Ramadan, each
day’s session ended with a group ‘iftar’ or breaking of fast at the hotel. All the interviews were recorded
via zoom and video cameras in the conference room.

June 17 to June 21, 2022
I sponsored and filmed a semah angin Mak Yong a healing mak yong performance for the family
of Rohimah binti Zakaria at her home in Kampung Gabus To’ Uban, Pasir Mas, Kelantan. Rohimah
expressed concern that she and her extended family members developed illnesses associated with
complete discontinuation of performance during the nearly two years of various lockdowns. My research
assistants, Noor Sabiha binti Hatta and Nor Nabilatul Nisya binti Azani, spent a week in Kelantan previous
to my arrival conducting interviews and documenting the preparations for the semah angin event. I could
not join them in Kelantan until June 17, 2021 as I was on medical leave for a suspected case of dengue
fever. The semah angin was held over two nights and included extensive ritual preparations by the entire
lineage, Noor Nabiha binti Hatta and I documented the preparations and the event as part of her M.A.
thesis research on traditional methods of knowledge transfer in mak yong lineages and communities.
Her M.A. thesis research is funded by the grant Sustaining Sustainability - Fundamental Research
Strategies of Resilience and Adaptive Management in Malaysian Performing Arts (2020-0262-108-02)
FRGS/1/2020/WAB10/UPSI/02/4.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
My research team collaborated with academic colleagues and fellow Malaysian government servants to
create documentary and performance opportunities throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The performance
events included the documentary filming of Dewa Pechil at JKKN Kelantan in April 2021, the documentary
filming of Raja Muda Lakleng in Kg. Gabus Tok Uban in November 2021, the filming of Gading Bertime
in Kg. Lepah Selising, Pasir Puteh and by JKKN Kelantan at a resort in Tok Bali in November 2021.

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Other events included interview sessions with veteran performers on the vocal sustainability of the mak
yong tradition in April 2022, and the sponsorship and documentation of a ‘Semah angin’ in Kg. Gabus
To’ Uban, Pasir Mas, Kelantan in June 2022. Each of these projects contributed to the preservation
of knowledge of the mak yong performance tradition in archival form. Compensation to traditional
performers for their performances and interviews provided a form of financial support, while the semah
angin event addressed the physical and emotional health concerns of a lineage of mak yong practitioners
who could not perform during the lockdown period. In addition to these events which supported the
veteran traditional performers, performances of mak yong by the JKKN Kelantan performance troupe
were performed sporadically throughout the pandemic lockdowns during JKKN Kelantan sponsored
events. These events usually employed JKKN trained artists, but incorporated village musicians from
different regions of Kelantan when they performed in different districts.

In an interview with Zawawi bin Ismail, a traditional mak yong performer, Tok ‘Teri, and guru of Silat Seni
Cantik in November 2021, he expressed concern that the future for the continuation of traditional mak
yong performance in Kelantan was grim. He noted that this was not just due to the Covid-19 pandemic
lockdowns but had to do with deeper structural issues in Kelantan that had served to alienate an entire
generation from learning traditional village arts. In an environment where mak yong practitioners had
been unable to perform for twenty eight years, young people under thirty had no knowledge of the art. He
argued, if young people had never seen it, how could they feel interested to follow performances? With
exposure to the tradition comes a natural interest to learn more. If programs are developed to try and
teach young people the art, he noted that it was very difficult to convince young students to learn. They
would inquire: Why should they learn? What future could I have as a traditional performer if there are no
opportunities to perform in my own community?

Zawawi: If you want my opinion, I feel that the future for mak yong is very dark. From the
perspective of wanting to have performances as we had before. If you want to follow the
performance’s original form, I feel it is dark. Because now, there are no longer people interested.
Why are there no people interested? Because we were unable to perform for twenty eight years.
The youth under twenty eight know nothing, because they never followed it. When you do not
follow, there is no interest, where is the interest supposed to come from? An interest in mak yong
comes from a person who follows the tradition. How is that interest supposed to arise when they
cannot see it for twenty eight years, meaning that they know nothing [of the tradition]. They know
nothing, they have never seen it. After that, an interest can only arise if they follow, when they
don’t follow there is no interest. So if you want to teach then now, when people are not interested,
the youth say they don’t want to learn. So if they don’t want to learn, who are we to teach? When
the next generation doesn’t want to learn, how can the tradition be continued? So who should we
fault for this? In our opinion, if they did not stop us from performing for twenty eight years, this
tradition would not die. It is dying because we could not perform for twenty eight years, the new
generation never had a chance to see it. Meaning that they don’t even know what mak yong is?
“Eh what is mak yong”, they don’t know anything. They don’t know it, when they are not exposed
to it, they are not interested, when they are not interested, they cannot study it. If you are not
interested you will not study. How can you study when you know nothing?

So now we want to ask youth to study mak yong. What is mak yong? Because they don’t know.
Even if they study and they become skilled, what are we going to do? We still cannot have a
performance. Why should they study? Those who have become skilled and studied how does it
benefit them? That is the problem.

This is the issue that we will face in the future. The longer it goes on, the darker the future gets.
Dark. At the end the tradition will die out. That is my opinion.

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A single program cannot address the intergenerational impact of a ban on traditional mak yong
performances in Kelantan for twenty-eight years and a complete cessation of all village performances
under two years of Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. However as Zawawi notes, without intervention the
future of the continuation of the village tradition of mak yong in Kelantan is bleak. In 2021, CENDANA, a
Malaysian government granting agency accepted applications for grants to fund traditional performers to
teach youth traditional performing arts in their community for a year. I worked with my graduate research
assistant, Noor Sabiha binti Hatta, to help nominate a mak yong family facing financial difficulties during
the pandemic for a Cendana Adiguru Grant. The Cendana Adiguru grant supports traditional practitioners
through:

1. The payment of a wage to senior performers to teach their traditions to the next generation for a full
year.

2. Financial support to build a community stage
3. Financial support to buy instruments
4. Financial support to upgrade and purchase costumes.

Sabiha and I nominated Wan Midin bin Wan Majid and he was chosen as a Cendana Adiguru Mak Yong
for 2021-2022. The number of Wan Midin’s students was restricted to his own grandchildren as he began
their mak yong instruction during the pandemic lockdowns. Wan Midin faced difficulty in encouraging
community members outside his own family to study mak yong with him when the pandemic lockdowns
began to ease. Under the terms of the Cendana grant, all payments were made directly to Wan Midin.
Noor Sabiha binti Hatta and I assisted in filing the required financial reports with Cendana. The Cendana
grant for Wan Midin bin Wan Majid is almost complete and we are in the process of filing the final grant
report. This was just one project designed to help facilitate the intergenerational transmission of mak
yong within one lineage.

Another crucial issue during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown was the financial survival of traditional
performing arts and artists. The Covid-19 pandemic had an immense impact on the ability of traditional
Kelantanese artists to feed their families as they were unable to work or perform for nearly two years.
Sustainability of the performing arts in this sense meant that traditional artists needed help to meet some
of the very basic daily needs, including enough food to feed their families, particularly during the last
lockdown.

Due to these urgent needs of the mak yong performance community during the final and most difficult
Malaysian lockdown, I collaborated with friends at the NGO, PUSAKA and younger mak yong performers
in Kelantan to help get emergency food aid disturbed to more than thirty traditional performing arts
families in two emergency food drives. I also worked with PUSAKA to arrange for select mak yong
performers with small children to obtain MyKasih aid from the Malaysian government giving them a
monthly budget credited to their Malaysian identity cards that enabled them to purchase basic food
staples and necessities for three months. These programs provided a practical lifeline for many families
and helped them through the most financially difficult period of the pandemic.

Interviews with senior performers previous to the filming and documentation projects during the Covid-19
pandemic revealed that many elderly mak yong performers who rely on oral tradition for performance
and transmission of their art had begun to forget key details mak yong stories as they had been unable
to perform for a long period of time and had been isolated from other members of their performance
community. To address this issue, I would gather key senior performers to discuss the complex stories
they wanted to perform previous to each performance and whom they felt would be best suited to portray

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each role. These sessions revealed that knowledge regarding mak yong performance in the oral tradition
is communally held, and that different community members need to gather and perform for the tradition
to continue.

As I could not to travel to Kelantan during long periods of the Malaysian lockdowns to do ethnographic
research, and I became concerned with the inability of the older generation of mak yong performers
to recall the details of complex traditional mak yong tales, I directed my energy toward developing a
publication that would make a little known mak yong story accessible to a new generation. In August
2022, the book Dewa Pechil a Mak Yong Tale told by Ali bin Ibrahim was published with UPSI Press.
This publication features an ethnopoetic rendering of the story of Dewa Pechil as it was told to me
in 2005 by the late mak yong performer Ali bin Ibrahim in Kelantanese. It also provides a translation
of the tale in English and Malay. I worked with Kamal Nawie a young Kelantanese artist to develop
illustrations from my past ethnographic documentation of Mak Yong. I worked with my co-researcher,
Fara Dayana binti Mohd Jufry, as well as Kelantanese performing arts community members to clarify the
Kelantanese transcription and develop the Malay translation of the tale. The mak yong story of Dewa
Pechil is not often performed now in Kelantan but forms an important part of the local healing tradition
of mak yong. Publication of this mak yong tale in Kelantanese English and Malay along with QR code
links to the audio books to the tale as told in Kelantanese and its Malay and English translations make
this little known. However, this is important to give access to a younger generation of Malaysians and
Kelantanese performing art community members.

While abbreviated synopses of the tale of Dewa Pechil can be found in a few academic dissertations, the
story has yet to be published in a book widely available to the Malaysian reading public. The ban on mak
yong performances in Kelantan from 1991 to 2019, the current restriction on female public performance,
and the Covid-19 pandemic severely attenuated the ability of traditional mak yong performers to transmit
the traditions and tales associated with mak yong to Kelantanese youth. The book’s first print run is 300
copies, with a second print run of 500 copies planned for October 2022. Copies of the book have already
been distributed to The Department of National Heritage (JWN), JKKN, and the National Museum library
and will also be given to mak yong performers and their families. Approximately 136 copies of the book
have been sold so far, mostly to academics and cultural institutions interested in revitalizing of mak yong
performance. Rohimah binti Zakaria, the widow of the late Ali bin Ibrahim and their son requested that I
continue to develop publications of this type that reach out to the local community and present the stories
of the mak yong tradition. I hope to develop more of these types of popular publications to facilitate
knowledge sharing between the generations on the mak yong tradition.

D. CONCLUSION
The complete cessation of performance during the Covid-19 pandemic and the long period of lockdown
in Malaysia had a negative effect on an already embattled traditional mak yong performance community
that is attempting to revive performance practice after nearly three decades of prohibition in Kelantan.
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of the four Movement Control Orders
(MCO), a Conditional Control Movement Order (CMCO), a Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO)
and a National Recovery Plan (NPR) from March 18, 2020 to December 31, 2021 effectively suspended
all village performances in Kelantan. The Covid-19 lockdown performance restrictions extended to
the pandemic suspension of private Mak Yong main ‘teri’ healing performances. Mak yong main ‘teri’
healing performances were allowed to continue in private households under the ban by the PAS led
state government on mak yong performances in Kelantan. Indeed these mak yong main ‘teri’ healing
performances functioned during the twenty eight year period of the PAS ban as a local means to safeguard
both the health of Kelantanese traditional performers and elements of the mak yong performance tradition.

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Veteran Kelantanese mak yong performers who were elderly with health problems had very few
performance opportunities previous to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns further
isolated traditional performers from the support of their village performance community and severely
impacted their ability to support their families through their occupations as farmers, day laborers, or small-
time traders. Many elderly mak yong performers have passed away and those who remain are in their
sixties, seventies and eighties. A core group of young male musicians has studied and developed into
active village performers. Very few female mak yong performers want to train with their families and even
fewer continue to perform after marriage. While the training and performance of pre-pubescent girls is
permissible, adult female performance for a mixed-gender audience is still officially prohibited in Kelantan.
Since the PAS ban on Mak Yong was rescinded in 2019, JKKN sponsored mak yong performance has
undergone transformation, as patrons re-envision the art to fit their contemporary understandings of
Islamic practice that excludes public female performances and ritual healing. Extensive work is needed
to build a plan with members of the mak yong performance community for long term safeguarding and
sustainability of the village mak yong tradition. One way forward suggested by traditional practitioners
is to facilitate more village performances so that Kelantanese youth will be aware of, understand and
appreciate their cultural traditions and hopefully be inspired to learn to perform them.

E. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Research for this paper was supported by the Malaysian FRGS Sustaining Sustainability-Fundamental
Research Strategies of Resilience and Adaptive Management in Malaysian Performing Arts (2020-
0262-108-02) FRGS/1/2020/WAB10/UPSI/02/4. Additional grants that supported this research include
Malaysian FRGS entitled Segmen Pecah Cerita Mak Yong Sebagai Cerminan Adab Melayu Kelantan
Dalam Membina Hubungan Sosial (The Introduction of the Story Segment in Mak Yong as a Reflection of
Kelantanese Malay Islamic Etiquette in Building Social Relationships) (2020-0236-106-02), A Taiwanese
grant entitled towards the Sustainability of Vocal Heritage in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia
(108-2410-H 369-001 MY2) and a Malaysian Cendana Adiguru grant that recognized Wan Midin bin Wan
Majid as an Adiguru Mak Yong 2021-2022.

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Cooley, T. (2019). Cultural Sustainabilities: Music, Media, Language, Advocacy. Urbana: University of
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Di, G. M. A. (2009). The Heritage-Scape: UNESCO, World Heritage, and Tourism. Lanham: Lexington
Books.
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tetap-haramkan-mak-yong/.
Foley, K. (2014). “No More Masterpieces: Tangible Impacts and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bordered
Worlds”. Asian Theater Journal. University of Hawai’i Press. vol. 31 no. 2: 369-398.
doi:10.1353/atj.2014.0031.
Foster, M. D. and Gilman, L. eds. (2015). UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on Intangible
Cultural Heritage. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Foster, M. D. (2015).“UNESCO on the Ground”. In UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on
Intangible Cultural Heritage, Michael Dylan Foster and Lisa Gilman eds., 1-16. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Guy, N. (2009). Flowing Down Taiwan’s Tamsui River: Towards an Ecomusicology of the Environmental
Imagination. Ethnomusicology, 53:2, 218-248.
Hafstein, V. (2018). Making Intangible Heritage: El Condor Pasa and Other Stories from UNESCO.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv4v3086. (2014). “Protection as Dispossession:
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Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana. ProQuest, University Microfilms International
#3386680. (2013). Embodying the Divine and the Body Politic: Mak Yong Performance in Rural
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Approaches. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars.
Ismail, R., Shaw, B. J., & Ooi, G. L. (2009). Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising World:
Diverging identities in a Dynamic Region. Farnham, England: Ashgate Pub.
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Pettan, S., & In Titon, J. T. (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Schippers, H. (2010). Facing the Music: Shaping music Education from a Global Perspective. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
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Community Music Today. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

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MS. JINYOUNG SEO
Programme Specialist / International Information and Networking
Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region
under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) Jeonju, Republic Of
Korea

Ms. Jinyoung Seo is programme specialist at ICHCAP. She studied political science at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A.) and Seoul National University (M.A.). Before she joined
the ICHCAP, she worked at the Embassy of the Korea in USA and Australia, National Museum of
Korean Contemporary History and research institutes focusing on cultural diplomacy and cultural
education. In ICHCAP, she proceeded many projects to raise awareness and safeguard ICH,
for examples organizing UNESCO Capacity-building Workshop collaborated with CRIHAP for
three years working with NGOs for publication or conference. She also supported ICH education
projects co-organized by UNESCO Bangkok Office and APCEIU. Currently she is in charge of
ICH Courier quarterly magazine delivering ICH related news in Asia Pacific region.

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ICH AND RESILIENCE BETWEEN B.C.(BEFORE COVID-19) AND A.C.(AFTER COVID-19)

Jinyoung Seo
Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP)

Jeonju, Republic of Korea
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has changed the way of thinking entirely. Not only coping with an
unprecedented pandemic but also new ways of problem-solving for all. ICHCAP was not the exception.
Every planned event was changed to an online format. However, it was not easy at first. Most of the
participants were not familiar with online meeting tools such as Zoom, Google Meets, Teams, etc. Before
the event, we had to run technical sessions one by one. However, starting with the ICH Webinar Series
on Higher Education, the 2020 World Forum of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and many other events were
held successfully in hybrid format. Particularly, participants of the 2021 Intangible Cultural Heritage Youth
Summit, held in parallel to the 2021 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage, were gathered in the
Metaverse. To safeguard ICH, the most important directions were to share information and transmit ICH
continuously without severance whatever the hardship is. ICHCAP’s purpose was lied on there. ICHCAP
also launched the project for MOOC in this period: one is Living Heritage and Sustainable Development
and the other is Bring Living Heritage to the Classroom in Asia-Pacific. As UNESCO emphasized,
education is an important part of safeguarding ICH, and integration between the two becomes more
important than ever. When schools are closed, students were deprived of their chances to learn, even,
culture was apart from their lives. Not only students but also teachers became senseless. Paying attention
that the young generation is familiar with an online tool, we started to make MOOC courses. Also, the
advantage of online which has no borders could make it possible to distribute the courses everywhere in
the world. Still, there are many tasks to solve: one of the biggest issues is how to deal with a technically
marginalized group. It is time to wait for resilience in the post-pandemic.

Keywords: Education, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), Resilience

A. INTRODUCTION
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has changed the way of thinking entirely. Not only coping with an
unprecedented pandemic but also new ways of problem-solving for all. As intangible cultural heritage
(hereinafter ICH) only exists when it transmitted by people, the pandemic makes people rethink human
security, at the same time, such hardships put ICH in serious danger due to distancing policies. To
support communities in facing the crisis, in April 2020, UNESCO launched an online survey and platform
on ‘Living Heritage Experiences and the COVID-19 Pandemic.’ The primary objective of the survey was
to enhance learning and understanding about safeguarding living heritage in the context of the ongoing
pandemic (UNESCO 2022, 5-6). Understanding the roles of ICH in resilience, three recommendations
were proposed: 1. Help communities build back better by strengthening recovery support mechanisms
for living heritage bearers at the local level, including through local governance structures; 2. Take
advantage of digital technologies to increase the visibility and understanding of living heritage; and 3.
Strengthen and amplify the linkages between safeguarding living heritage and emergency preparedness,
response and recovery plans and programmes.

Before these recommendations, the International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible
Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Regions under the auspices of UNESCO (hereinafter ICHCAP) was

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responded step by step by applying new ways to achieve its functions: information sharing and network
building. Every planned event was changed into an online format. However, it was not easy at first. Most
of the participants were not familiar with online meeting tools such as Zoom, Google Meets, Teams, etc.
Before the event, we had to run technical sessions one by one. However, starting with the ICH Webinar
Series on Higher Education in 2019, the 2020 World Forum of Intangible Cultural Heritage and many
other events were held in hybrid format successfully. Particularly, participants of the 2021 Intangible
Cultural Heritage Youth Summit, held in parallel to the 2021 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage,
were gathered in the Metaverse.

To safeguard ICH, the most important directions were to share information and
transmit ICH continuously by people without severance whatever the hardship
is. ICHCAP’s purpose was lied on there. ICHCAP also launched the project for
Massive Open Online Course (hereinafter MOOC) in this period: one is ‘Living

Heritage and Sustainable Development’
and the other is ‘Bring Living Heritage to the
Classroom in Asia-Pacific. As UNESCO
emphasized, education is an important
part of safeguarding ICH, and integration
between the two becomes more important
than ever. When schools are closed,
students were deprived of their chances to learn, even, culture was apart from
their lives. Not only students but also teachers became senseless. Paying
attention that the young generation is familiar with an online tool, we started to
make MOOCs. Also, the advantage of online which has no borders could make
it possible to distribute the courses everywhere in the world. Still, there are
many tasks to solve: one of the biggest issues is how to deal with a technically
marginalized group. It is time to wait for resilience in the post-pandemic. In this
paper, it will be discussed how they was set, produced and streamed for the
worldwide ICH stakeholders. By following the steps, I would like to deliver the
underline messages of needs in cooperation for resilience.

B. DEVELOPMENT OF MOOCS
Background And Its Rationale
First of all, here examines the background of why ICHCAP started projects linking ICH and education
and how COVID situation changed the way of proceeding. Two MOOCs presented are aligned with same
purpose but different in details so that the paper starts from the broader concept to narrow it down.

Uttered in the Articles 2(3) and 14 of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding Intangible Cultural
Heritage (hereinafter 2003 Convention), education is one of the important measures for safeguarding
ICH. At the 12th Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage held
in Jeju 2017, UNESCO adopted ‘intangible cultural heritage and education’ as a priority. Since then,

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the Secretariat of the 2003 Convention continued its efforts to develop partnerships with educational
institutions to support the implementation of ICH and education into formal and informal education in
different levels with the help of intersectoral cooperation between education sector and Living Heritage
Entity (hereinafter LHE).

Under the goal for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 Quality Education, ICHCAP welcomed
such a driving force and set the forefront to facilitate the transition. ICHCAP has been working with
the UNESCO Bangkok Office and the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding
under the auspices of UNESCO (APCEIU) to promote teaching and learning ICH in schools since 2019.
Not only the operation of the pilot projects for ICH school education, but also the Survey on Teaching
and Learning with and About Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asia and the Pacific were conducted. Over
the subject-oriented classes, the pilot projects were planned to show integration between subjects with
ICH elements. Particularly in second term of the pilot, 21 schools from six countries, Nepal, Thailand,
Cambodia, Korea, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with the cooperation of regional UNESCO offices in
Kathmandu, Almaty and Phnom Penh, participated. With these results, Guidance Book: Bringing Living
Heritage to Classrooms in the Asia-Pacific Region was published and “Animation Series: Teaching and
Learning with Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific.” For extending the realm of reaching,
developing MOOCs for teachers were followed.

In the meantime, with the LHE, another tripartite cooperation was settled. While the demand for online
courses on ICH exists, UNESCO has so far given priority to face-to-face training programmes under its
global capacity-building programme. However, over the past years it has increasingly strengthened its
collaboration with universities to support the integration of ICH in their programmes. It is interesting to
note that the Overall results framework for the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage, adopted by States Parties to the Convention, also includes a references to the role
of universities in strengthening human capacities for safeguarding. An increasing number of Massive
Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is being developed in different thematic areas, notably in universities.
However, when analysing the landscape of existing MOOCs, UNESCO realized that there was a gap.
No introductory course on the theme of safeguarding living heritage and sustainable development with a
reference to the 2003 Convention has so far been offered, while it would provide an excellent opportunity
to reach out to students, young people as well as NGOs and government officials who have an interest
in ICH. With many of collected data from the Asia-Pacific regions and expertises, ICHCAP did on board
with Sustainable Development Goals Academy (SDG Academy) in developing the first MOOC on ICH
presenting the UNESCO curriculum in an online format.

C. DEVELOPMENT OF MOOCS
Producing And Its Promotion Under Covid Era
The MOOC on living heritage and Sustainable Development officially opened on January 24, 2022.
Thirteen instructors selected from all over the world joined to deliver lectures. As six-weeks self-
paced course, the main objective of the course is to strengthen knowledge and awareness on the
interdependence safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development. The detailed
syllabus is presented in Table 1.

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Chapter 1 Module 1: What is intangible cultural heritage?
Chapter 2 Intangible cultural heritage as living heritage
Chapter 3 Key concepts of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Chapter 4 The Convention’s Lists and Register
The Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH and other related UNESCO conventions
Chapter 1
Chapter 2 Module 2: Communities and their intangible cultural heritage
Chapter 3 Who are the communities?
Chapter 4 Intangible cultural heritage as the living heritage of communities
Community participation
Chapter 1 Community-based approaches
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Module 3: Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage
Chapter 4 The concepts of transmission and safeguarding
Safeguarding measures
Chapter 1 Inventories and safeguarding plans
Chapter 2 Ethics in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage
Chapter 3
Module 4: Intangible cultural heritage and gender
Chapter 1 Intangible cultural heritage shapes gender identities
Chapter 2 Gender roles and relations evolve
Chapter 3 Gender-responsive approaches to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage
Chapter 4
Chapter 5 Module 5: Intangible cultural heritage for sustainable livelihoods and inclusive social development
Intangible cultural heritage and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Chapter 1 Intangible cultural heritage and education
Chapter 2 Intangible cultural heritage and health
Chapter 3 Intangible cultural heritage and income generation
Conclusion Intangible cultural heritage, food security and agriculture
Module 6: Intangible cultural heritage for resilience, environmental sustainability and peacebuilding
Intangible cultural heritage, natural disasters and climate change
Intangible cultural heritage in conflict-related emergency situations
Intangible cultural heritage and preventing and solving disputes
Intangible cultural heritage for building a sustainable future for humanity

Table 1. Syllabus of MOOC on ‘Living Heritage and Sustainable Development’

The course is for anyone new to the concept of intangible cultural heritage who wants to understand what
intangible cultural heritage is, why it is important to people’s wellbeing and what role it plays in the lives
of people, including young people; graduate students and advanced undergraduate students interested
in the key concepts and practices of sustainability and global issues; key actors engaged in the field of
sustainable development at a local, regional or international level, including those who work in corporate
sustainability and responsibility and who want to understand the relationship between intangible cultural
heritage and sustainable development; and practitioners and professionals engaged in living heritage
safeguarding, who want to refresh their knowledge on the key concepts of safeguarding of intangible
cultural heritage and want to learn more about the relationship between living heritage and sustainable
development.

To this end, the steps were not easy at all. The contents and themes were clear for each instructor as
they are well-known experts in this field. Though the most complex parts was filming itself. As travel
was limited because of COVID-19, all coordinations were done via online. Even though there are many
advantages of online, there are definite drawbacks that we cannot avoid. The filming was done online,

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not in the studio, therefore, ICHCAP provided guidelines for shooting, ran the technical sessions, and
was with them through online when they were shooting in local. Even the little things, like considering
reflection, audio equipements for sound and angles, were new for all. However, the in present, the truth
is they become valuable experiences and the such cooperation led over 2000 registered students.

For the other case, the Bangkok office and ICHCAP conducted an online training workshop for experts
of ICH and school education for four days from October 27 to 30, 2020. The workshop was originally
planned to be held offline at the National Intangible Heritage Center, but the format was changed due
to COVID-19. After the workshop, pilot schools were chosen to implement the projects in six countries
above mentioned. The main purpose is to find and introduce various ICH education cases in schools. The
pilot project was guaranteed its autonomy for each country to proceed in reflecting its own circumstances.
For Korean case, ICHCAP facilitated the process with experts from the diverse levels such as professors
from the University of Education, government officials who is in charge of heritage education. Pilot classes
were conducted from May to June 2021. Each school chose the ICH elements to focus on considering its
regional bases, students’ levels of understanding, etc. Shingal Elementary School conducted its’ classes
with the theme of Namsadang Nori, Wolgok Elementary School went with Yeondeunghoe, Osan Middle
School chose Bongsan Mask Dance and Geunyoung Middle School talked about Kimjang, making and
sharing kimchi. As instructors of the MOOC, experts reorganized and reflected these cases into MOOC
modules. So did in six countries’ facilitators. The detailed syllabus is presented in Table 2.

Chapter 1 Module 1: What is bringing living heritage to the classroom?
Chapter 2 What is living heritage?
Chapter 3 Benefits of bringing living heritage to the classroom
Chapter 4 Teaching about living heritage
Teaching with living heritage
Chapter 1 Module 2: Understand your context
Chapter 2 Identifying living heritage around you
Chapter 3 Living heritage in the classroom: when and where can you use this approach?
Finding partners: in the school, in the community and beyond
Chapter 1 Module 3: Select a living heritage element and learn more about it
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Selecting a living heritage element for integration in education
Learning more about the selected ICH: what information to collect?
Chapter 1 Learning more about ICH: how to collect information (in an ethical manner)?
Chapter 2 Module 4: Design your lesson plan
Chapter 3 Setting the goals and learning objectives of the lesson
Chapter 4 Pedagogical approaches and materials
Documenting and sharing your experience
Assessment mechanisms

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Chapter 1 Module 5: Bringing Living Heritage to the Classroom: Strategy for Sustainability
Chapter 2 Teaching with living heritage in multicultural classroom environment
Chapter 3 Improving living heritage content in school through curriculum mapping, a Korean experience
Chapter 4 Teaching multidisciplinary projects with living heritage
Chapter 5 Building long-term partnerships
5(a) Connecting living heritage in the classroom with existing education priorities
5(b) Connecting Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and living heritage in the classroom
5(c) Connecting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and living heritage in the classroom
5(d) Connecting Mother Tongue-based Education (MTBE) and living heritage in the classroom
Connecting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and living heritage in the classroom

Table 2. Syllabus of MOOC on ‘Bringing Living Heritage to the Classroom in Asia-Pacific’

It was launched officially on April 22, 2022. This course provides key resources and guidance for teachers
and people interested in education and culture on why and how to integrate living heritage into their
lessons and extracurricular activities at school. Such lessons and activities aim to make learning more
contextualized, relevant and engaging for students while they help raise awareness about the importance
of safeguarding living heritage. During the course, participants will take a step-by-step approach to
develop a lesson plan or school activity connected to a living heritage element of their choice.

Regarding the producing, this could be overlapping with the upper case, as same as, the most difficult
part was scheduling and online works. If this project was in action under normal situation, we could freely
visit schools and meet students as many times as we can and invite every expert and teacher together
to share their experiences directly. Additionally, for better understanding the elements, it was possible
to meet practitioners or visit their workshops for hands-on experiences. After corona, only available
option was online, or limited face-to-face meeting. The pilot classes were delayed a few times and
shooting was done personally with the help of online tools. Such left much to be desired. Therefore, in
promotion, for supplementing and responding to the gap if there are by any chance caused by online
accessibility, an instructor led cohort which includes an orientation and five weekly live tutorial sessions
was accompanied. The tutorial sessions provided the opportunities to exchange information and ideas
with instructors and fellow learners and direct feedback from instructors on your newly developed lesson
plan and activity. The result was highly successful; deeply appreciated for all participants for this project.

D. CONCLUSION
This paper outlined the ICHCAP’s projects done during the COVID-19 period. The most notable change
was applying online platforms to proceed its projects. Particularly in integration of ICH and Education,
MOOCs were developed for different targets with different themes. In general, advantages of learning
platforms are it is possible to present diverse teaching and learning methods, it has flexibility by making
independent from time and space, it makes access to more people, more data at the same time with
lower costs, it gives more chance to the disabled; and more importantly, it is available for education
tracking by using Learning Management System. However, at the same time, disadvantages should
be thought not disciplined to manage own education, marginalized groups of technical deficiencies,
and difficulty of developing qualified platform or content. ICHCAP tried to provide quality information
on effective measures for safeguarding ICH during this crisis. The new measures might have pros and
cons and need complementary measures. Though, it is sure that the direction is right and when the
cooperation among all stakeholders are kept, the power of resilience that culture will be flourished.

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E. REFERENCE
ICHCAP. (2021). ICH Education Case Studies: Korea (unedited version).
UNESCO Bangkok Office. (2015). “Learning with Intangible Cultural Heritage for a Sustainable Future:
Guidelines for Educators in the Aisa Asia-Pacific Region.”
UNESCO Bangkok Office. (2019). “Survey on Teaching and Learning With, Through and About Intangible
Cultural Heritage.”
UNESCO Bangkok Office, ICHCAP, and APCEIU. (2020). Step by Step: Integrating Living Heritage in
School-based Education(draft).
UNESCO Bangkok Office, ICHCAP and APCEIU. (2022). Bringing Living Heritage to the Classroom in
Asia-Pacific (unedited version).
UNESCO. (2003). “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.”
UNESCO. (2015). “Final Narrative Report” JFIT585RAS1004, UNESCO Bangkok Office.
UNESCO. (2017). “Integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage in Education: Intersectional meeting with
Education Institutes and Programmes” Summary Report.
UNESCO. (2017). Resolution on Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage, 12th session, Jeju Island, Republic of Korea.
UNESCO. (2022). “Medium-Term Strategy 2022-2029” 41C/4, UNESCO.
UNESCO. (2022). “2022-2025 Approved Programme and Budget: First biennium 2022-2023” 41 C/5,
UNESCO.

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DR. MAEHARA MEGUMI
Head Of Intangible Cultural Properties Section
National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Japan

Dr. Megumi Maehara is involved in research on intangible cultural heritage in particular traditional
Japanese performing arts. Currently, she is also focusing on the less visible aspects of Japanese
traditional performing arts during the COVID19 pandemic, namely techniques related to upholding
the performing arts.

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POST-PANDEMIC RESTORATION OF JAPANESE TRADITIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES

Maehara Megumi
Intangible Cultural Properties Section, Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage,

Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Japan
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
Japan continues to be impacted by COVID-19, and traditional performing arts are no exception. In this
presentation, I will spotlight Japan’s initiatives for the restoration of traditional performing arts after the
pandemic from the perspective of conservation techniques. In the Introduction section, I will discuss the
significance of conservation techniques that are not readily visible, concerning to the impacts of COVID-19
on traditional Japanese performing arts. Conservation techniques refer to techniques for making items
that are indispensable to the transmission of traditional performing arts, such as musical instruments,
costumes, and stage props. In the Methodology section, I will explain the method to analyze the path that
performances of traditional performing arts have taken amid COVID-19. I will also explain the method
by which the shamisen manufacturing technique was examined as a case example of a conservation
technique that supports traditional performing arts performances. In the Findings and Observation section,
I will first examine how performances of traditional performing arts have changed. Then, I will focus on
conservation techniques, the impacts of which are difficult to fathom from the changes in the numbers
of performances, and discuss how they are aiming to be restored, mainly in terms of national measures
that take said techniques into account. In the Conclusion section, I will provide a wrap-up by noting that
consideration needs to be given to conservation techniques for Japanese traditional performing arts
to achieve post-pandemic restoration in the true sense of the word and that this approach has direct
relevance to the future transmission of Japanese traditional performing arts.

Keywords: Conservation Techniques, Cultural Policy, Techniques For Making Musical Instruments, The
Impact Of Covid-19

A. INTRODUCTION
In Japan, COVID-19 began to show signs of spreading throughout the country around March 2020, and its
impact on traditional performing arts appeared immediately. What’s more, the country is in the thick of the
seventh wave. Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties has been collecting and analyzing
Internet-based information on the numbers of traditional performing arts performances that have been
given or canceled/postponed after February 2020, with me serving as project manager. As far as this
investigation goes, traditional performing arts are marking a recovery trend when looking at the changes
in the number of performances. However, within the process of collecting information, we encountered
a serious issue that the impacts on conservation techniques that support traditional performing arts are
difficult to visualize. The number of performances and audience were able to be assessed to a certain
degree by collecting information. Contrarily, any impacts on conservation techniques that are used to
make items indispensable to traditional performing arts, such as musical instruments, costumes and
stage props, were difficult to visualize as they hardly tend to come to the fore.

For this reason, we must bear in mind that the impacts of COVID-19 on Japanese traditional performing
arts are casting a long shadow not only on performers but also on theaters, auditoriums and bearers
of conservation techniques. In other words, it is only after proper measures are established from the
perspective of the restoration of conservation techniques that traditional performing arts will head toward
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the true sense of the word.

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B. METHODOLOGY
First, we collected basic data for analyzing the path that performances of Japanese traditional performing
arts have taken amid COVID-19. Based on the investigation that Tokyo National Research Institute for
Cultural Properties has been carrying out since April 2020, we examined changes in the numbers of
performances that have been given and the numbers that have been canceled on account of COVID-19
(this investigation is still being continued today and the progress of the investigation is updated every
month on the Institute’s website in the form of graphs accompanied by brief comments; see https://www.
tobunken.go.jp/ich/vscovid19/influence/ for the latest information as of August 17, 2022). In Figs. 1 to 3,
this basic data is shown superimposed on a timeline of the first to seventh waves of COVID-19 based
on “COVID-19 trends in Japan” released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (see https://www.
mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/kokunainohasseijoukyou.html for the latest update as of August 15, 2002). By
checking these graphs against national responses to COVID-19 in Japan, we analyzed the path that
performances of Japanese traditional performance arts have taken amid COVID-19.

Next, we turned to the impacts of COVID-19 on conservation techniques. As these impacts are unable
to be gauged from the status of performing arts performances, we examined the case example of Tokyo
Wagakki, a famous shamisen manufacturing company in Japan that had once been on the brink of
going out of business. The Shamisen is a musical instrument widely related to traditional performing arts
such as kabuki, bunraku, classical Japanese dance and Japanese music concerts and Tokyo Wagakki
is one of the largest manufacturers of Shamisen. By collecting information and conducting an interview
investigation, we investigated the chronology of how news of Tokyo Wagakki’s crisis of business closure
was received by stakeholders of performing arts and the general public and how it led to a social
movement.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Findings and observation first, let us examine the relationship between the Japanese traditional performing
arts performances and the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly in terms of three turning points (Figs. 1 to 3).

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“Turning point 1” was characterized by a sudden increase in the cancellation of performances. On
February 26, 2020, the then prime minister called for two weeks of restraint from holding nationwide-
scale events. Subsequently, on March 20, the Agency for Cultural Affairs requested full precautions
against risks when holding large-scale, nationwide events and, if proper risk countermeasures cannot
be taken, to cancel or postpone the event. Furthermore, on April 7, the government declared a state of
emergency for the first time in seven prefectures, including Tokyo. On April 16, the scope of the state of
emergency was expanded to all prefectures in Japan. It can be assumed that performances of traditional
performing arts and other arts and culture events responded promptly to the spreading of infection and
the government’s policies.

“Turning point 2” came immediately after the state of emergency began to be lifted in phases and was lifted
throughout the country on May 25. At the same time, however, restrictions were placed on events. Indoor
concerts and events were limited to an audience of up to 100 people or within 50% of the total seating
capacity of the venue, whichever is less, and outdoor concerts and events were limited to an audience of
200 people or within 50% of the total seating capacity of the venue, whichever is less. Nevertheless, the
situation with traditional performing arts performances saw a reversal, and the numbers that were held
overtook the numbers that were cancelled. At a glance, it seemed that signs of recovery were emerging,
but these performances and events were held under conditions that restricted seating capacity should
not be overlooked.

“Turning point 3” is when the state of emergency was reinstated in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo and
COVID-19 saw a further spreading. There was thus a potential risk of another reversal in the situation with
traditional performing arts performances. Fortunately, however, the number of performances increased
and turned to recovery. The reason for this is unclear, but it coincided with the announcement of “ARTS
for the future,” a government supported-project for the restoration of arts and culture activities and its call
for applications on April 26. Measures like these may have contributed in no small way to strengthening
the momentum for the restoration of traditional performing arts as well.

After “turning point 3”, the numbers of performances continued to fluctuate in reaction to the state
of emergency and quasi-state of emergency issued by the government in response to the status of
COVID-19, but the fluctuations calmed down as a whole. Even so, a careful look reveals that the
numbers of performances stood at lower levels compared to two years ago. Therefore, we must pay
careful attention to the cause of this situation and future developments.

Next, let us take a look at the impacts on conservation techniques which are challenging to visualize
in numbers, in reference to the case example of Tokyo Wagakki, the largest Shamisen manufacturer
in Japan and its crisis of business closure. News of this crisis began to spread around June 2020 via
social media. I have personally conducted interviews at Tokyo Wagakki (Figure 4), documented the
Shamisen manufacturing technique on film and photos, published pamphlets (Figure 5) and papers
(literary references) and I still continue to collect information today. Below I present my observations
about the course of events in this case example.

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Figure 4 Figure 5

In June 2020, news of Tokyo Wagakki’s crisis of business closure began to spread via social media and
gradually reached many musical instrument stores and performers. From around July 2020, it began to
be featured repeatedly in newspapers and on TV. As a result, Tokyo Wagakki’s plight received social
attention and a widespread understanding began to form regarding the reality of shamisen manufacturing
sites. Even sympathizers appeared who wished to support the manufacturing of musical instruments as
a means for the future transmission of traditional performing arts.

In August 2020, a rock band called Wagakki Band, composed of musical instruments that include
Japanese traditional instruments, held a fundraiser at its concert venue to seek support for Tokyo
Wagakki. As the band is popular among young people, its plea to its fans to support the techniques
for manufacturing the Shamisen which they perform in their band, consequently spreading news of the
predicament of Shamisen manufacturing to a wider generation of people and broadened the circle of
support. Efforts like this were featured in newspapers and on TV and were instrumental in maintaining
society’s interest in the Shamisen manufacturer. Moreover, the sharing of the situation and broadening
of the circle of support became a source not only of financial support but also emotional support to the
Shamisen manufacturer, which had never received much attention from society before.

In this way, the dire situation of conservation techniques that are indispensable to traditional performing
arts came to be widely known on account of COVID-19 in association with Tokyo Wagakki. However, it
had been severe since even before COVID-19, and information about this had been disseminated. Fig.
6 shows an English translation of a relevant article featured in Asahi Shimbun Digital in February 2019.
According to this article, the production of shamisen and koto had already declined by roughly 81%
and 85%, respectively, over the past 47 years, despite both being representative musical instruments
of Japanese traditional performing arts. In other words, manufacturing sites of musical instruments that
support traditional performing arts had already been in a difficult situation, with a decline in demand since
before COVID-19. This state of affairs was published in newspaper articles and garnered interest among
certain people, but society was plunged into the pandemic before any specific countermeasures could
be formulated. Tokyo Wagakki ultimately faced a crisis of business closure after an accumulation of such
circumstances and ironically, it is because word got out that its crisis was finally shared among society
and support activities ensue:

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Fig. 6 Asahi Shimbun Digital (2019.2.25)

[Quotes from the Digital edition of Asahi Shimbun]

Serious crisis of Japanese traditional music. Only 3,900 kotos are manufactured annually

Continuing decline in the number of Japanese instruments manufactured

I didn’t think there was such a decrease. This is the annual number of Shamisen, Koto and
other instruments manufactured, as compiled by the National Federation of Traditional Musical
Instruments Association. The number of Shamisen decreased from 18,000 in 1970 to 3,400 in
2017, while the number of Koto decreased from 25,800 to 3,900

It goes without saying that individual concerns and support are important first steps. However, to continue
manufacturing and supplying Shamisen to traditional performing arts in the future, measures need to be
taken to develop a self-standing environment. That is, it is necessary to expand demand for the musical
instrument and develop human and financial environments for its supply from a medium to long-term
perspective. Within this kind of situation (although this situation is not necessarily the direct cause), the
government came to formulate measures such as the system of “Selected Conservation Techniques”
for the protection of conservation techniques and the “Program for the Dissemination and Expansion of
Japanese Music.” Let us examine them in detail.

In Japan, the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties provides for a system that selects traditional
techniques or craftsmanship that are “indispensable to the preservation of cultural properties and for
which preservation measures need to be taken,” and supports their transmission by certifying individuals
or organizations as holders of the techniques. Under this law, “Making of the Shamisen neck and body”
and “Making of Koto” were certified by the government as Selected Conservation Techniques in the
autumn of 2021, and the Association for the Preservation of Production Techniques of Japanese Musical
Instruments was organized as the holding organization of the two techniques, with Mr. Katsuhiro Otaki,
director of Tokyo Wagakki, appointed as chairman. The selection served as a public announcement that
the Shamisen manufacturing technique is indispensable to the transmission of traditional performing
arts and a national subsidy was granted for the transmission of the technique itself. Today, employees of
Tokyo Wagakki are maintaining their motivation and harnessing their wisdom to develop the successors
of the shamisen manufacturing technique.

The other measure is the “Program for the Dissemination and Expansion of Japanese Music,” launched in
fiscal 2021. This program has two characteristics. One is that it is intended for high school and university
clubs and aims to expand the strata of young Japanese music enthusiasts and cultivate new demand.
The program period is set to three years for high school clubs and four years for university clubs, based
on their respective number of school years and the subsidy may be used to borrow musical instruments
such as the Shamisen free of charge, repair and service instruments owned by the club, invite performers
as instructors, hold and operate recitals and participate in exchange meetings and workshops.

The second characteristic is that it incorporates a system in which the government buys musical

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instruments from instrument manufacturers and lends them out to students free of charge. By doing so,
the program promotes the musical activities of students who cannot obtain the necessary instrument
and afford repair fees. It also aims to keep the flame of technical transmission burning by providing
instrument manufacturers facing a dire situation with opportunities to manufacture instruments. As far as
I know, there has never been any other example where the government buys musical instruments to lend
them out free of charge. I think this is an innovative program that allows young enthusiasts of traditional
performing arts to engage in their activity in a better environment and simultaneously provides indirect
support to musical instrument manufacturers facing a crisis amid COVID-19.

D. CONCLUSION
Firstly, the pandemic helped us realize anew that traditional Japanese performing arts cannot exist
only the efforts of their performers. Even with one of Japan’s leading Shamisen manufacturers, their
sense of crisis failed to be shared with performers, enthusiasts, researchers and people engaged in the
administration of cultural properties until the possibility of business closure loomed in front of their eyes.
Moreover, it was also owing to COVID-19 that a widespread understanding began to form regarding the
large impacts of the pandemic on conservation techniques, the long-overlooked foundation of traditional
performing arts. Secondly, COVID-19 continues to impact on traditional performing arts, but we now
know that traditional performing arts can only continue to exist along with conservation techniques. Thus,
we must apply the above two lessons and create a strong scheme that grasps, supports and transmits
traditional performing arts within a large framework that includes conservation techniques. It is only
beyond that point that post-pandemic restoration can be truly achieved.

E. REFERENCE
Book
Maehara,M (ed.). (2021). Report on First Forum‘’Traditional Performing Arts amid Covid-19 Pandemic:
National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. http://id.nii.ac.jp/1440/00009169
Maehara,M (ed.). (2022). Report on Third Forum‘’Traditional Performing Arts amid Covid-19 Pandemic
-Seeking Good Practices for Safegurding-‘: National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. http://
id.nii.ac.jp/1440/00009170
Journal
Maehara,M.( 2021). (Investigation for ‘Impact of the Covid-19 on Traditional Performing Arts’), : Issues on
Impact of the Covid-19 on Traditional Performing Arts (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural
Properties), 3-26. http://id.nii.ac.jp/1440/00009080
Maehara,M.( 2021).(Pandemic, Traditional Performing Arts, and Conservation techniques): ―Lost In
Pandemic –Theatre Adrift, Expression’s New Horizons-(Shunyodo co.)
Newspaper
The Digital edition of Asahi Shimbun Asahi Shimbun Digital, 2019.2.25)] https://www.asahi.com/articles/
ASM2M3W93M2MUCVL00Y.html
Web site
National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo Impact of the Covid-19 on Traditional
Performing Arts https://www.tobunken.go.jp/ich/vscovid19/influence/ for the latest update as of
August17, 2022
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare COVID-19 trends https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/
kokunainohasseijoukyou.html for the latest update as of August 30, 2022

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DR. PARITTA CHALERMPOW KOANANTAKOOL
Retired anthropologist
Former Director, The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
Anthropology Centre, Bangkok, Thailand

Dr. Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool was lecturer of anthropology at Thammasat University,
Thailand from 1981 to 2002. From 2002-2010 she was Director of the Princess Maha Chakri
Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre where she initiated research and capacity-building programme
for community-based museums all over Thailand. Her interests include dance, folk theatre, art
and community museums.

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MUSEUMS AND LIVING HERITAGE IN THAILAND: INNOVATION AND TRADITIONAL
RESOURCES IN THE FACE OF THE PANDEMIC

Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool
Bangkok, Thailand
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
This paper gives an account of how two community-based museums in Thailand, the Playable Museum,
and the Nang Yai Puppets Museum at Wat Khanon, are closely linked to intangible cultural heritage.
They have been operating with full participation of the communities to safeguard two local living heritage
elements, the knowledge and skill of making folk toys and the art of large puppet performance. During
the pandemic, the Playable Museum employed innovative strategies to promote folk toys on-line, while
the Puppets Museum relied on traditional monastic resources to survive. Both strategies are suited to the
social context of their missions and operations.

Keywords: Community-based museums, Covid-19 pandemic, Folk toys, Living heritage, Nang Yai large
puppets, On-line strategy, Thailand, Traditional resources

A. INTRODUCTION
Generally speaking, Museums are sites of material collections where objects that are valued for their
aesthetic, ritual, archaeological, historical, cultural, or ethnic significance are stored and exhibited. In
Thailand however, there is another kind of museum that keeps material collections, as well as facilitating
the transmission of knowledge and skills of a local, and ethnic group. We can say that these museums
have a mission to safeguard living heritage as much as material objects. They may be located in
Buddhist monasteries, private houses, schools, or in communal spaces. They are called by different
labels: monastery museums, community-based museums, local museums or folk museums. Currently
there are upto up to 400 such museums all over the country. Not all of them are concerned with living
heritage of course, but a few of them focus on revitalizing local traditions for the sake of enabling the
continuity of their intangible cultural heritage, as well as the well-being of the communities.

In addition to focusing on living heritage, these small community-based museums are also closely linked
with the communities. Monastery museums are commonly run by a committee consisting of Buddhist
monks and laymen who are community members, who make decision on fund-raising, organizing events,
overseeing the monastery buildings including museums and so on. The management of the museums,
therefore, has active participation of the community members. The involvement of the communities
concerned is the basis of the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage as the community members
are the practitioners, custodians and supporters of the heritage.To illustrate how museums work toward
revitalizing, and strengthening the local living heritage traditions, I would like to present two cases. One
is the Playable Museum in the province of Chiangrai, northern Thailand and the other is the Nang Yai
Museum of Wat Khanon, in the province of Ratburi in central Thailand. In both cases I shall describe how
the museums came to be established and how they operate to strengthen the living cultural heritage. I
shall then describe their experience during the pandemic years from 2019-2021, how they cope with the
constraints with innovation and reliance on traditional resources.

The materials presented in this paper are collected from my field experience of researching and engaging
in capacity-building for community-based museums from 2002-2010. In 2022, I have also interviewed the
owner of the Playable Museum and the abbot who manages the Puppets Museum and troupe on their

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experience and strategies for coping with the constraints during the pandemic.

The Playable Museum
The museum is now located in a two-storey teak house in the Pa Daed community in Chiangrai, the
northernmost province of Thailand. It was established in 2000 when a young man, Mr. Weerawat
Kangwannawakun, whose brother was married to a local woman, started working for a non-governmental
group that was engaged in a project to improve the quality of life for local children and youth. Mr. Weerawat
noted that, like many rural communities, Pa Daed was populated mainly by the very young and the very
old. Members of working age had left home to find work in urban areas. So, they started to devise
activities that would benefit both the remaining population, first by arranging story-telling activities by the
elderly people which then evolved into the making of folk toys.

Figure 1. The Playable Museum Building Figure 2. The Interior of the Playable Museum Main Hall
Photo by Author Photo by Author

Figure 3. Acrobatic Figure Controlled by Squeezing The Bamboo Frame
Photo by Author

Folk toys are results of knowledge and skills that have been passed on from generation to generation.
The toys are mainly made from wood, bamboo, seeds, local natural products and other artefacts used in
daily life. To make toys require the knowledge of different properties of wood and bamboo. For example,
some toys must be made from a special kind of bamboo that is strong but pliable so that it can act as a
spring (see Figure 3).

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Folk toys are handicrafts, made with many kinds of knife, saw, chisel and hand drill. In addition to the
skills in handling the tools, toymakers should be observant of animal and human shapes and movements.
Some of the complex toys copy daily scenes, depicting activities such as rice pounding, sawing wood
and others (See Figure 4).

Figure 4. Automated toy depicting rice pounding
Photo by Author

With a view of creating a sense of well-being for both the elderly and the children, the museum organizes
regular events of toymaking and telling stories for the community. In the space of the museum the elderly
can show how to make toys, while children can participate making simple ones by themselves. The
making and playing of folk toys encourage creativity and imagination. Because they are simple, and their
shapes may resemble many animals and objects, playing them requires imagination. One of the first
toys made for the museum by an elderly community member depicts a creature whose identity is open
to imagination (See Figure 5).

Figure 5. The first toy made for the museum
Photo by Author

The way they are played can be as creative as the players want them to be. The players need to hone their
skills in throwing top spins, pulling a piece of cord, relying on the dexterity of the fingers and coordination
of eyesight and body movements (See for example Figures 6 and 7).

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Figure 6. Top spin made with old coins Figure 7. Animal Made From Coconut Shell, Moved by
Photo by Author Pulling a Piece of Cord
Photo by Author

In addition to collecting and replicating traditional local folk toys, the museum encourages the elderly
and young people to create new toys, both using the traditional tools, and modern ones, but maintain the
principle of enriching their creativity and imagination through toymaking. Together with his sons who are
homeschooled and skilled in craft making and engineering, Weerawat turned one corner of the museum
into a Makerspace filled with traditional and modern tools for children to learn carpentry, mechanics, use
of 3D printer and invent their own toys (See Figure 8).

Figure 8. The Maker Space
Photo by author

All through its 22 years of history, the museum has had its ups and downs. It has to change location,
bear the cost of renovation, adapt to changing technology, and maintain good working relations with
local administrators and other government agencies. Many of the elderly toymakers passed away. Yet it
continues to display folk local toys and organizes many activities including:
- workshops for local community members, as well as school children from other communities and

general visitors
- travelling workshops for other communities
- workshops for local teachers on the use of toys and play as learning activities
- convince some school to include traditional toymaking as part of school curriculum
- introduce a project “basket of toys” for families around the museum
- create a maker space teaching children to use tools and invent toys

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Figure 9. Workshops at The Museum
Photo by Weerawat Kangwannawakun

What are the benefits that the local community get from the existence and operation of the museum? The
museum is a private one, financed and run by Mr. Weerawat and his family, but the community members
do participate in many ways. The elderly members who have the knowledge and skills of toymaking are
the main resource persons. They derive satisfaction when the younger generation are excited about local
folk toys. The young generation at first gave a lukewarm reception, but when one television producer
aired a programmed about their community and toymaking museum, they became excited and keen
to join. Other community members act as museum assistants when there are workshops, facilitating,
supplying refreshments, keeping the museum space clean and tidy. The museum operates a museum
shop (Figure 10) selling local toys, and many other souvenirs and local products made by the community
members. So, the museum supplements their income and create social interaction.

176 Figure 10. The Museum Shop
Photo by Author

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So, it can be said that the museum functions as a centre of learning about the craft of folk toymaking.
It also helps to close the gap between generations, make the younger generation appreciate the local
knowledge, and the way of life of the community in the past, and make the elder generation proud. It also
encourages adaptation, innovation and creativity in the young mind.

Financial resources are always a problem for private museums such as the Playable Museum. They earn
from organizing workshops for schools, but it is not self-sufficient. To be able to run the museum and
accomplish various projects, the museum needs financial support from government agencies which they
obtain occasionally.

During the Covid-19 pandemic which spanned 2019-2021, schools were closed, travel restricted, social
distancing imposed, resulting in the museum losing a large proportion of visitors, as well as revenue from
workshops. In 2019 the museum received a grant from the Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre to organize
training workshops for toymakers, teachers, and facilitators. Thwarted by the mobility and distancing
constraints, the museum then had to revise their plan and make use of the on-line technology.

First they developed a ‘box set’ consisting of six types of handmade wooden toys (see figure 11) and
collaborated with a digital platform that promotes children’s learning by play activities to sell the set of
toys on-line. The reception was very positive. The museum received extra orders for the set from other
state education agencies and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. In addition to selling the toy sets,
the museum organized on-line workshops showing how the toys might be played for the buyers.

Figure 11. The Boxset Containing Six Types of Handmade Wooden Toys
Photo by Weerawat Kangwannawakun

On-line channel has become an important mode for the museum to promote folk toys as well as other
handicrafts such as weaving, crocheting, knitting etc. They have made a toy-sized loom which is fully
functional, sold with cotton yarns, that can inspire the imagination of the would-be weavers. It is too early
to say how sustainable their on-line commerce project may be, but Mr. Weerawat informed me that due
to on- line commerce, the year 2021 was the first time that the museum was no longer in the red.

The Nang Yai Museum of Wat Khanon
Nang Yai in Thai means large puppets, and wat is the Thai word for monastery. So, the title of the
museum means the large puppets museum at the Khanon monastery. Nang Yai is a kind of shadow play,

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performed by flat puppets made from one, or even two, whole pieces of cow hide, as high as 2 meters.
The hide is stretched, treated and elaborately carved using punches and knives to depict characters and
scenes from the episodes of the Thai version of the Ramayana, known as the Ramakien. Performances
take place at nightime when it is completely dark. The puppets are held by bamboo poles attached to
the carve hide and manipulated by dancers who dance in front of a large white screen to the music of
the traditional xylophone ensemble. In the past a bonfire made from burning coconut shells was lit at the
back side of the screen to provide the source of light, nowadays spotlights are used instead of a bonfire.
The puppets are manipulated some time in front of the screen, some time behind, in group as well as
individually. The story is told by recitation and singing accompanied by the ensemble (See Figures 12
and 13).

Figure 12. Nang Yai Screen and Puppets Figure 13. Nang Yai Dancers and Their Puppets
Photo by The Author Photo by Chonakan Isarankura

Written record mentions puppet performances as early as the fifteenth century, as an entertainment that
accompanied royal celebrations, and rituals, particularly cremations of the kings and royal persons. They
could also be part of the cremation ceremonies of highly respected monks, or high-ranking officials. The
tradition continued until about eighty years ago when their popularity went into decline. Though there
were not many performances, puppet figures were kept in monasteries in many communities. Performers
and musicians continued to pass on their knowledge to members of their families who performed only
on some rare events.

Currently there are four communities where Nang Yai tradition is being revitalized. One such community
where the tradition is actively carried out is at Khanon monastery in the province of Ratchaburi, in the
western region of Thailand. According to oral history, one abbot of the monastery had many sets of
puppets made in the late nineteenth century. Some 500 puppets were completed and deposited in
the monastery. The tradition later went into decline, performances were few and far between. Yet the
community members were proud of their heritage and were aware of the value of the old puppets. They
strongly guarded the Nang Yai puppets and refused to sell them to foreign collectors.

In the 1970’s interests from outside researchers, academics, and support from a higher education
institution led to the revitalization of the puppet performance. A project was initiated under the royal
patronage, with generous donation from a commercial bank, to copy the old puppets to make a new
set for performance. A museum, using one old building in the monastery, was established to store and
display the collection of old puppets together with other documentation about the tradition. The project
was strengthened by the efforts of the abbot, Phra Khru Phithaksinlapakhom, who was himself a local
person who learned the art of puppet manipulating when he was young. He supported the training of new
performers, forming a troupe, and developing strategies to make the tradition sustainable.

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So, the museum has become a learning centre for the Nang Yai tradition. It has created awareness
among the local population as well as to the wider public about the aesthetic and cultural values of the
large puppet performance. The troupe performs every Saturdays and Sundays for visitors. They are
commissioned to perform for other public events all over the country. The museum and troupe are well-
established, and won several awards for safeguarding their performing tradition.

Traditional Resources During the Pandemic
During the pandemic, the theatre was closed, and the weekend shows stopped. But the museum
remained open. The abbot informed me that the museum is part of the monastery which remained open
all through the pandemic restrictions. Some people still visited the museum as part and parcel of their
visit to the monastery to pay respect to the Buddha images, or to make merits.

But what about the performers, how were they affected by the lack of performance? According to the
abbot, the management of the troupe is such that there are two groups of performers. One is the core
group consisting of 7-8 well-trained members who can perform as dancers/manipulators, some have
been trained as craftsmen who can make large puppets, some are musicians. They are paid salaries,
using the funds.

from weekend shows and other performances. The abbot stresses that it is crucial to manage the troupe
so that the core performers, who are skilled performers, can have sufficient income to make a living
by staying with the troupe. The second group consisting of voluntary performers who are more junior,
less skilled, and acting like apprentices. They are paid each time they join the show, and the amount is
quite small. A few of them are schoolchildren whose livelihood does not depend on the payment from
performances.

During the Covid-19 period, the salaries were still paid to the core performers, but drastically reduced.
Though there was next to no income from performing, the monastery has its own resources from donations
in kind and cash from the community, visitors, and outside agencies. These make up traditional resources
which can be used to sustain the troupe members. The abbot says that everybody had to lead a frugal
existence. In addition, the community is located in a rural area where the cost of living is lower than in the
cities. So, they were able to eke out a living from the little they could earn.

Traditional resources are based on personal connections among individuals and agencies who can
benefit from mutual exchanges. The troupe have built up reputations over the years, and the abbot is
well connected with people and government agencies with resources. As a result, they could earn some
fees from special commissions during the pandemic. For instance, they were employed by the Ministry
of culture, and other ministries to perform for short video clips to promote social distancing, vaccination,
and health care. The troupe adapted part of episode of the Ramakien to fit the health care messages.

Resilience is another quality that sees the troupe through difficult times. During the pandemic, whenever
an opportunity to perform or organize an event arose, the museum and troupe did not let it pass. In
2021 the museum received some grant from the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre
to host a museum festival showcasing the works of local, community museums in the central region of
Thailand. Despite many difficulties, the museum could organize it. This was an opportunity to perform
again. Even though the event was not financially rewarding, there was a lot of media visibility that could
raise awareness among the public.

Now that the pandemic is less threatening, the troupe bounce back to become active again. The regular
weekend shows have started. Very recently they have just participated in the Phetchaburi Harmony

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World Shadow Puppet Festival 2022, from 9-11 September 2022 (see Figure 14). The event which took
place in the province of Petchaburi was organized by UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionette), a
network of artists, and participated by many puppet troupes from Europe and Asia. The objectives of this
festival were to exchange knowledge and experience among different genres of the art of puppetry, and
to raise awareness among the public about this rich heritage of Thailand and other places. The event
promoted much interest among the youth who participated in learning to make and manipulate puppets.
Some joined the wai khru ritual to honor the sacred teachers, an initiation ceremony for admitting new

apprentices to the tradition (See Figures 15, 16, and 17).

Figure 14. The Wat Khanon Puppet Troupe Performing During Figure 15. Opening Ceremony Joined by Many Puppet
the Festival Troupes

Photo by Chonakan Isarankura Photo by Pojanee Anechvanich

Figure 16. Children Learning to Dance Whilst Holding Mock Figure 17. Sacred Masks and Objects Representing The
Puppets Teachers of Performing Traditions in the Ritual of Wai Khru

Photo by Pojanee Anechvanich 0r Honouring The Teachers
Photo by Pojanee Anechvanich

B. DISCUSSION
I have presented two examples of community-based museums whose mission is to safeguard two
local intangible cultural heritage elements, namely folk toymaking and puppet performance. These are
success stories. However, it does not mean that other museums, or living heritage items, could be so
fortunate. Many dance-drama troupes that perform for ritual and celebratory purposes suffered from lack
of commissions to the point that members had to find other means of earning. Not everyone can survive
without scratches. Here we may pause to consider why some troupes or establishments could weather
the pandemic storm, while others could not.

The first point that needs to be emphasized is the commitments and ingenuity of the individual onwers/
managers of the museums, namely, Mr. Weerawat of the Playable Museum, and the abbot of Wat
Khanon Monastery. Their efforts in adapting, using new technology, managing limited resources, are

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commendable. It should also be noted that these individuals do not work alone. They have supported
from their communities who have collaborated in their projects from the beginning. In addition, both Mr.
Weerawat and the abbot have cultivated a network of resource persons and institutions. In the case of
the Playable Museum, it is well connected with agencies such as schools, local education departments,
the Anthropology Centre, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, and on-line platforms. The on-line
strategy seems to fit well with children’s lifestyle, and their taste for all things digital. In the case of the
Nang Yai Museum, the abbot is a local person and the puppet tradition is close to his heart. He also
has good connections with the Fine Arts Department, the Anthropology Centre, academics, artists, and
event organizers. In this sense we can say that their ‘communities’ are not confined to the physical local
communities where their museums are located, but broadened to many kinds of networks, actual and
virtual, that are mutually beneficial.

Other than individual characteristics, we must consider some structural frameworks that enable these two
museums to survive the difficult times. Both the Playable Museum and the Puppets Museum have been
in existence for several decades. During this period, they have built up their reputation, become well-
established, and occupied a special niche in society. The Playable Museum is well known in the education
circle, first in the field of alternative education, but later among formal education institutions as well. So
even though workshops could not be run on-site, the museum was given commissions to produce the
toy box-set, and on-line workshops. As for the Puppets Museum, the fact that it is a monastery museum,
meaning that it is located in one building inside the monastery, and operated as one section of the
monastery, in both normal and critical times, the traditional monastic resources act as a safety net for the
puppets troupe and the museum.

is too early to understand the long-term impact of the Covid-19 on intangible cultural heritage. I have
simply presented two specific cases grounded in ethnographic background that I am familiar with. They
may, or may not, represent the general trend, but I hope that they show how community-based museums
are closely connected with living heritage and their coping strategies are developed within the context of
their social existence and network.

C. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to acknowledge the generous time given to me by Mr. Weerawat Kangwannawakun and Phra
Khru Phithaksinlapakhom, the abbot of Khanon Monastery, during the interviews. I am grateful to the
Thailand Research Fund for supporting the Local Museums Programme of the Sirindhorn Anthropology
Centre from 2002-2010.

D. REFERENCE
Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool. (forthcoming). “Community-based Museums in Thailand and their
Curatorial Practices” Chapter 12 in Yunci Cai (ed.) The Museum in Asia, London and New York:
Routledge.
Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool. (2022) Monastery Museums in Thailand: a brief history. In https://
www.godscollections.org/case-studies/monastery-museums-in-thailand
Tiamsoon Sirisrisak. (2022). Nang Yai and the possibility of nominating it as a good safeguarding practice.
Report submitted to the Department of Cultural Promotion, the Ministry of Culture.
Weerawat Kangwannawakun et al. (no date). Report on the Developing Potentials in Some Areas to
Develop Playable Museums. Submitted to the Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre.

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MR. NICHOLAS YEO
Senior Manager Heritage Research & Assessment Department of
the National Heritage Board, Singapore.

Mr. Nicholas Yeo is currently a Senior Manager at the Heritage Research & Assessment,
Department of the National Heritage Board, Singapore. He is involved in developing programmes
to raise awareness of Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage, alongside initiatives to help
safeguard heritage businesses in Singapore. Nicholas has over 12 years of experience in the
cultural heritage sector and has worked in various fields including marketing & communications
and digital engagement. Nicholas also enjoys documenting both the built and intangible heritage
of Singapore through photos.

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SAFEGUARDING ICH IN A PANDEMIC – LESSONS AND EXPERIENCES FROM SINGAPORE

Nicholas Yeo
Heritage Research & Assessment Division, National Heritage Board, Singapore

[email protected]

ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted ICH in Singapore, in how it is being carried out by the
community, and on the practitioners and businesses that provide cultural goods and services associated
with ICH. The implementation of safe-distancing measures from April 2020 till April 2022, in particular limits
on group sizes and suspension of large gatherings, has meant that a majority of social practices, rituals
and festive events then, had to be cancelled, carried out within the confines of households or observed
via online platforms such as video streaming services. Likewise, the closure of international borders
had greatly impacted the viability of heritage businesses given the lower footfall in both commercial and
cultural precincts, along with economic challenges that include manpower shortages and supply chain
disruptions. The paper will highlight the Important role that ICH plays in keeping communities together
during challenging times, and will explore how the individuals, communities, organisations and the state
of Singapore have and continue to adapt to the impact of COVID-19. The paper will also identify case
studies on how the community has shown resilience and innovation in adapting their practices, and the
safeguarding measures that have been introduced to support ICH business and ensure the transmission
of cultural practices for future generations.

Keywords: Communities, Precincts, Resilience, Safeguarding, Singapore

A. INTRODUCTION
This paper seeks to address the impact of COVID-19 on the viability of heritage businesses and Intangible
Cultural Heritage practices in Singapore and how these communities showed resilience to navigate the
restrictions brought about by the pandemic, through innovative adaptations and grounds-up initiatives.
Given Singapore’s multicultural makeup, a templated solution would be insufficient for the various ICH
communities to cope with the challenges. As the statutory board overseeing the museum and heritage
sector in Singapore, the National Heritage Board (NHB) took the lead in implementing research and
engagement efforts to understand the challenges faced by ICH practitioners and heritage businesses
and developed safeguarding efforts to support them through the COVID-19 pandemic and build their
capabilities and resilience in the long run.

The research findings, together with the introduction of various safeguarding initiatives, enabled NHB to
develop a better understanding on both the present and future concerns of ICH practitioners and heritage
businesses. It has since spurred NHB to place a greater emphasis into providing support for these
communities and highlight it as one of the key pillars for the upcoming Heritage Plan 2.0, the second of
NHB’s five-year masterplan for the museum and heritage sector that will be launched in 2023.

B. METHOD
A self-administered online survey of 25 questions on ‘Impact of COVID 19 on ICH Practitioners and
Stakeholders’ was conducted following the conclusion of the ‘Circuit Breaker’14 with 22 ICH practitioners

14The Circuit Breaker was a title given to the COVID lockdown period in Singapore from 7 April 2020 – 1 June 2020. This period was was the height of
restrictions in Singapore when group sizes were limited to two persons, dining out was forbidden, workers had to work from home and all forms of public
entertainment and social gatherings were prohibited.

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and businesses from diverse backgrounds to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their business or
practice and their key concerns in the short and long term.

At the height of the pandemic, desktop analysis of official media channels and social media was also
conducted to keep up to date on ICH related efforts by the community. This form of analysis complemented
the surveys and enabled NHB to keep its pulse on the evolving situation, the impact of COVID-19
restrictions of ICH communities and how these communities were adapting to the situation. Findings
from the desktop research were included in the report ‘Living Heritage Experiences in the Context of the
COVID-19 pandemic’ (June 2020) submitted as part of a call for papers by UNESCO to detail the impact
of COVID on ICH communities across the world.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The survey ‘Impact of COVID 19 on ICH Practitioners and Stakeholders’ revealed several key issues
faced by ICH practitioners and heritage businesses. The survey noted the increased strain on the
livelihoods and sustainability of ICH practices and heritage businesses due to COVID-19. In the survey,
it was identified (Figure 1.1) that Ability to attract audiences or customers back (68.2%), Postponement
or cancellation of projects (40.9%) and Financial Resources (31.8%) were key concerns of respondents
in the immediate timeframe following the Circuit Breaker. Most respondents also noted (Figure 1.2)
that they foresaw that the recovery of their practices would take more than a year due to COVID-19
restrictions.

Figure 1.1 A question from the survey ‘Impact of COVID 19 on ICH Practitioners and
Stakeholders’ conducted in July 2020 showing the immediate concerns of ICH
practitioners with safe-distancing measures.

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Figure 1.2 A significant number of practitioners (31.8%) foresaw that recovery of their
practices would take more than a year due to COVID-19 restrictions

To address the challenges highlighted in the survey results, NHB developed several initiatives and studies
to facilitate and encourage the supporter for the viability of ICH practices and heritage businesses. Some
key initiatives introduced in 2021 include the Organisation Transformation Grant (OTG), which was
introduced in June 2021 and provides heritage and ICH related businesses with up to $40,000 to embark
on projects centred around transformation and innovation, with the goal of encouraging the development
of new ideas and revenue streams to enhance their business viability.

Grant recipients included Say Tian Hng Buddha Shop, a century-old business with focus on the making
of Chinese effigies. Their fourth-generation owner, Ng Tze Yong, developed a project to create a digital
database of their effigies using 3D scanning technology. On top of consolidating the manual sketches,
text and photos online, the software is also capable of producing a machine-carved effigy within hours,
whereas it would take close to two weeks to do so by hand.

Another recipient, Nanyang Sauce, which specialises in brewing soya sauce (fermented soy bean sauce)
by hand, took the opportunity to introduce a new product line ‘Secret Umami’ to target both youths and
a new consumer market. The sauces are presented as a series of designer dipping sauces to be paired
alongside meals like hotpot and mookata (grilled meat dish on a skillet from Thailand).

Both grant projects, while different in nature, demonstrate the innovation of heritage businesses in
Singapore amidst the pandemic, and are part of a new approach undertaken by NHB to provide direct
support to safeguard ICH businesses.

In addition, the NHB will conduct more research and consultative efforts to support ICH practitioners
and heritage businesses, such as an upcoming in-depth study on the viability of heritage business in
Singapore. The viability of heritage business will also feature as a key objective under the upcoming
Heritage Plan 2.0, the second edition of the five-year masterplan for Singapore’s museum and heritage
sector set to be launched in 2023.

Throughout the pandemic, it was clear that the digital sphere was one of the key platforms that enabled
communities to come together and continue to practice their ICH. This was clearly demonstrated in
the ICH element of Hawker Culture. Hawker Culture is one of the most visible ICH elements practiced
by communities across Singapore and was inscribed into the UNESCO Representative List of ICH
of Humanity in 2020. As a result of the dining-in and group size restrictions, hawkers were some of
the most heavily impacted groups of ICH practitioners. To support each other during this challenging

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period, hawkers and non-hawkers started a Facebook Group ‘Hawkers United 2020 to help promote
lesser-known hawkers and their food on the social media platform at no cost. By generating stories
and images on a platform that many elderly hawkers were unfamiliar with, some hawker stalls that saw
plummeting sales witnessed a pick-up upon this regular grounds-up promotional effort. This showed
how the community came together to support and safeguard Hawker Culture in Singapore. The group
continues to be an active platform today and provides an easily accessible space for people to share

their favourite hawker dishes.

Figure 1.3. Hawkers United 2020 is an ongoing Facebook Group created by hawkers for hawkers (that allows hawkers and the
public to post their favourite hawker dishes to encourage people to visit them. The group started during the first major lockdown
in Singapore and was created to help promote lesser-known and elderly hawkers who did not know how to use social media or
their publicity)

Another case study of ICH providing a sense of belonging and identity to communities, was the period
of Ramadan leading up to Hari Raya Puasa in 2020. Hari Raya Puasa, one of the key ICH festivals
for Muslims in Singapore, usually sees social gatherings where people visit each other’s families to
pay their respects, as well as the preparation of heritage food as a family. During the Circuit Breaker
lockdown period, where group gatherings were restricted to two people, and people were not allowed to
visit the homes of others, the campaign ‘Ramadan Together’, which centred around raising awareness
of the practices during the month of Ramadan, was developed by NHB to provide communities with the
platform to do so. With a significant portion of the population being Muslim at 15.6% (Singstat 2020), the
campaign provided one of the first digital-gathering opportunities for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike
to participate in ICH practices such as “Iftar” Together (breaking of fast) which was preceded by a series
of talks and sharing of the importance of fasting to individuals during the month of Ramadan. Some of
the online programmes attracted non-Muslims, who was interested to learn about the cultural practices
of the Muslim community and helped to promote cultural understanding among different ethnicities. This
programme demonstrates the importance of how ICH keeps communities together during challenging
times and the campaign received positive feedback from participants in helping to facilitate exchanges of
ICH between communities during the COVID-19 restrictions.

Zoom, other video conferencing platforms and social media became a common platform for communities
to gather to continue celebrating their ICH practices, and this included religious services, performing
arts shows, as well as a platform for festive celebrations such as Deepavali and Lunar New Year. Many
other initiatives and creative programmes were developed digitally and showed just how important ICH
practices continue to be to the community and the resilience to carry on despite the COVID-19 restrictions.
Figure 1.3 Ramadan together was the first of a series of fully digital programmes developed as a result
of COVID-19 restrictions in Singapore. While it could not replicate the importance of physically meeting
family and friends for Muslims in Singapore, it presented an opportunity for Muslims and non-Muslims
alike to participate in ICH practices such as Iftar (breaking of fast) together asa community.

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Figure 1.4. In a study ‘Digital arts consumption during COVID-19 (2021)’ by the National Arts Council Singapore (it was noted
that digital arts consumption rose to a peak of 88% at the heigh of the pandemic. This includes ICH related performances such
as traditional dance and craft activities, and highlights the continued interest of both practitioners and the audience to continue

producing content)

D. CONCLUSION
COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way of life for the majority of the world’s population, but as
Singapore and the rest of the world moves towards a sense of normalcy, the return of ICH festivals and
activities present a welcome respite that brings back the physical experience and social connections that
ICH communities and practitioners fully appreciate.

The pandemic has also made it necessary for NHB to place increased emphasis and resources into
the development of safeguarding measures to support the viability of ICH practices and heritage
business for future generations. Through the various digital and safeguarding programmes, relationship
between NHB and ICH stakeholders continue to improve as both parties are able to and further cements
the importance of working and engaging with communities to safeguard ICH for future generation of
Singaporeans.

E. REFERENCE
Speakers
Yeo, N (2022, October). Interviews, observation, desktop research.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE TO
EXTEND OUR HIGHEST GRATITUDE TO EVERYONE
WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED, TOWARDS THE SUCCESS

OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
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SAFEGUARDING MEASURES AND PRACTICES

NATIONAL DEPARTMENT FOR CULTRE & ARTS ISTANA BUDAYA

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