We have just wrapped our exhibition “A Message from Mae Chaem: On Community Roots and Cultural Sustainability” in three locations in Thailand: at PEMA Cafe in Mae Chaem, at the Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Centre, and at the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre.
The exhibition is the culmination of the project “A Community-Centric Cultural Sustainability Framework: The Case of Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai, Thailand.”
Thank you to the community of Mae Chaem for your inspiration and for letting us work with you and for you using the Community-Centric Cultural Sustainability Framework.
Thank you to teachers and administrators at the Satit Mae Chaem School and the Rajaprajanugroh 31 School for the mentorship, facilitation and support to the students who participated in this project as they generated their own knowledge.
Thank you to the museum leadership and staff at the Chiangmai City Arts and Cultural Centre for your leadership and your willingness to take your museum expertise into a new direction and show us what it means for a museum to be a service organization.
Thank you to KhonThai 4.0 for your wisdom and your open mind to integrate culture and priorities at the community level into a broader framework of human capital development at the national level; for your research backbone; and for your project management support.
Thank you to the US Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand and Fulbright Thailand for your continued support and for your foresight and commitment in this long-term investment.
Thank you to Srinakarinwirot University for laying the foundation decades ago that “Education is growth,” a key element of this project.
Thank you to all other partners and supporters, without whom this project would not have started, continued or come to a conclusion.
Most importantly, thank you to the youth of Mae Chaem for sharing with us your stories – your fear, your hope, your dream, and your commitment in your community. You inspire us.
If you happen to be at the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Conference in Prague, August 20 – 28, 2022, we will be discussing this exhibition and project in the larger context of the Community-Centric Cultural Sustainability Framework at the City Museums and Urban Sustainability session, CAMOC offsite meeting, on August 25, 2022. Please join us!