Krishen Jit Fund awards 11 grants to 11 Malaysian artists

KUALA LUMPUR: The Krishen Jit Fund, that promotes the aspirations of promising Malaysians who thrive in the creative arts, is back and has just awarded grants to 11 individual and collective artists.

The fund, managed by Astro and the Five Arts Centre and supported by Creador Foundation, awarded RM86,000 to the artists in a ceremony held at the Five Arts Centre in Taman Tun Dr Ismail today.

The creative recipients for this year are Anthony Alexander Chong whose project is the Malaysian Sign Language literature workshop, Jeffrey Lim (Khemah Kamera), FLUX28 STUDIO (Night Shift), Izat Arif (Hybrid Exhibition), Rezza Coebar (Earthshine), Fraulina Tajuddin (Young Kids’ Web Series), Gogularaajan Rajendran (Plantation Life: As It Was), Syamsul Azhar Mohamad Azmi (Dari Pinggiran), Arief Iskandar Hamizan (Panas Play Reads), Susan Philip (The Satira Archives) and Komeil Zarin (30 Portraits In Exile).

In a statement by Five Arts Centre today, it said that the grants were selected by a panel comprising prominent representatives of the performing and visual arts sector.

They included former Culture and Arts Department director-general Tan Sri Norliza Rofli, the department’s arts and culture enhancement division director Marina Abu Bakar, Sunway University school of arts representative Leow Puay Tin, and Astro senior assistant vice president of corporate responsibility and communications Jolyn Gasper.

Chong’s RM10,000 project aims to help deaf Malaysians develop good literature in sign language while Lim’s RM10,000 project aims to document communities during the on-going pandemic.

While Flux28’s RM10,000 project is an interactive website that engages audiences in a narrative of struggle and control, Izat’s RM9,000 project explores isolation and grief.

Rezza’s RM9,000 Earthshine highlights the various aspects of dance, Fraulina’s RM8,000 project teaches the basics of animation, and Rajendran’s RM8,000 project is a documentary on the struggles of Malaysians who lived in plantations.

Syamsul’s RM8,000 project explores isolation during the pandemic, Arief’s RM5,000 project aims to conduct 60 online readings of plays over a year, Philip’s RM5,000 project explores the works of Malaysian women in the arts, and Komeil’s RM4,000 project highlights 30 portraits of refugees.

The fund has given out 68 grants amounting to RM489,000 between 2006 and 2020.

It was established in 2006 in honour of the late arts activist Datuk Krishen Jit who contributed immensely towards the development of a truly Malaysian arts sector.