Sihanoukville, 22 July, 2007

Associazione Culturale RenTheArt
Via Cigliano 13
10153 Torino, Italy

I want to thank you for meeting our advisor and Board member Francesco Caruso on July 19th 2007 at your office in via Cigliano 13, Torino. Francesco has discussed with me and our colleagues in Sihanoukville, and in particular with Mr. Vann Thy, our education manager and Mr. Chris Reid, who leads M’Lop Tapang’s artistic activities on a volunteer bases, and we all see the great potential that a partnership with RenTheArt can provide for the street children of Sihanoukville.

Since its inception in 2003 M’Lop Tapang has been using performing and visual arts to help street children – often deprived on their childhood and subject to all forms of abuse – to express themselves and gradually rediscover their imagination, overcome trauma and rebuild self confidence and happiness. The children have written and performed over 50 street shows, carried on street parades and starred in movies and acrobatic circuses. We are eager to extend our activities to visual arts such as drawing, painting and photography and Mr. Reid has accepted to lead art classes in the near future. Clearly, the idea to benefit from the support, in terms of ideas as well as resources, is very interesting.

I therefore confirm our interest in formalizing a partnership with RenTheArt in order to start up cultural processes between Cambodia and Italy in order to share artistic experiences and resources in particular between young Khmer and Italian people. As explained during our meeting, it is important that the support M’Lop Tapang will receive from RenTheArt will be in form of artistic material rather than money as we strive to erase
the idea of “charity” from the minds of the street children we work with. Consequently, we will ask the children who benefit from your support to contribute their artistic works to this partnership.

M’Lop Tapang is in the process of terminating the construction of its new Day centre, where 2 art rooms will be available and formal art classes will begun from November. I therefore suggest starting our cooperation from January 2008. As you suggested we can begin with small competitions between the children of M’Lop Tapang in order for RenTheArt to select works for first pages of Catalogs, promotional campaign and other activities that you will suggest, and we reiterate our invitation to you and the artists part of RenTheArt to visit Sihanoukville and work with the children. We will count on RenTheArt to help us helping children discover their imagination and self esteem: that will always be the best contribution that young Italian artists can bring to Cambodia.

Best Regards,

Eve Sao Sarin
Director

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M’Lop Tapang
Group 7, Mondol3, Sangkat 4, Khan Mittapheap - Sihanoukville, Kingdom of Cambodia
Phone: +855 (0)34 934 072 - email: Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo
Registration number with the Royal Cambodia Ministry of Interior - 856 s>C>N
www.mloptapang.org