HERITAGE HEBOH STREET FESTIVAL, 2006

VIDEO/SLIDESHOW OF FINAL OUTPUT

Synopsis of Story:
Digi’s Amazing Malaysian’s Madame “Heritage Heboh” of Penang Showcase is a live recording of the Heritage Heboh Street Festival which took place on 15^th July 2006 in George Town. The DVD was produced by DIGI as a documentation of the event.

Supporting Archival Materials

Wayang Bayang-Bayang

Gerak-Gerak Borak-Borak

Muzik Bunyi-Bunyian

ART MAKING PROCESS

The Heritage Heboh Street Festival was a 5-month project, which consisted of 3 sub-projects in music, dance, and the visual arts, and was based on the theme of ‘intangible heritage’. Each group worked independently with their own programmer and team of artist-facilitators to devise their own respective performances.

Recruitment

Students aged 10-19 years were recruited from diverse ethnic and income groups. Students could choose to join any one of the three sub-projects; Music, Dance, or Shadow Puppetry. 68 students from a total of 20 schools auditioned for the project. 54 continued to the end of the project (23 in Music, 14 in Shadow Puppet, and 17 in Dance). An additional 20 students from a drama club and scout club volunteered during the festival for miscellaneous tasks.

Recruitment and Launch of the Project

Methodology

The 5-month long project was split into 5 phases based on the Engaged Arts Methodology developed by Arts-ED;

i.            Introduction to the site
ii.            Skill Building Classes in the respective art forms
iii.            Research on Heritage Content
iv.            Composition
v.            Rehearsal & Performance

All 3 sub-projects began with a historical walk in the heritage site. They were briefed on the projects and received ‘taster’ sessions, after which they made a final choice to commit to one of the art mediums. Students were introduced to the different mediums by their facilitators via talks and videos. Within each group, students took on tasks in their area of talent. For example, within the visual arts group, students with strong linguistic capacities took on scripting and narration, while visual-orientated students carved the puppets, science-orientated students explored lighting, and students with musical capacities created the soundscape.

Within each sub-project, students were introduced to some form of tangible and intangible heritage through interactive tasks with the local community and environment. For example, all students in the visual arts group interviewed the community for local stories, then selected a folktale related to one of the local clan temples. Participants in this group were exposed to traditional shadow theatre or wayang kulit, as well as the accompanying instruments and puppets. Inspired by the traditional forms, students studied traditional decorative motifs as a prerequisite to designing the puppets for the local folktale.

Guest artists provided professional guidance to the students. For example, in the visual arts group, a wood carver and a puppet master introduced the students to various decorative elements, their symbolism, and the process of puppet-making. ‘Wondering Moon’, a puppet group from Thailand, was invited to teach the students how to create a comic storyboard and script the dialogue of the local folktale, as well as how to create simple puppets, and play with light and shadow.

Outcomes

The project culminated in the three student groups creating and performing three original works at a street festival in George Town, Penang on the 15th of July 2006.

Muzik Bunyi Bunyian
A Music project which transformed migration history stories into song and music, using traditional instruments and choral forms

Gerak Gerak Borak Borak
A Dance project based on the theme of street food culture, choreographing the vernacular movement of cooking, cleaning tables, serving, and eating into a contemporary dance vocabulary

Wayang Bayang Bayang
A Visual Arts project using shadow puppetry or traditional Wayang Kulit to dramatise a local folktale

Besides the performances by the students, there were additional activities during the day for children such as a craft fair, Hunting Heritage with Mr Love Lane, Traditional Games, and DIY T-shirt printing with traditional motifs. There was also a special guest performance at night by Yudi, a Chinese classical singer, for the older generation from the community. The student performances were located at different venues along one street, and the audience moved from one performance to the next. Performances were also screened live on large outdoor screens.

As part of the project, a small team consisting of a few students observed and documented the project over the 5-month period. Their output was a published catalogue consisting of information on the three creative sub-projects, the instructors, the art-making process, and feedback from participants.

Heritage Heboh Festival Catalogue

The success of the festival inspired Arts-ED to restage some of the performances again in inner-city George Town under the title of Heritage Heboh Lagi, held on the 24^th and 25^th of Nov 2006. The restaging provided an opportunity for audiences who missed the initial festival to view the students’ works.