THE ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (ASEAN COCI) will promote traditional handicrafts in the region by giving awards early next year for outstanding works of art from member countries.

The committee has called on each of ASEAN’s 10 member country to send 10 outstanding, locally selected works of art or handicrafts to Bangkok next January. Each work must fall into one of six categories: rattan, pottery, jewellery, textiles, contemporary art, or wood, bronze or metal sculpture.

From these 100 submissions, 50 will be selected for display at an exhibition in Thailand in February. The best entry from each country will receive an ASEAN Award of Excellence in Arts and Crafts along with a US$1000 award.

ASEAN COCI said the awards, which resulted from ideas suggested at a regional forum held last February in Bangkok, were aimed at uniting artists and craftsmen and exploring their work, helping traditional crafts penetrate the world market, preserving the techniques of artisans and preventing traditional art forms from dying out, and promoting the production of traditional works in accordance with modern standards.

In accordance with the awards, ASEAN COCI (Myanmar) plans to organise a national-level competition to select the 10 best works for the competition by inviting local artisans from across the country to participate.

A short-list of 30 participants – five from each of six categories – will be invited to a national workshop to be held at the National Museum in October to discuss how to improve the quality of their handicrafts for future competitions.

The selected works will be displayed at the museum to be assessed by a group of judges, who will choose the 10 best samples to send to Bangkok. ASEAN COCI (Myanmar) will also give awards to the top artists and pay for packaging and mailing the works to the regional competition.