VAST Bhutan

Her Majesty Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck in VAST

Her Majesty the Queen Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck graced us with an informal visit to our studio this afternoon. Her Majesty met with all the senior members, and offered words of encouragement. Her Majesty pointed out the general lack of support towards artists, but urged us to strive on. Her Majesty also made a contribution to our fund. Asha Kama on behalf of VAST, offered to her Majesty,  a ceramic vase which was made by Mayiesh.

This is Her Majesty’s third visit.

Today, 34 of us are leaving for Tsirang for our summer art camp. In Tsirang we will be joined by another 65 students. We will be back in Thimphu on the 14 July.

Tsirang, here we come…

Asha Kama is a member of the Bhutanese delegation to the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington DC. Here are some links to pictures of Asha Kama at the festival (thanks Li-Ping).

Click on the links below to view picture:

Pic 1|Pic 2|Pic 3|Pic 4|Pic 5|Pic 6|Pic 7|Pic 8

The Golden Youth Award is a neat idea of the Bhutan Youth Development Fund (YDF):

• To establish a system of recognizing for notable achievements by youth.
• To motivate youth to be outstanding.
• To identify potential leaders for a new and challenging political environment.

The Golden Youth Award will be given to the youths who demonstrate outstanding achievements not only in academics but also in other categories such as sports, artistic, leadership, cultural and social contribution. Young people of Bhutan have always held a special place in our Monarch’s heart therefore, the golden youth award besides being a tribute to His Majesty the 4th King is also to recognize and motivate youth who reveal leadership and outstanding qualities.

A week long “Golden Youth Camp” for 10 youth for each dzongkhag, for the final selection of the award winners, started off today at the brand new Jigme Singye Wangchuck Youth Center here in Thimphu.

VAST is privileged to participate in this Golden Youth Camp as art competition organizers. The VAST team is led by VAST member Dorji Gyeltshen.

Professor Mark Mancall from Stanford University always visits VAST with his students when he is leading trips to Bhutan. Some of the students visited VAST this afternoon while we were practicing some new games for the upcoming summer camp at Tsirang. They joined us in our games, and also taught us a few.

Over chai, they asked us a lot of questions about democracy in Bhutan, and Gross National Happiness. Most of our answers were “dont know”.