Last
year, when I was invited by Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) to
be a member of the Award Committee for the Iskandar Malaysia Beyond Boundaries
Programme (IMB2P), I responded with a volley of questions.
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| An applicant meeting the Award Committee to make his pitch in the Iskandar Malaysia Beyond Boundaries Programme |
Firstly,
I needed to understand, “What is IMB2P?”
Then
I was informed that IRDA has provided a mobility fund to support the Arts &
Culture pursuits by artists, practitioners and students who are keen to explore
or get involved in a collaborative project with international partner/s in
Iskandar Malaysia, within Malaysia or abroad.
The
IMB2P is a programme where applications were invited for this IRDA fund or
grant which is divided into three categories.
The
categories are [A] Exploration and Networking (Up to RM8,000 per application), [B]
Collaborative Outbound Project (Up to RM10,000 per application) and [C] Collaborative
Inbound Project (Up to RM20,000 per application).
 |
| The Award Committee [L to R] Norkamarulazman Nordin, Amir Shahlan Amiruddin, Ajith Baskaran Dass and yours truly (in the vacant seat!) |
Through
the avenue of IMB2P, IRDA aims to bridge the gap between current development
towards international standing and local exposure and appreciation of the arts
and culture.
IRDA
understands the need of artists and cultural professionals who lack the funds
to support their projects and activities, and aims to provide them with
practical support through IMB2P.
Besides
developing Iskandar Malaysia into a thriving, modern metropolis, IRDA also
plans to build a sustainable network through an alumni of beneficiaries who may
share their knowledge and experience, and create a like-minded talent pool
here.
With
this understanding in mind, I wanted to know, “What does IMB2P have to offer?”
I
wanted to hear more about which category applicants may apply under for their
projects. Then I learnt that:
Category
[A] Exploration and Networking, are for those who wish to participate in a
workshop, conference, festival, biennales, networking sessions, exhibition or
practice-led research based in a foreign country.
Category
[B] Collaborative Outbound Project, are for collaborative projects with
international partner/s based in a foreign country, within Malaysia but not in
Iskandar Malaysia.
And
category [C] Collaborative Inbound Project, are for collaborative projects with
international partner/s based in Iskandar Malaysia.
 |
| An applicant making his pitch to the Award Committee |
I
also learnt that applicants were invited from Malaysians, aged 18 years and
above, who are based in Iskandar Malaysia.
They
should be artists, practitioners or students who are involved in arts, culture
and heritage projects and activities, and must have a clear purpose and
proposal related to the specific Category in their applications.
While
this may not be an exhaustive list, I learnt that IMB2P supports elements of
Arts & Culture such as Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Music, Craft,
Literature and Publishing, Museum and Archives, Design, Fashion and Textiles,
and Film Broadcasting and Digital Content.
Over
a period of approximately three months which started in 2018, applicants were
invited to submit their proposals to the IMB2P Secretariat for review.
As
complete sets of applications were reviewed, only shortlisted applications
would be invited for interviews with the Award Committee.
 |
| Members of the Secretariat recorded notes and kept time of each interview before the Award Committee |
I
was told that the Award Committee would comprise a minimum of three members
from external parties who are experts in Arts & Culture to provide guidance
and advice and would give their recommendations on whether the funds should be
awarded to the applicants.
The
Award Committee clearly had a serious responsibility and as I mulled over this,
I felt deeply humbled to be considered for this role.
Not
only was it a serious task because the future plans of these applicants
depended on my/our recommendations, I also had to commit time and effort to
avail myself for the interview sessions with the applicants at a date to be
determined later.
From
my own book-writing journey, I could identify with the challenges faced by the
applicants, particularly in the early stages of their projects.
 |
| An applicant listening to my query before replying... |
After
giving this a great deal of thought, I accepted the role as Award Committee
member and became part of the interview process to guide the applicants onward
to achieve their artistic goals.
Fast-forward
to recent correspondence from IRDA with a date set for Batch One (2018/2019) of
the shortlisted applicants to meet the Award Committee.
From
this correspondence, I was delighted to discover that my fellow colleagues in
the Award Committee included Tan Chai Puan, Johor cultural activist who was
recently recognised by the Department of National Heritage with the prestigious
Warisan Orang Hidup award.
In
the 4th Iskandar Malaysia Social Hero Awards (IMSHA) Tan was also
honoured with the award in the Arts & Culture (Individual) category.
Another
familiar name in the Award Committee was Ajith Baskaran Dass, the founder and
artistic director of Suvarna Dance Academy, himself an internationally
acclaimed dancer and choreographer in the traditional art of Bharatanatyam.
Just
like Tan in the previous year, Ajith was honoured with the award in the Arts
& Culture (Individual) category for the 5th Iskandar Malaysia
Social Hero Awards in 2018.
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| An applicant showing off a sample of her craft |
I
felt a great sense of pleasure to be part of this distinguished panel as these
two gentlemen, Tan and Ajith, are also featured under Portraits in my book, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People,
Rich Heritage.
The
members of the Award Committee was completed by Norkamarulazman Nordin, from
IRDA’s Strategic Communications Department and Amir Shahlan Amiruddin, Dean of
the Faculty of Cinematic Arts in the Multi-Media University.
On
the morning of the interviews of Batch One applications, I met with Amir and
Ajith, and learnt that Tan was not joining us that day but would be involved
with interviews of Batch Two (2019/2020) applicants.
An
itinerary of the day’s interviews, listed with names of the applicants and
their proposed projects along with detailed timings, was provided and we were
told that Secretariat members would also be present to record notes and to keep
time.
Before
the interviews started in a grueling day-long schedule (with refreshment breaks
in between), Suhaily Abdul Hamid, Senior Vice President of IRDA’s Social
Development Department, opened the event with a briefing about IMB2P.
The
Secretariat clarified that only the applicants listed should make their
presentation to the Committee and they were given a specified amount of time to
present their pitch.
When
the first bell sounded, it was a warning that the allocated time was almost up
and the applicant should then quickly wrap up his presentation.
I
was rather amused because the sounding of this bell just reminded me of those
days when I was speaking in the school debate…
Then
the hard work began.
Each
member of the Committee was provided with folders on each application, complete
with forms to jot down our comments and/or recommendations in specific columns,
even for each individual members in group applications.
While
it was hard work to absorb all the info in each presentation, it was
interesting to meet with the applicants – some of whom were familiar faces in
the local art scene – and to hear their passionate pitch for their proposed
projects.
While
some applicants were wracked with nerves, some were absolutely confident as
they presented their proposals and replied to questions from the Committee.
Some
applicants came with a dossier of their work, presented in folders or through a
visual presentation, while some showed us physical samples of their products or
art and crafts.
Among
the applicants who made a strong impression was independent film maker, Rozinor
of Rogue Films, who planned to organise an Independent Film Convention here as
a platform for local film-makers to network with foreign film-makers.
At
the close of the convention, he proposed to present the private screening of
his first in the series of Jejak Megat
films, which he happily explained, was based on true events that happened in
Ulu Tiram.
Another
applicant was watercolours artist, Lee Chin Chian, whose hometown is Pontian.
Lee
distributed past copies of his special-interest magazine (published in Chinese)
with impressive drawings of superheroes and mythical characters, as samples of
his work.
He
also presented samples of the matching mascots (figurines!) he created of the
popular characters featured in the magazines.
His
proposal was to produce a bumper edition that will feature the artwork of a
collection of local artists and aimed to present this edition at the next Toy
Fair and Animated Film Convention.
Lee
strongly believed that this would be an opportunity to highlight Iskandar
Malaysia and Pinewood Studios Malaysia to the players in the creative art
industry.
Incidentally,
Lee was also shortlisted for his application to conduct a Sketch Walk themed, Art Journey of Pekan Nanas.
This
would involve 10 local artists and 10 foreign artists to sketch live scenes and
paint wall murals in Pekan Nanas while experiencing the local culture and
heritage.
When
the affable Lee turned up again to meet the Committee in the afternoon, he
passionately described his proposal and how participants of the Sketch Walk
would appreciate the on-location art experience along with the popular local
food in this area.
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| Lee Chin Chian [Standing Left] with the Committee holding up the pages of his portrait sketches! |
At
the close of his presentation, Lee gathered up his things to leave but before
that, he placed a small 2019 diary-notebook on our desks – one each in front of
the Committee members as a token of appreciation.
I
was looking in the folders and not aware of what was happening until Amir
opened his notebook and uttered an exclamation!
This
prompted Ajith to pick up his book and turned its pages.
Their
expressions caught my attention and I too, picked up my book to turn its pages
and joined them to look in amazement at what Lee had done!
Apparently,
when Lee came in for his presentation in the morning, the artist in him made
such a keen observation of each member of the Committee that he went back to
prepare these notebooks to present to us when we met again in the afternoon.
The
cover designs of these notebooks were printed replicas of his watercolours
paintings and on a full page inside, Lee had sketched our portraits and presented
Ajith, Amir and I with our individual images within the personalized notebooks!
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| The Committee shared out portrait sketches with Suhaily |
From
the impressive sketches of Ajith and Amir (that so clearly reflected their
images!), Lee certainly had a special skill and talent.
We
all agreed that it was a nice gesture on his part and we appreciated it but
this had no bearing whatsoever on how we rated his application.
This
pleasant interlude was a memorable high point in an otherwise, rather serious
and taxing time of conducting the series of interviews, one after another,
throughout the day.
After we
had interviewed all the applicants in the day’s itinerary, their individual
folders were completed by each member of the Committee and returned to the
Secretariat.
When Suhaily
joined the Committee again to say a few words in closing, we could not resist
sharing with her, the lovely portrait sketches that Lee had created of each one
of us.
It was indeed
a fitting end to an interesting day of interviewing applicants for IMB2P in
IRDA.
