Arts-ED is a Malaysian non-profit organization operating out of George Town, Penang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It aims to provide innovative community-based arts and culture education in both rural and urban communities. With programs focusing on the arts, culture, and heritage, Arts-ED uses creative educational approaches that encourage learning around real issues.

UNHCR works in 134 countries to protect and support 25.9 million refugees. Within this population is a vast, diverse and talented pool of artisans.\nWhenever refugees flee, they carry with them the traditions, skills, knowledge and craftsmanship that unite and define a people. From the expert leatherworking of the Tuareg in Burkina Faso to the fine embroidery of the Syrians in Lebanon, refugees long to sustain these artistic traditions and participate in the growing global artisan economy. There are opportunities for engagement. The artisan sector, behind the agricultural sector, is the second largest employer in the developing world. International trade in artisan crafts is now valued at over $36 billion per year, with 65% of handicraft exports coming from developing countries.1) This means that with the right support, refugee artisans can hold the keys to self-reliance in their own talented hands.

Laos has a rich diversity of cultures, lifestyles, and arts, many of which intersect. The country’s seventeen provinces stretch 1,162 kilometers from north to south, with 6.8 million inhabitants representing fifty officially recognized ethnic groups in four main language families. The majority Tai Lao people, from whom the country gets its name, make up about 53% of the population, with numerous ethnic minority groups comprising the rest.\nLaos is well known for its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) is a cultural heritage social enterprise in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang. It is the only independent museum and resource center in Laos dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the traditional arts and lifestyles of the country’s diverse ethnic groups.