RSVP: Visit our Eventbrite by clicking here to RSVP

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial are honored to present From the Killing Fields to the Healing Fields, an intimate event featuring art, music, and storytelling to commemorate Cambodian genocide survivors. This evening will include performances by local musicians and program participants and a keynote by renowned humanitarian Arn Chorn-Pond.

Forty-nine years ago, the Khmer Rouge regime led to the deaths of over 2 million people and the displacement of more than 600,000 survivors. Today, the Cambodian American community continues to grapple with intergenerational trauma. This event will explore how the arts foster understanding, compassion, and healing, offering a space to reflect on the past while looking toward a hopeful future.

"Mental health remains a taboo topic in our community," said Board President Laura Ouk. "For many survivors, their stories are filled with shame and sadness. Our elders often suffer silently, believing their experiences don't matter."

The museum plays a vital role in raising awareness about the Cambodian genocide, preserving cultural heritage, and providing programs that support survivors and their families. Join us for this powerful evening of music and storytelling that highlights the resilience of the Cambodian American community.

To learn more about Arn Chorn-Pond, visit Cambodian Living Arts.

Donations: Please consider donating to support our efforts by clicking reserve a spot and purchasing a donation ticket. If this is not a good option, please contact us directly.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Kaoru Watanabe
Associate Director
1-312-479-0126
kaoru@cambodianmuseum.org

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial is committed to raising awareness about the Cambodian genocide and promoting social justice. Through its programs, the museum advocates for genocide survivors and their families, fosters healing through the arts, and develops youth leadership in social justice.

Sunday, July 26, 2020

11 am - 12:30 pm

Join Facebook Live or YouTube Live

You're invited to the third and final online event of The Story of Cambodia series.

We're excited for you to join this online conversation with acclaimed Cambodian-American chefs (Maurice Yim, Channy Laux and Ethan Lim) and board members (Saray Pen Cubacub, Roni Washington and Randy Kim) as they discuss the role of food in their personal and career journeys.

They will dive into their favorite Cambodian comfort foods and explore the ways these dishes connect them to their cultural roots and identity.
 
These talented chefs, while bringing attention to Cambodian cuisine and introducing Cambodian flavors to American palates, are also passing on culinary traditions to younger generations of Cambodian-Americans who long to connect with their heritage.
 
Read more about our chefs:

MAURICE YIM

Chef Maurice Yim’s passion for all things culinary and curiosity in discovering new foods began at a young age.  His mother was a big influence in introducing him to new flavors and textures. After spending years as an IT Network Admin, he decided to enroll in culinary school and pursue his passion in food. Since leaving his desk job, Chef Maurice has worked in numerous local restaurants and done many pop-ups showcasing his modern take on Cambodian cuisine. Named OC Weekly’s first modern Cambodian Chef, his style is simple, elegant plating that utilizes flavors and ingredients from world cuisines.

Born and raised in Long Beach to Cambodian immigrant parents, Chef Maurice enjoys the challenge of constantly evolving Khmer cuisine and sharing it for a modern palate.

CHANNY LAUX

Channy Laux is a chef and founder of Angkor Food, the first Cambodian food manufacturer based in the USA. She started Angkor Food ten years ago in loving memory of her mother Chheng Ly. Her first product was Chrouk Metae, created using the recipe that she and her mother used to make together for friends and family over many years. Today Angkor Food is a proud provider of many Khmer ingredients that are available in specialty markets and regional chains across the country. One of these products, Lemongrass Paste (Kroeung) had received multiple awards: Sofi® award from Special Food Association and Food Service Innovation award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association. Prior to her culinary career Channy earned her MS in Applied Mathematics from Santa Clara University and BS degrees Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Channy worked in Silicon Valley in the Aerospace and Biotech industries for 30 years as an engineer. She is also an award-winning author. She received multiple book awards for her autobiography, Short Hair Detention: Memoir of a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl Surviving the Cambodian Genocide.

Channy actively manages her food manufacturing business with the goal of bringing Cambodian cuisine into American kitchens. She is also a public speaker and shares her personal story to educate and promote personal responsibility.

ETHAN LIM

Ethan was born and raised in the hospitality industry.  His family started out with a humble noodle stand in Cambodia, moved to the United States as refugees from the Vietnam war, and continued doing what was loved, that is to provide tasty and comforting food.  Kim Long Restaurant, the family’s first place, started in the Hermosa neighborhood, which his restaurant is named after.  As a child, working in his parent’s restaurant after school and on weekends was part of a regular schedule.  That is where his passion for food started.  Ethan took a break from the restaurant in his early 20s to be a personal shopper for Marshall Field’s, sold MINI and BMWs, but his passion for food and hospitality never faded.  While he was working a full-time sales job, Ethan attended Kendall College, and worked at Shawn McClain’s Spring Restaurant in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.  Prior to opening Hermosa, Ethan worked at Grant Achatz’s acclaimed The Aviary and NEXT, where he learned the art of hospitality.  During his free time, you can find him exploring nature or gardening with his partner and two cats.

**This is the third and final online event of our fundraising series: The Story of Cambodia. Donations of $10 or more will receive gifts.
--
Stream this online event on Facebook Live and Youtube Live (the livestream link will be updated and sent to registrants several days prior to our event).

Please register on Eventbrite to receive reminder email prior to online event.

This fundraiser will help us sustain the museum operations and programs.

This event has passed. Click here for recorded event.

***

You're invited to the second online event of "The Story of Cambodia" series.

Please join us as we take you on a journey through the world of Cambodian classical dance; meet-and-greet with staff and board members; storytelling by board members & storytellers, Soktheary Nak and Randy Kim; live performance of Cambodian traditional music by our artist-in-residence, Punisa Pov; and guest visits by community partners and artist-collaborators:

Rady Nget is a dancer/choreographer of Amrita Performing Arts and a faculty member of the Royal University of Fine Arts.

More about Rady: https://amritaperformingarts.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/rady-ngets-7-month-us-residency/

Ada Cheng is professor-turned-storyteller, solo performer, and storytelling show producer.

More about Ada: http://www.renegadeadacheng.com/

Tom Clowes is founder and Executive Director of Crossing Borders Music.

More about Tom: https://crossingbordersmusic.org/about-us/about-us-our-staff/

--

Donations of $10 or more will receive gifts. Please go to our online campaign to donate and select your gift: https://go.rallyup.com/cambodian

--

Stream the virtual fundraiser on Facebook Live through the Museum's Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/cambodianmuseum/ (the livestream link will be updated and sent to registrants several days prior to our event).

Please register to receive reminder email prior to this online event.

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial

May 31, 2020

11 am - 12 pm

YouTube Live (recorded)

This is the 1st of 3 virtual fundraising events designed to support The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial.

You're invited to the kick-off event to the series. Join us in a virtual tour of The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial; meet-and-greet with staff and board members; a short video of The Freedom Walk; and an artist talk with Narath Tan who specializes in Cambodian mask-making.

Donations of $10 or more will receive gifts.

Stream the virtual fundraiser on Facebook Live through the Museum's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/cambodianmuseum/

Please register on Eventbrite to receive reminder email prior to virtual event.

June TBD

Stay tuned for updates.

July TBD

Stay tuned for updates.

This fundraiser will help us sustain the museum operations and programs.

Immerse yourself for an evening of Cambodian culture, dance, food and music while benefiting a great cause. Start off with live traditional music from our artist in residence. Watch dancers from the Culture & Healing Arts Program perform to classical and traditional dance. Enjoy a sampling of Cambodian and Asian dishes. Meet new friends. Then get ready to dance the night away, featuring live music and DJ from 2MC Band.

Proceeds benefit the Culture & Healing Arts Program at the National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial.

Please join the National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial as we commemorate more than two millinon people who lost their lives during the Khmer Rouge regime and celebrate the resilience of the Cambodian community through a play, Camboidan Rock Band, by Lauren Lee with music by Denge Fever.

We are honored to partner with the Victory Garndens Theater on its production of Cambodian Rock Band.

"Part comedy, part mystery, part rock concert, this thrilling story toggles back and forth in time, as father and daughter face the music of the past. Neary, a young Cambodian American, has found evidence that could finally put away individuals who carried out the Cambodian genocide. But her work is far from done. When Dad shows up unannounced—his first return to Cambodia since fleeing 30 years ago—it’s clear this isn’t just a pleasure trip. A wild rock-and-roll journey through the eyes of father and daughter."

Program:
6:30 PM Pre-Show Reception
7:30 PM Cambodian Rock Band
9:45 PM Post-Show Conversation

FUNAN | CHICAGO PREMIERE - co-presentation with the Alliance Française de Chicago a part of Festival de la Francophonie 2019.

Guest Speaker: Kai-Duc LUONG, Filmmaker / Video Producer. Born in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge years in 1975 and migrated to Paris, France in 1978. Currently working on his second feature film inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy with French actor Denis Lavant.

Written & Directed by: Denis Do.

Cambodian/French | 2018 | 84 Minutes | in French w/English subs | Genre: Animation

Synopsis: 1975, during the Khmer Rouge revolution. Fighting for her own survival, Chou, a young Cambodian mother, looks for her 4-year-old son who was taken away from her by the regime.

Denis Do is a director born in Paris in 1985. He has a passion for images and drawing, and graduated in 2009 from the Gobelins school of images. The Ribbon, the graduation film he co-directed that is about a love story during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, reinforced his desire for cinema. Funan, a family story set during the Khmer Rouge period, and inspired by his own mother’s journey, is his first feature film. His stories, set at a human scale, are inspired by his triple Franco-Sino-Cambodian culture and are intimate and strong. They anchor the small story in the big one through a sober and realistic staging.

Speaking Truths Series is not just a storytelling show; it serves larger purposes, such as connecting stories with larger ideas in storytelling such as the meaning of "truth," the public vs. private tales, the universal vs. the particular, identity, power, shame, trauma, and vulnerability, just to name a few.

Our first show will be on Thursday March 7 at National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial.

The show starts at 7:30pm.
$5 suggested donation, but we won't turn anyone away.

The theme: The Space In Between.

The lineup includes Niki Gee, Nicklin Heap, Arlene Malinowski, Isabelle Rizo, Resham Sarkar, Ryan Viloria, and KJ Whitehead.

What do we share in common and how do we differ from one another? What connects us and what separates us? Can you assume from looking at them at first sight? What does "the space in between" mean to them then?

We will be using this term to connect these tellers' experiences and weave them through the entire show.

And imagine the location of our show, National Cambodian Heritage Museum, as part of the larger stories we have to tell in this series.

If storytelling is about remembering and community building, what could be more significant than remembering stories about survival and resilience of a community of people from another land and witnessing the stories of their thriving on this land?

Please join The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Memorial for an evening of celebration as we gather to mingle and support cultural and artistic preservation.

We are honored to welcome guest speaker and artist, Yary Livan. Mr. Livan is one of perhaps only three Cambodian master ceramists to have survived the 1975 Khmer Rouge genocide. After escaping the Khmer Rouge, Livan spent many years in various refugee camps before finally making his way to the United States in 2001. He shares his artistic knowledge with the next generation through classes and apprenticeships, even building a traditional Cambodian wood-burning kiln using space provided by the Lowell National Historic Park in a partnership with Middlesex Community College. In 2015, Mr. Livan was named a NEA National Heritage Fellow. For more information on Yary Livan:

https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/yary-livan

https://www.arts.gov/NEARTS/2016v1-telling-all-our-stories-arts-and-diversity/yary-livan

Event Details

Date: September 20, 2018

Location: Reunion Chicago, 2557 W. North Ave, Chicago IL 60647

Time: 6pm - 11pm

Tickets are $35. It will include drinks and appetizers,traditional Cambodian music / song / dance performances, and our special guest speaker Yary Livan

Purchase your tickets here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/healing-through-the-arts-fundraiser-mixer-tickets-49183162162

DESCRIPTION

Ada Cheng and Archy Jamjun are very happy to host the next Talk Stories: An Asian American/Asian Diaspora Storytelling Show at The National Cambodian Heritage Museum. The show will be held on Thursday August 16th and will start at 7:30pm.Our lineup includes Sonal Aggarwal, Thavary Krouch, Carly Oisho, Radhika Sharma Gordon, and Tony Ho Tran. We will also have music by Punisa Pov and improv by Club Asia. We are honored that Talk Stories will be a parallel event for the 6thannual Asian American Theatre Conference and Festival, which will take place during the week of August 13-18 here in Chicago.

Established in 2004, the National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial is still the only museum & memorial of its kind in the United States. Through the permanent exhibition, Remembering the Killing Fields, temporary exhibitions, Healing Arts programs, and workshops; the museum provides a platform to Cambodians from different generations and people from different cultural backgrounds to have open dialogues. We believe in the power of art and the creative process in healing; and we are grateful to Ada Cheng for her continued partnership with us to bring her program to the museum

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Ada Cheng's latest show tackles issues about gender, culture, and feminism. Ada Cheng explores how one learns about womanhood, love, and abuse in different sociopolitical and cultural contexts through personal stories. An intense personal journey, this solo weaves tales of breaking rules and broken hearts across borders. This performance is relevant to current debates about gender equality and women's status in American society.

Ada Cheng is a professor-turned storyteller and performing artist. She is the Bughouse Square Debates 2017 winner. She has been featured at storytelling shows in Chicago, Atlanta, Cedar Rapids, New York, Asheville, and Kansas City. She debuted her first solo show, Not Quite: Asian American by Law, Asian Woman by Desire, at Chicago SOLO Festival in January 2017. During the summer of 2017, she toured across the US at various storytelling festivals and shows. She also performed excerpts of her solo for Ripped: A Living Newspaper Festival (produced by American Blues Theater) last May as well as for PEACEBOOK (produced by Collaboraction Theatre) at the Goodman Theatre last September. Her solo has received great reviews from both Washington Post and DC Metro Theater Arts. and will take it across borders to the Toronto Fringe Festival in July 2018. She is the host of Pour One Out, a monthly storytelling series at the Volumes Bookcafe. She is also the producer and the host of the new show, Am I Man Enough: A Storytelling/Podcasting Show. Her motto: Make your life the best story you tell.

Randy Kim will serve as the opener for Ada Cheng's performance. He is a queer Southeast Asian storyteller from the Chicagoland area. He comes from a family whose father survived the Cambodian genocide and mother who survived with her family after the Vietnam War. He has performed at other storytelling shows such as You're Being Ridiculous, Is That A Thing?, TenX9 Chicago, Pour One Out, and PREACH. Randy currently serves as a board member with the National Cambodian Heritaged Museum & Killing Fields Memorial.

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial (NCHM) is a 501c3 non-profit museum that is dedicated to the history of the Cambodian Killing Fields genocide (1975-79) in which an estimated 2 milllion Cambodian were killed. The museum opened in 2004 as the only museum outside of Cambodia dedicated to the history of the genocide. The museum has provided healing and cultural preservation to many of the survivors and their children through art, music, and dance.

Portions of the proceeds from this event will go towards the museum to support their work for the community and focus on genocide awareness.

FAQs

Admission -- $10 + fee (online)

--- $12 (door)

As part of the Women I Admire Essay Contest, the National Cambodian Heritage Museum is hosting an International Women's Day Celebration.

We will feature the essay contest winner. There will also be a community screening of Girl Rising, followed by a short panel discussion.

Make a Donation

Tickets Price

Purchase your Ticket

Raffle Ticket Price

Purchase your Raffle Ticket

Thanks to our sponsors

Join Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, the American Indian Center - Chicago and the National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial for a half-day workshop exploring mask cultures in American-Indian and Cambodian communities. Explore the meaning of the mask and its relevance in contemporary life with mask makers and performers, Narath Tan, Punisa Pov and more, who will share their experience with masks through live demonstrations and storytelling.
Admission: $15

This program is a part of the Chicago Cultural Alliance's Inherit Chicago. Inherit Chicago is a city wide festival of art, ideas and performance at neighborhood heritage museums and cultural centers. Head toInheritChicago.org for a full list of events!

Ada Cheng is a professor-turned storyteller, author, and performing artist. She has been featured at storytelling shows in Chicago, Atlanta, Cedar Rapids, New York, Asheville, and Kansas City. She has performed her solo show, NOT QUITE: ASIAN AMERICAN BY LAW, ASIAN WOMAN BY DESIRE, at National Storytelling Conference, Capital Fringe Festival, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Boulder International Fringe Festival, and Houston Fringe Festival so far in 2017. Her motto: "Make your life the best story you tell. "

From Ada Cheng: "I designed this solo performance, Not Quite: Asian American by Law, Asian Woman by Desire, with political urgency. This show is a direct response to our current political climate and the TrumpPresidency. In this solo, I use "not quite" to connect several main themes, including but not limited to the meanings of home(land), the institutionalization of the alien status, the fractured nature of Asian American identity, and the politics of intersectionality. I intend this show to be an artistic intervention and a challenge to current politic affairs and intellectual debates. This is one of the ways I resist and protest as an artist-storyteller-scholar."

Admission is $10 where the proceeds will go towards the National Cambodian Heritage Museum. The museum has provided tradional Cambodian music / arts / dance classes to youths and all of our community members in Chicago / Chicagoland area. In addition, the museum is the only one internationally outside of Cambodia that focuses on the Cambodian Kiling Fields genocide 1975-79 where over 2 million Cambodian civilians were killed, and the healing efforts for our Cambodian genocide survivors. During the Cambodian genocide, many of its artists, writers, scholars were executed as they were seen as threats to the Khmer Rouge regime. In honor of their contribution, the museum honors their space to allow fellow artists to express their creativity, individuality, and advocacy.

To buy your tickets in advance, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/not-quite-asian-american-by-law-asian-woman-by-desire-tickets-37050849087