http://www.mypaa.com.my/borak-arts/
As the conference title suggest, this is the first ever Borak Arts Conference where art practitioners and business leaders meet face to face for a two-days networking session of different nature. This art conference goes by the name Borak (Malay - to chat casually) in order to promote informality in the art industry without losing any professionalism contained thereon, this conference became the stage for both the art practitioners and business leaders to speak out their mind, to tell stories, and to inspire people. I am truly grateful to be able to attend this conference thx to the EYE Project (acronym for Empowering Youth Endeavours) that allows me to be there =)
Connecting art & sustainability in this modern era
So let's make it short and clear. What exactly is the relationship between art practitioners and business leaders? Is art a business now?? All and all, it goes back to the theme that this conference and its panelist have been focusing so much on: the sustainability in arts.
It's not about making art a business. It's about being professional in and when you do exceptionally good in what you doing, the money always comes following you. And the function of all these networking sessions? It works as a bridge to connect the gap in this barter system: one where art practitioners needs certain resource to survive, against the one who are willing to provide the resource but its only doable under a some very specific condition... the gap? This is exactly what everyone is trying so hard to fill up.
To be honest, I learned as much thingy off-the-stage as much as what I've learn from the panelist, speakers, etc. The organisor MyPAA(My Performing Arts Agency) did this by claiming that there are 'understaffed'. However, the management of this convention clearly shows that efficiency IS everything(well, almost everything). How the moderator, emcee, and usher conduct the flow of the programme, how is flexibility instilled in this 2 days program... it gave me a lot of insight of how to manage an event and how to plan(and more importantly, prioritising) properly.
One big picture, many perspective
I am one art lover who comes from accounting background, one that emphasize professionalism and the best part? I get to see from both sides: from the corporate perspective and from the point-of-view of street-artist/young-art-entrepreneurs. Batman doesn't change Gotham city in ONE night, so it wouldn't happen in our non-fictional world as well. But just like what all speakers involved in this conference emphasized and trying so hard to inspire... it's about passion. It's the thing that hold you back from giving up, while pushing you harder to be better, so u can reach for more, and in turn, gain more.
Mapping the journey travelled
The first day of the conference was mind-blowing... the speaker sets up a pretty good pace for others to follow in. The tea networking session was very nice, it can be see that there are many ppl exchanging name cards and information around... but whether it is constructive for those who attended, I think it depends on what you learn from here, and whether that prompts you to do better for a change.
The Borak session(informal networking session) is a nice gathering overall but from a third-party point of view it is just a good exposure to see and understand that the current local (M'sia) art industry is not one that comes with perfect information flow... which in turns explains one obvious thing: there isn't perfect flow of knowledge and resource in this industry as well, so if you need something, you gotta work your way to it and get it yourself!
My point of view? Everyone needs to be motivated to reach out and help each other.
Destination reached? Yes? No?
..chill guys! Its only the first convention of this Borak Art Series. It's okay to dream big, but it's also important to take one step at a time. However, it can be said that this 2 days(tiring days with technical knowledge overflow, one would say. xD) is nothing but a big leap of local and international art industry. Allow me to end this with another quote from one of the successful local art practitioner that everyone agreed on:
"Sometimes, you just have to aim properly, and take a leap of faith to reach the height that you have never touch before."
