NICA

NICA is an independent not-for-profit resource development centre for culture and the arts located in Yangon. Established in early 2003 , NICA has 2 main objectives:
(1) to identify and support those aspects of arts and cultural practices within Myanmar that are in need of resource-building to facilitate their development and
(2) to facilitate access and exchanges between Myanmar arts and cultural practitioners with counterparts, organizations and opportunities outside Myanmar.
NICA's Facilities:
Office , resource and reference library, archive, exhibition and activity spaces, IT training capacity, studio space, kitchen, accommodation for artists and writers-in-residence.
NICA'S PROGRAMMES OVERVIEW 2003- 2004
NICA's programmes are divided into 3 categories: Residency, Research & Development and Training Programmes within Myanmar/Burma; International Networking and Resource-sharing Programmes and General Programmes/ Services .
Activities and Objectives:
International Networking & Resource-sharing Programmes
In order to address the lack of contact, interaction and access on the part of Myanmar art and cultural practitioners with and to their counterparts, information, knowledge and opportunities from outside the country, one of NICA's primary objectives is to facilitate exchange, collaboration, networking and resource-sharing between Myanmar arts and cultural practitioners with those from neighbouring regions and internationally. We encourage and actively invite local and international artists, writers, historians, educators and organisers to come into Myanmar to share knowledge and resources, and to engage in creative exchanges and collaborations with Myanmar artists, writers and cultural participants.
NICA seeks to connect the Myanmar practitioner to the various discourses, activities, practices and organizations outside. To begin with, NICA is focusing on creating regional networks for artistic and intellectual exchange and discourse, primarily within the South Asian, Southeast Asian and Mekong regions.

Writing Big Books for Children workshop by Suchen Christine Lim, novelist & curriculum developer from Singapore. Sept 2003

Myanmar artist Pe Nyunt Way, on exchange residency in Cambodia, giving a drawing workshop at Reyum Art School.
Residency, Research & Development and Training Programmes
In line with our objective of nurturing resource development for arts and cultural practices, NICA supports the research and development processes of art making through residency, discussions, workshops and research grants; as well as the writing, translation and publishing of art and cultural studies and research by Myanmar arts practitioners, writers and researchers.
NICA also offers training schemes, internships and informal education programmes to contribute to the building of broad based organizational support structures and skills for the development of arts and cultural practices. These include project management and organizational skills, IT skills, writing, curatorial, marketing and other such professional skills and knowledge. We also offer creative programmes for young people which enables them to express themselves creatively through drawing, painting, photography, video and literary writings.

Drawing class by Myanmar artist Maung Win Hla, part of NICA's Young Adults Training programme (YATP)
NICA's programmes have been sponsored by : Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands ; Japan Foundation Asia Center ; LEE Foundation, Singapore ; Arts Network Asia; Singapore International Foundation
Contact Us:
NICA welcomes interested parties to contact us about possible collaborations and participation in our programmes, as well as contributions and donations in all forms for our various facilities, programmes and activities. Please direct all enquiries and correspondence to nica@mail2art.com
Address: Yangon, Myanmar (for exact address please enquire)
E-mail: nica@mail2art.com
Manager: U Myo Swe
Update for 2007 Onwards:
Our office and facilities in Yangon are currently closed and we are carrying out only ad hoc projects. We are still coordinating residencies for artists on a very selective basis. Applications should be sent to nica@mail2art.com. Due to our limited resources, we apologise that we would not be able to reply to each enquiry and/or application. Thank you.
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Young Adults Training Programme

OPEN Academy's workshops:

Creative Research workshop by Ingrid Muan, Reyum Inst.for Art, Phnom Penh

Art class by Win Pe Myint

Media Workshop by Fatima Lasay from University Philippines, Manila

Lipi Tayeba shows artworks from Bangladesh

AIR installation from Lipi Tayeba from Bangladesh

Photo Essay workshop by Nicholas Leong, professional photographer from Singapore

Web site project with Finnish Students, Mikko and Antti from Tampere Polytechnic, Finland on a 2 months internship prog. in NICA

OPEN Academy's workshops:

Creative Research workshop by Ingrid Muan, Reyum Inst.for Art, Phnom Penh

Art class by Win Pe Myint

Media Workshop by Fatima Lasay from University Philippines, Manila

Lipi Tayeba shows artworks from Bangladesh

AIR installation from Lipi Tayeba from Bangladesh

Photo Essay workshop by Nicholas Leong, professional photographer from Singapore

Web site project with Finnish Students, Mikko and Antti from Tampere Polytechnic, Finland on a 2 months internship prog. in NICA