The School of Performing Arts Kathmandu
Donation protected
Who Are We?
The School of Performing Arts Kathmandu (SPAK) is a non-profit organization. Our unique contribution to the Nepalese society is to bring performing arts to those who would otherwise not have access to such education. We specialize in music therapy, singing, piano and human rights education through dance. In order to continue spreading our initiative to bring performing arts education into as many institutions in the Kathmandu area as possible we need financial support. We are searching for an audience that believes in the arts to be a transformative and inspiring form of education.
Who Will Benefit?
Nepali women and children of different age ranges and backgrounds in Kathmandu and surrounding villages will benefit from your kind donation. Our current focus group consists of burn victims in the Kanti Children’s Hospital, 12 girls in the Sophia Orphanage Home, 14 boys and girls at the Association for the Welfare of the Intellectual Handicapped and 25 boys and girls at the Jyotidaya Co-operative School. We also work with 20 women in a female transit home run by KOSHISH, an organization for mental health care. Local teachers and administrative staff will benefit from your donations in order to receive fair wages for their hard work in contributing to the dissemination of performance art education in Nepal.
More specifically the funds raised from this campaign will be used to help continue the classes which Clarissa has introduced into Nepal. She will leave us at the beginning of February to continue her Master's degree in Vienna. She is currently searching for a successor to continue her job of teaching human rights through dance for children. She believes in the power of long-term education for a lasting impact.
What We Do?
In our music therapy program at the Kanti Children’s Hospital we use the healing effects of live music to distract children from their pain when changing burn wound bandages. Music attracts children’s senses offering them a source for expressing their feelings. This practice leads to lessening anxieties associated with previous traumatic experiences.To successfully implement music therapy in the children’s hospital we want to train nurses as well. This holistic approach supports nurses to use music more frequently as a natural medicine, which will heal the children. In this way, music therapy is not an isolated activity, but becomes part of the structure of the healing process ultimately provided by the caretakers in the hospital.
An exercise from our human rights education through dance session focuses on exploring the value of multiculturalism: seeing those with different cultural practices as the same rather than others. Our teacher Clarissa asks children to feel sadness followed by happiness and to express through dance their understanding of the emotions. The students make themselves small or cover their faces with their hands and the energy in the room slowly turns into sadness. After noticing this emotion has entered the room and consumed the children Clarissa asks them to stop, take deep breaths and let go of the sad feeling. Then they practice happiness and the students express this through jumping, laughing, smiling, and big swinging movements. The children can see and feel they are all expressing the same emotion in their own way, this teaches students to respect and empathize with one another.
How You Can Help?
Your support would be recognized as a contribution to a noble cause. The arts are marginalized in Nepal and lack funding possibilities. The team from SPAK could not be more thankful for your assistance. We are eternally grateful for your consideration of our school and support of what we do. You give us hope to continue our efforts of providing performance art education in Nepal. We also think our most recent initiative to combine dance with human rights education is taking off. We want children to realize they are powerful, equal and bold. Not only does your contribution help us to sustain our current projects it helps us to invest in new ideas. We appreciate you!
The School of Performing Arts Kathmandu (SPAK) is a non-profit organization. Our unique contribution to the Nepalese society is to bring performing arts to those who would otherwise not have access to such education. We specialize in music therapy, singing, piano and human rights education through dance. In order to continue spreading our initiative to bring performing arts education into as many institutions in the Kathmandu area as possible we need financial support. We are searching for an audience that believes in the arts to be a transformative and inspiring form of education.
Who Will Benefit?
Nepali women and children of different age ranges and backgrounds in Kathmandu and surrounding villages will benefit from your kind donation. Our current focus group consists of burn victims in the Kanti Children’s Hospital, 12 girls in the Sophia Orphanage Home, 14 boys and girls at the Association for the Welfare of the Intellectual Handicapped and 25 boys and girls at the Jyotidaya Co-operative School. We also work with 20 women in a female transit home run by KOSHISH, an organization for mental health care. Local teachers and administrative staff will benefit from your donations in order to receive fair wages for their hard work in contributing to the dissemination of performance art education in Nepal.
More specifically the funds raised from this campaign will be used to help continue the classes which Clarissa has introduced into Nepal. She will leave us at the beginning of February to continue her Master's degree in Vienna. She is currently searching for a successor to continue her job of teaching human rights through dance for children. She believes in the power of long-term education for a lasting impact.
What We Do?
In our music therapy program at the Kanti Children’s Hospital we use the healing effects of live music to distract children from their pain when changing burn wound bandages. Music attracts children’s senses offering them a source for expressing their feelings. This practice leads to lessening anxieties associated with previous traumatic experiences.To successfully implement music therapy in the children’s hospital we want to train nurses as well. This holistic approach supports nurses to use music more frequently as a natural medicine, which will heal the children. In this way, music therapy is not an isolated activity, but becomes part of the structure of the healing process ultimately provided by the caretakers in the hospital.
An exercise from our human rights education through dance session focuses on exploring the value of multiculturalism: seeing those with different cultural practices as the same rather than others. Our teacher Clarissa asks children to feel sadness followed by happiness and to express through dance their understanding of the emotions. The students make themselves small or cover their faces with their hands and the energy in the room slowly turns into sadness. After noticing this emotion has entered the room and consumed the children Clarissa asks them to stop, take deep breaths and let go of the sad feeling. Then they practice happiness and the students express this through jumping, laughing, smiling, and big swinging movements. The children can see and feel they are all expressing the same emotion in their own way, this teaches students to respect and empathize with one another.
How You Can Help?
Your support would be recognized as a contribution to a noble cause. The arts are marginalized in Nepal and lack funding possibilities. The team from SPAK could not be more thankful for your assistance. We are eternally grateful for your consideration of our school and support of what we do. You give us hope to continue our efforts of providing performance art education in Nepal. We also think our most recent initiative to combine dance with human rights education is taking off. We want children to realize they are powerful, equal and bold. Not only does your contribution help us to sustain our current projects it helps us to invest in new ideas. We appreciate you!
Organizer and beneficiary
Clarissa Crawford
Organizer
Amsterdam Oud West, NL
School of performing Arts Kathmandu Nepal
Beneficiary
