BACKGROUND

The idea of starting a private Traditional Art school originated with Dasho Choki Dorji, who has served the government for the last 40 years in promoting art and culture. He was the head of the Painting Department of the National Painting School and initiated many programs within the department. It was during his tenure in the early 1970s, that the first formal Painting School in Bhutan was established with the approval of Her Royal Highness Ashi Dechen Wangmo Wangchuck, then the representative of His Majesty in the Ministry of Development. For this reason, the project has been benefiting from Dasho’s rich experience and expertise.

RATIONALE

The rich cultural inheritance which is the symbol of our Bhutanese identity, values and sovereignty has been handed down from generation to generation and kept alive in the new environment of rising technical development.

However, times have changed and are changing. In the past, our children picked up intimate knowledge of the parent’s activities. Girls were taught spinning, dying and weaving by mothers. Sons were taught to carve, treadle lathe for turning bowls, sculpturing, and to learn drawing and painting. Unfortunately many young people today have little knowledge of the skills of their parents or grandparents. Nor do they see the importance or relevance of these skills to themselves in a new Bhutan, where videos and computers represent contemporary cultural value and white color jobs are the aspiration of most students. This struggle for white color jobs and the reality of the limited availability of jobs are going to discourage young people and make them dissatisfied, aimless and create all sorts of social problems.

Today, the traditional skills of Bhutan have the potential for employing more people. Zorig Chusum (Thirteen Crafts) can provide a real source of income and employment. Bhutan cannot produce cheap garments, factory products, or assemble watches and computers. Bhutan’s distinct advantage lies in that which is culturally its own, and which the Bhutanese can produce better than anyone else.

Many of our children drop out of school or are not even admitted because   parents have insufficient funds. We feel that neglecting such young people will create more youth problems, which are already becoming more prominent in the society. Therefore, to help interested children with such backgrounds we have opened the school which provides food, lodging and tuition.

The establishment of the school will help to solve some of the employment related problems as the graduates from the school will be able to earn their livelihood by producing handicraft items which are traditionally and culturally Bhutanese and which have substantial commercial value.