Art & Culture Talk: Keep the Art and Music Alive during the Covid-19 Pandemic, 2020-2021

Art & Culture Talk is a program on social media platforms by the Office of Art and Culture, Chulalongkorn University. The program started mid 2020, when the country was under a lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic, causing the music community nationwide to cancel or postpone its activities indefinitely. With the purposes to keep the art and music alive, musicians reconnected, and the audience engaged, the Office of Art and Culture took an initiative and created Art & Culture Talk program online on Facebook Live and kept past episodes on YouTube for the public to access in the future.

The host of the program, Dr. Pawasut Piriyapongrat, a faculty member from Division of Music Education, Department of Art, Music and Dance Education, Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, invited famous musicians, conductors, and individuals in the music industry as guests to the show and interviewed them in a casual fashion to make the content approachable to audience of all of background and interest in music. The topics were concerning music performance, music management and business, and other supporting areas for music performance. The program was one of the first live music talk shows of its kind in the country.

In the year 2021, social media live shows of this nature have become saturated as practically every organization has been having them for the entire year. The direction of Art & Culture Talk, therefore, was adjusted to aim toward a more specific group of audience—music students. Taking advantage of the Office’s extensive network of Thai and international musicians, online music masterclasses were added as a major part of the show. In these masterclasses, Thai and international accomplished performers and teachers were invited to teach high school and university music students regardless of their institutions. In the show. The participating students were auditioned from all over the country and attended online from their locations through Zoom application and broadcasted live Facebook. Past episodes are kept on YouTube for future public access.

The guests of 2021 Art & Culture Talk were promising young professional conductors, music professors from Thailand and other countries. Some of the guests were Jonathan Mann (Cardiff International Academy of Conducting, UK) and Kahchun Wong (Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan), Mario Choo (Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Singapore), Susanna Saw (Young Choral Academy, Malaysia), Thomas Schüle (Interkultur, Germany), and Dr. Kittinant Chinsamran (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand).

Two of Art & Culture Talk show episodes were dedicated to providing information for prospectus students on preparing for an audition to study music at Chulalongkorn University. These episodes were presented as the Office of Art and Culture’s intra-university collaboration with Department of Western Music, Faculty of Education and Division of Music Education, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts.

As of January 2022, Art & Culture Talk has 169,690 views on all episodes combined.

All episodes can be accessed through these following websites:
Art & Culture Talk: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyuS0r-5J9a3ZndUMOgA4RTofnni4bWfa
CU Online Music Workshop: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyuS0r-5J9a3YPPu-f5ipIcHZ2MRJ3IAD

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