The announcement was met at the time with great enthusiasm by the local arts community, who had a new opportunity to experiment and bring bold, innovative ideas to life without being constrained by limited resources.
Twenty years and 102 grants amounting to RM785,000 later, the fund – named after the late Malaysian arts icon who passed away in 2005 – is still going strong.
“I feel quite overwhelmed, actually. When we started, I did not even think beyond the first year! It was a year-to-year process,” Krishen Jit Fund manager and Five Arts Centre member Marion D’Cruz told FMT Lifestyle.
“Now here we are in our 20th year. I think the influence of the grant has been very significant: it has given artists the opportunity to create work with some ease.”
One of the hallmarks of the late Krishen Jit’s pioneering work was celebrating original Malaysian creativity in as many diverse ways as possible.
As such, the fund gives out grants for training, workshops, attachments or residencies, experimental productions, writing, or creating new work in music, dance, theatre, film, visual, or performance art.
On Wednesday, seven arts practitioners were announced as the recipients of grants amounting to RM62,000, namely:
- Nadira Ilana for “Sumpah Batu Sumpah” (working title), an experimental video art project on the Keningau Oath Stone;
- Nur Faillul Adam for “Kamilah Penipu – Tapi Kami Tak Menipu” (working title), a performance comprising 60 minute-long “units” from the mouths of Malaysians;
- Illya Sumanto and Wayang Women for a female-centred Kelantan wayang kulit with a ghostly folklore twist;
- Adriana Nordin Manan for “Kubu Seni”, a story lab and art incubator in Semporna on youth empowerment, the platforming of marginalised voices, and celebration of local culture;
- Ong Qiao Se for “The Shape of an Almond”, a non-fiction film about a 90-year-old woman living with Alzheimer’s disease and her last memories of pre- and post-Merdeka Malaysia;
- Ho Chee Jen for a project transposing gallery wall labels into public urban spaces; and
- Lee Yee Han for “Discrimination and Visual Illusions”, a hybrid performance and exhibition exploring visual manipulation in a post-truth era.
“I was really excited about applying for the Krishen Jit Fund. Not everyone knows about the significance of the Keningau Oath Stone, so I take this as validation and support for an artefact that played a key role in our history,” Nadira shared.
Fellow recipient Adriana, too, expressed her excitement. “We now have a better vision of how our project could look like and how to bring this to different communities later on, beyond the duration of the grant.”
D’Cruz expressed gratitude to their funders for believing in and supporting the initiative, which she hopes will go on for another two decades at least.
“Artists need to be supported to realise their dreams and projects,” she stressed. “As they use all the resources available to them, the Krishen Jit Fund will continue to look to support exciting, experimental work.
“We do not discriminate against anyone – we just look for good projects.”
For more information on the Krishen Jit Fund, visit the Five Arts Centre website.