Rei Foundation provides travel grants to SEAPAVAA attendees

Rei Foundation has provided travel grants to support four participants to travel to and take part in the 23rd SEAPAVAA Conference held on 25-30 June 2019 in Noumea, New Caledonia. Holding this conference in New Caledonia provided an opportunity to focus on the issues and challenges unique to audiovisual archiving and preservation through the Pacific. For this reason SEAPAVAA decided to utilise the majority of the Rei Foundation funding to bring members of the Pacific region to participate in the conference. Funding for travel is often scarce and Pacific members are often under-represented, despite the very important work they do.

The recipients were:

Verenaisi Bavadra, Library Director at the College of the Marshall Islands

Halora Paulus, Law Librarian at the Palau Supreme Court

Joshua Ng, Digital Preservation Analyst at Archives New Zealand

Sopheaktra An, Archivist at Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Cambodia

Verenaisi Bavadra and Halora Paulus presented in a dedicated session, AV Oceania, about the state of media preservation and archiving in Pacific Island nations. Bavadra also exhibited compelling films and gave a talk titled Canoes of the Marshall Islands. Pacific Navigators: A cultural identity and legacy to preserve and archive for future Marshallese generations.

Joshua Ng conducted a full-day workshop called Open Source for Audiovisual Archivists, imparting vital skills and knowledge to archivists from the region.

Sopheaktra An made a presentation together with the Director of the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Sopheap Chea, Acts of Memory - Archiving Khmer Rouge Survivors' Testimonies through Inter-Generational Dialogue, based on the work undertaken in the Khmer Rouge History app project, created by Bophana Center and funded by Rei Foundation and the European Union. Providing funding to An represents part of Rei Foundation's efforts to improve the capacity and knowledge of one of core project partners, Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center.

Rei Foundation provides travel grants to SEAPAVAA attendees small image

2019 travel grant recipients at SEAPAVAA23 in Noumea, New Caledonia, left to right: Sopheaktra An from Cambodia, Joshua Harris (SEAPAVAA treasurer), Verenaisi Bevadra from the Marshall Islands, Joshua Ng from Aotearoa New Zealand, Halora Paulus from Palau.

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