Asian American Cultures Festival: The Kingdom of Kambuja is one of several projects in the running for the Robert E. Gard award. This is the inaugural year of the award which recognizes and celebrates an exemplary project from 2015 that has successfully crossed the arts into community life in meaningful measurable ways.

Asian American Cultures Festival: The Kingdom of Kambuja was part of the UMass Lowell Center for Asian American Studies series "Forty Years Later: Where Are We Now," marking 40 years since the wars involving Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and the United States. Flying Orb Productions premiered “The Kingdom of Kambuja,” a multimedia play in which a Cambodian refugee mother uses fairy tales to communicate her difficult stories to her daughter. This project is a great example of the power the arts have in aiding healing. Using a combination of story-telling, theater and music, the performance documented difficult real-life histories of Lowell community members who are also refugees. The performance not only provided an opportunity for the Cambodian community to share their personal stories, which involve difficult subject matter not often covered in history books or literature, but provided a way for the greater Lowell community to better understand and empathize with their neighbors.

Asian American Cultures Festival: The Kingdom of Kambuja partners include several departments of a public university, a community college, several community arts groups, and local businesses. Project partners include: Angkor Dance Troupe; Flying Orb Productions; University of Massachusetts Lowell Department of Music; University of Massachusetts Lowell World Music Ensemble; Battambang Bam Boom; guest singer Chanda Dom; University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Asian American Studies; and Lowell Cultural Council and many others.

The winner of the 2016 Robert E. Gard Award will be announced at Americans for the Arts 2016 Annual Convention in Boston, MA during the Opening Plenary session on Friday, June 17, 2016, from 12:00 pm – 2:15 pm