Preserving Malaysia’s Unique Arts & Culture Heritage through Panggung Rakyat
The Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) was set to launch Panggung Rakyat, a public arts platform that promotes the diverse and authentic traditional cultural performances of Malaysia. We were tasked to invite members of the media to the first performance – Makyong, one of the most historically important and authentic art forms to Malaysia – on a Saturday night, amongst the general public. We must also ensure stories surrounding the first performance were enough to push awareness and pull interest from the general public for the upcoming performances held monthly until year end.
In addition to inviting media to the event, we also organized exclusive interviews with top tier newspapers to dive deeper into the fate of women artists in the freedom of artistic expression. The ban on Mak Yong undergirded this story.
Despite being a night event on a weekend, 10 media friends witnessed the Mak Yong performance. The story was covered across 14 publications including a cover page story in New Sunday Times, Berita Harian, Malaysiakini, Bernama, The Rakyat Post, and more, leading to a total of more than RM1.4 million in PR value.
