"Auspicious Signs": Palden Gyatso Presentation
PerformerPerformed by
Palden Gyatso
(Tibetan)
Date1996 June 19
Mediumreformatted digital files from audio cassette tape - MP3
DimensionsDuration (tape 1, side 1): 47 Minutes, 2 Seconds
Duration (tape 1, side 2): 47 Minutes
Duration (tape 2): 44 Minutes, 14 Seconds
Duration (total runtime): 2 Hours, 18 Minutes, 30 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.612.1-.2
DescriptionTwo audio cassette tapes of Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan monk, speaking at an event at the ICR gallery in Hartford in June 1996. The event was held in conjunction with the exhibition, "Auspicious Signs: Tibetan Arts in New England." The presentation was recorded as part of the 1996-1997 exhibition project, "Auspicious Signs: Tibetan Arts in New England."
2015.196.612.1a-d: (tape 1) two digital files, tape information sheet, and cassette tape
2015.196.612.2a-c: (tape 2) one digital file, tape information sheet, and cassette tape
NotesSubject Note: "Auspicious Signs: Tibetan Arts in New England" was an exhibit project developed by the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program (CCHAP) at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford in 1996. The exhibit opening and a festival of Tibetan arts and music served as the major public events of an eighteen-month research and programming project conducted by CCHAP in partnership with the Tibetans. The project celebrated the Tibetan community's preservation and practice of their traditions in America.2015.196.612.1a-d: (tape 1) two digital files, tape information sheet, and cassette tape
2015.196.612.2a-c: (tape 2) one digital file, tape information sheet, and cassette tape
Since the Tibetan Resettlement Project brought twenty-one Tibetans to live in Connecticut, the state has become home to one of the fastest growing Tibetan communities in the United States. Several Connecticut Tibetans are traditional artists of great skill who are deeply committed to expressing and passing on Tibetan culture. Members of the Tibetan community are also dedicated to educating others about the difficult history and circumstances of the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
The collaborative project team consisted of three Tibetan project assistants, exhibit designer Sarah Buie, the Tibetan Cultural Center of Connecticut, artist Sonam Lama who was at the time Vice President of the Massachusetts Tibetan Association, and curator/folklorist Lynne Williamson, then director of CCHAP. The interdisciplinary nature of the team served to broaden the project's outreach to regional Tibetan communities as well as to incorporate a rich variety of expertise and perspectives.
The project team produced an exhibit displaying Tibetan religious art as well as everyday traditional arts, a day-long festival featuring artists, performers, demonstrations, and discussions, and an illustrated catalogue. Artists Jampa Tsondue, Ngawang Choedar, and Tsering Yangzom were featured in a video documenting their artistic process.
Funders included the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Community Folklife Program administered by the Fund for Folk Culture and underwritten by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund; the National Endowment for the Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Program, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Institute for Community Research.
To mark the exhibit opening, the Tibetan community held a festival attended by over three hundred people, including Tibetans from all over the region. Four music and dance groups performed outside, while in the exhibit gallery three Tibetan artists demonstrated weaving, woodcarving, and thangka painting. The event also featured a bazaar, a common Tibetan cultural activity. Many Tibetans are keen traders, maintaining links to Dharamsala, India, and Nepal through import of goods to the U.S. and sale through small shops here. Six Tibetan vendors from all over the region set up tables during the festival with a great variety of Tibetan books and crafts. Lakedhen and five other community members had risen at dawn to prepare food, which they sold during the day. Several speakers described the background of the project, the story of the Connecticut community, the current political situation in Tibet, and the history and character of Tibetan culture. Cholsum dance group from New York City and musicians Lakedhen and Thupten performed and accompanied the dancers. Singer DaDon and her group played for over an hour.
Subject Note: Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan monk who had been imprisoned and tortured by Chinese occupiers in Tibet, spoke about his life at an open-house event during the exhibit. Lakedhen Shingsur played a Tibetan song on his flute. In the background is Kalsang Jorden's painting of a peacock, which in Tibetan Buddhist tradition represents the important spiritual process of turning negative emotions into positive personal development. The peacock is said to eat poisons to make its feathers more beautiful.
Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this event and this community.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
Dadon Dawa Dolma
1995 June 23
