Transitioning from The Songs of Memory Project to
Cultural Crossroads Asia
Spring 2025 Newsletter
Karen Pwo Textiles for a Family of Five
From the Cultural Crossroads Asia Heritage Center Collections
Question: How do you launch a major cultural center and outreach program, respected on the world stage, with aspirations to preserve and sustain traditional ethnic culture for posterity?
Answer: Mindfully, Steadily, with Perseverance, Passion, and Prescience that it will happen.
Question: What would catapult your project to another level at such an early stage of development?
Answer: The validation of a highly respected institution with common values, whose belief and backing would not only support our mission but would also draw others to our cause.
Spectacular New Answer: Cultural Crossroads Asia is delirious to announce that The James H.W. Thompson Foundation, whose outstanding reputation as an art organization that resonates with the regional, national, and global community, has recently confirmed its faith in our vision and, as a major stakeholder, its interest in the success of the Cultural Crossroads Asia Heritage Center in Chiang Mai through financial and mentorship support.
Victoria has had a longstanding relation with The James H.W. Thompson Foundation as it provided initial funding to her Songs of Memory Project in its earliest stage of documentation. Eventually this led to a major exhibition, the first ever, of her Songs of Memory Collections at the Jim Thompson Art Center in 2008. What a stellar way to propel this initiative into the world! Now, nearly twenty years later, these archives are expanding in breadth and depth into the Cultural Crossroads Asia Heritage Center.
On behalf of our CCA Board of Directors, we are honored and beyond grateful to Director Eric Booth and The James H.W. Thompson Foundation Committee for seeing what we see: the worthiness of the Cultural Crossroads Asia mandate to protect indigenous culture, and our ability to oversee it with integrity, creativity, and excellence.
Presentations
“The Wonders of Ethnic Culture, An Introduction”
Cultural Crossroads Asia Welcomes Chicago Visitors to Chiang Mai
Raya Heritage, Chiang Mai
4 February 2025
What an absolute pleasure it was for Master Musicians of the Akha Oral Tradition School in Chiang Rai and Victoria to offer Chicago visitors an inner glimpse of rare, age-old ethnic traditions. Gathered together for the Samsara Retreat led by Vanessa Palmer and Nora Schneider and by Doug Van Tress of the inspiring Golden Triangle Antique Gallery (in Chiang Mai and Chicago), thirteen guests from half way ‘round the planet were regaled for nearly two hours at the serene Raya Heritage Hotel in Chiang Mai on the sleepy banks of the Mae Ping River.
To launch the event, Victoria presented an overview of the tribal experience – richly illustrated with photographs – by highlighting the diversity of secular and sacred traditions found in the Golden Triangle. Following the rotations of the earth, the cycles of seasons, the spirals of sun and moon, and the arc of life, she recounted numerous vanishing customs that she has documented over twenty years.
Ancestral stories, songs, and instrumental music followed, coming from our Akha Master Musicians’ collective memory. This mini-concert provided our guests with the most authentic experience possible outside the village spirit gates. Athu imparted the backdrop of Akha identity, to which Miju added her talents as a vocalist and Pipa leaf musician, and multi-talented Mawleu showcased his abilities on numerous wind instruments, along with a mesmerizing Akha Martial Arts demonstration with eight swords!
Akha Musicians Miju Manpo, Athu Pochear, and Mawleu Jupoh
With Victoria Vorreiter and Doug Van Tress
Inform and Inspire Samsara Guests from Chicago
Concert and Presentation
Exhibition
“The Connecting Gaze”
Portraits from the Golden Triangle
Photographs and Presentation
by Victoria Vorreiter
The Algonquin
Chiang Mai, Thailand
5 – 27 February 2025
It was a delight and honor to have had the opportunity to present ‘The Connecting Gaze’ Photo Exhibition at The Algonquin, a private member’s club in Chiang Mai’s Old City, running for three weeks in February. My collection of portraits aspired to give insight into the astonishing world of the ethnic groups that have converged over millennia in the foothills of the Golden Triangle – the nexus where Laos, Myanmar, China, and Thailand once knew no boundaries – allowing guests to encounter a staggering diversity of peoples, distinguished by unique cultures, features, languages, faiths, customs, dress, and arts.
Yet, while the identity of every tribal group is cloaked in ancestral custom and lore, the portraits in this display further revealed intimate qualities: the special personalities and inner lives of the people themselves. If the visitor looked carefully, these men, women, and children of the mountains are gazing back, yearning to connect.
Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Pim. I am grateful.
A Selection of Guest Book Comments:
“Thank you, Victoria, for your amazing work and preservation of the cultures of S.E. Asia! Beautiful photos through which your adventurous spirit shines. With love and respect, Danny Paradise”
“Victoria, We are put on this earth to find our purpose and live it, breathe it, and spread that passion across the earth. You are living your truth and should be so proud of what you have accomplished. With much love, Vanessa Palmer”
Dear Victoria, You are a being of light and your beauty and passion for life and sharing the soul of the Thai tribes and culture emanates through your heart into other people’s hearts. You have such a special gift and are blessed with a powerful voice to spread your message and love. Thank you for sharing all that you do. Love, Bianca Castelbuono
“You never walk alone. I admire your passion and motivation. All the best, Tom, Tum, Tack, and Mar”
Living Legacy Project
Akha Oral Tradition School
Year 2, Semester 1
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand
September 2024 – March 2025
We only protect what we love.
We only love what we understand.
We only understand what we are taught.
― Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Under the auspices of Cultural Crossroads Asia, the Living Legacy Project has pledged to help Sustain Intangible Culture in ethnic villages in the highlands of the Golden Triangle. So it came to pass that in July 2023, CCA launched the Akha Oral Tradition School, the first of many Living Legacy Projects to come, where, each week, Master Akha Musicians impart the wisdom they learned from their elders to a class of twenty-two Akha youth in the small Akha village Ban Saen Suk, in the mountains of Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Now in the early months of 2025, the air continues to fill with the sounds of age-old songs, musical instruments, stories, instrument-making practices, dances, and martial arts, as our students further their understanding of Akha culture as taught by their knowledgeable teachers – Athu Pochear, Miju Manpo, Apa Ayii, and Mawleu Jupoh. A very warm ‘Gulung guma deh’ to our Master Musicians and our students!
Digital Storytelling Course (Five Days)
Clare Lyons, Trainer and BBC Journalist
Akha Oral Tradition School
Ban Saen Suk, Chiang Rai, Thailand
15 February – 2 March 2025
The Living Legacy Project’s commitment to sustain intangible heritage through the Akha Oral Tradition School is founded on a multi-faceted approach, adding training in fields beyond music to expand students’ understanding of their heritage, and to foster their desire to protect it for future generations.
With this in mind, Cultural Crossroads Asia was thrilled to welcome Clare Lyons, a former senior producer and reporter for BBC World News and a specialized trainer, to Ban Saen Suk, to teach an intensive Digital Storytelling Course over five days to our Akha students, focusing on: photo and video reporting, mobile phone skills, documentation and organization, vocal presentation skills, and visual storytelling – from capturing footage to editing a compelling narrative.
What was the subject matter that our Akha students explored? Their own culture! Divided into teams, our students interviewed Akha Cultural Guardians and documented traditional Akha Customs, to create short videos on Akha Martial Arts, Making Akha Toys, Making Akha Clothing, Making Brooms, Akha Red-Egg Tradition, Akha Healing Herbs, and Akha Cooking,
What a wonder these films were, each with its special charms. They were a testament to how much our students had learned and how much creativity and thought they brought to the process. For a first ever effort, these Akha youth have much to be proud of. Bravo!
Once English captions are added, these videos will be posted on our
Cultural Crossroads Asia YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@CulturalCrossroadsAsia
Student Teams Filming Akha Culture and Stills from their Final Videos
Student Teams Filming
Akha Culture
Stills from their Final Videos
Video on Akha Martial Arts by the Bird Team
Video on Akha Clothing by the Whale Team
Video on Akha Healing Herbs by the Rabbit Team
Video on Akha Brooms by the Chicken Team
Video on Akha Cuisine by the Cat Team
Massive thanks go to those who donated Smartphones to our students to use during this course:
Eden Blackwell, Suchart Robmeechai, Mark Palmer, Jenny Bramell-Selander, John Schorr,
Terry Miller, Karen Vorreiter, Nora Schneider, and Larissa Viravaidya Stillman
Thank you to Cultural Crossroads Asia for sponsoring the Digital Storytelling Course
and purchasing New Smartphones.
Gratitude to our Sponsors
To the following major foundations, cultural organizations, corporate sponsors, and individual donors, the trust you have placed in us as the shepherds of Cultural Crossroads Asia, and the gracious support you have showered on our CCA Heritage Center and the Living Legacy Project’s Akha Oral Tradition School have propelled our initiative from dream to reality. We are overwhelmed by your generosity of spirit, and look forward to welcoming you to our cultural home when next you visit Chiang Mai. Please receive our Heartfelt Gratitude.
New Sponsors
of the Cultural Crossroads Asia Heritage Center
The James H.W. Thompson Foundation
Rimping Foundation
The Golden Triangle Antiques Center (Hang Dong/Chicago)
Sponsors
of the Living Legacy Project
Krüger Foundation
Thai Textile Society
Purpose Earth
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club
Individual Donors
of the Living Legacy Project
Semester 1
(July 2023 – March 2024)
Verity and Warren Kingston
Dorée Huneven
Sara and Terry Miller
Joanna MacLean
Helen Brunner
Gerald Adelmann
Amy and Mark Conroy
Phijitra and John Schorr
Beth and Barry Brooks
Semester 2
(May – August 2024)
Marsha and Phil Dowd
Purpose Earth
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club
Sara and Terry Miller
Maria and Neil Nehring
Semester 3
(September 2024 – March 2025)
Joanna MacLean
Sara and Terry Miller
Thai Textile Society
Janet and Tom Murphy
Monique & Paul Sochaczewski
Amy Arnold and Mark Conroy
Steve Epstein
Martine and Ilya Levinson
Helen Brunner
Karen and David Stokes
Martine and Ilya Levinson
Helen Brunner
Karen and David Stokes
Susanne Baker
Karen Vorreiter
Johnny Doyle
Mathieu Guyonnet-Duluc
John Schorr
Eden Blackwell
If Cultural Crossroads Asia resonates with you,
we would be honored to have you join us
and to receive your support.
Young Eng Family Celebrates
Eng Fertility Festival, Poi Kham Gheng
Pa Cho, Keng Tung, Myanmar
October 2007
