David Burke is off to a quick start in Vientiane, Laos! He launched the program with an artist talk at i:cat gallery yesterday, where he discussed how murals as a public art form can engage community members in dialogue and spark greater awareness around a social issue. Spanning fields of design, architecture, science, and engineering, the workshops held this week will delve into discussions and activities that aim to identify specific ways the participants can collaborate on various public art concepts to address relevant environmental health issues, like rivers contaminated with trash, deforestation, and one-time use of plastics.

On Friday, community groups will present their public art proposals to a panel of community leaders from the arts, environment, and other public sectors. The panelists will ask questions, make suggestions, and provide feedback to the groups, and four projects will be selected to receive small grants to make their proposals come to life!

That's when the real fun starts. David will facilitate each group's conceptual development, design, and implementation. The young artists (and "non-artists" who will discover they are artists) will race to complete their concepts over the next two weeks, and then along with David's own mural project, will present the projects to the public at a special exhibition event tentatively scheduled for June 10.

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In the meantime, make sure you are plugged in to the on-the-go action by visiting and liking the Laos Arts Incubator Facebook Page!