ACM page on Mongol Messenger- February, 2019

1. Friday, February 22, 20198 THE MONGOL MESSENGER
On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, MCS
Group has initiated “Cultural Treasure” -
cultural heritage grants prog­ram to protect
historic monuments and cultural heritage
that represent Mongolian traditional culture
& national values. Co-organized with the
Arts Council of Mon­golia (ACM), the grants
program will provide funding of a total
of 2 billion MNT to several national level
heritage site pre­servation projects through
5 years period. As the first recipient of
“Cultural Trea­sure” grant, “Choijin Lama
Temple Museum preventive conservation
pro­ject” will be implemented in 2019 with
multiple stakeholders of the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sciences and Sports, the
City Mayor’s Office, Capital city plan­ning
department & the Arts Council of Mon­golia
NGO, to encourage the strategic collabora­
tion between Government organi­zations,
businesses and civil society in the protection
of built heritage within urban environment.
Project background
Choijin Lama Temple is an architectural
masterpiece built by Ombogo, the court
architect between 1904 and 1908 in the
center of Niislel Khuree in dedication
to Lama Luvsankhaidav, brother of the
Buddhist spiritual leader, the 8th Bogd
Khaan Javzandamba. The temple performed
religious activities until 1938. Later Choijin
lama temple was converted into a museum &
popular tourist attraction for both visitors and
Mongolians alike.
But today, Choijin Lama Temple Museum
is undergoing severe degradation due to
various types of large-scale development
activities near Choijin lama temple,
including infrastructure development, new
buildings, urban renewal and changes to the
land use (some of which are insensitive or
inappropriate), harsh climate of Mongolia and
lack of funding for conservation restoration of
heritage site, resulting a critical condition that
demands urgent restoration and protection.
Lack of state fund for the conservation
of heritage sites reminds that the role of
Public-Private Partnerships has a significant
impact in Conserving and managing Heritage
Buildings and Sites.
The Arts Council of Mongolia (ACM), a
non-government organization, identified the
Choijin Lama Temple Museum complex as
a project worthy of their interest. The ACM
project on conservation of the Choijin Lama
Temple Museum attracted the
interest of Mr. Roger Perry,
Australian citizen-patron of
Mongolian arts.
With the financial support
of Roger Perry, ACM &
Choijin lama temple museum
previously implemented
4 preventive conservation
projects in 2008, 2009 and
2017. The projects were
“Architectural measurement
and building damage assessment of Choijin
lama temple museum” in 2008, “Choijin lama
temple museum gardening project” in 2008,
“Museum box” heritage education project in
2009 and “Study of the impact of natural &
social factors” in 2017, where the last aimed
to define risks and dangers threatening the
Choijin Lama Temple museum complex .
In 2017, Team of experts from different
scientific fields assessed impacts of soil
formation, invasive biological species,
air pollution, climate change and severe
weather events, buildings & development,
transportation infrastructure, tourism,
recreational activities, illegal occupation
of space, illegal construction, management
system, legal framework and evaluated risk
preparedness & society’s valuing of heritage.
As a result of experts’ recommendation, an
immediate follow-up action was to develop
land use planning & landscaping of Choijin
lama temple museum protected area.
In their efforts to embrace corporate
social responsibility (CSR), MCS group has
been identifying the interests, concerns and
objectives of local arts & cultural institutions,
museums and taking initiative to address their
varying needs.
MCS group took a leading role and
committed to provide financial support for the
preservation Choijin lama temple museum &
Bogd Khan Palace Museum through Cultural
Treasure grant.
Within the scope of Choijin lama temple
land use planning & landscaping project, the
gardens and landscapes, pathways, external
lights of Choijin lama temple museum will
be renovated and land use planning will be
developed to ensure heritage site proper
protection and preservation.
As the most heritage sites are administered
by the government, the government
agencies play an important role in providing
consultancy to heritage conservators in
heritage management. Therefore, project is
implemented with the partnership & support
of the Ministry of ECSS, Capital city planning
department & National center for the cultural
heritage.
As a result of this collaborative approach
in heritage preservation management, a
precious and unique historical and cultural
memorial of Mongolia will become an
attractive “oasis” in the middle of the city,
providing its citizens with a place of rest and
relaxation. The Museum complex will attract
more visitors through outdoor corporate and
cultural events–key generators of a creative
economy.
Mr.Od. J, President of the MCS Group
noted that “ recent years MCS Group has
Arts Council of Mongolia, Delta Foundation Center, IV floor, Tourists Street-38, Chingeltei District Tel/Fax: 976-11-319015 E-mail: marketing@artscouncil.mn Web: www.artscouncil.mn
ARTS COUNCIL OF MONGOLIA
ARTS
COUNCIL
OF MONGOLIA
CULTURE & ARTS
The Mongol Messenger is operated and printed by government news agency MONTSAME Web: montsame.mn/en E-mail: mongolmessenger@montsame.gov.mn mongolmessenger@yahoo.com. ISSN 1684-1883
“CulturalTreasure”grantsprogramstartswith
Choijinlamatemplemuseumpreservationproject
and ACM board member, emphasized “The
Cultural Treasure grant program as a valuab­
le contribution for protecting, preserving,
promoting and transmitting our unique
cultural heritage, which is the essence of the
Mongolian people’s wisdom”.
MCS group “Cultural Treasure” grant is
a role model of how the sponsorship from
private companies provides necessary sup­
port to cultural heritage preservation and
in the promotion of the historical, architec­
tural, religious and aesthetic significance of
heritage sites.
About ACM cultural
heritage program
With a goal to protect, promote, disse­
minate Mongolian cultural heritage Arts
Council of Mongolia opened its Cultural
Heritage Program in 2006.
Since then a number of projects were
carried out, namely the Danzanravjaa mu­
seum hall renovation, Documentation of
Mongolian monasteries, the Amarbayas­galant
Monastery Preventive Conservation project,
and the Museum Preservation Training and
Acid-Free Supply project.
The highlight of this program is the
Amarbayasgalant Monastery Preventive
Conservation, which aims to safeguard the
cultural and historical treasures of Mongolia
from potential fire and theft through support
from the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for the
Cultural Heritage Preservation (AFCP). As
a result of Rewiring the entire complex for
electricity and installing fire alarm and video
monitoring systems have reduced the risk of
fire and theft at this heritage site.
Since 2007, ACM implemented nation­
wide project “Documentation of Mon­
golian Monasteries” in collaboration with
Gandantegchinlen Monastery, the Presi­dent’s
office, the Cultural Heritage Center and
international researchers. The project brought
the rich Buddhist heritage of Mongolia to life
and uploaded much of its data to the website
(www.mongoliantemples.org). The website
includes data of over one thousand pre-1939
heritage sites and around three hundred
temples that have been active since 1990.
Their photographs and GPS coordinates
were recorded and made open to the public.
Over 350 oral histories and nearly 500 site
photographs from Mongolian, Russian, and
European sources can be found on the site.
It also documents and pro­motes Mongolian
cultural heritage while en­couraging young
Mongolians to embrace their heritage.
Arts Council of Mongolia focuses on
building competitiveness of the arts and
culture sector through capacity building
of emerging and established artists, arts
managers and young leaders in the arts.
Leadership programs, residencies and
designated grants has been offered for
the past 17 years. From 2002-2018 ACM
built capacity of 5,183 artists and cultural
bearers and 1,163 art managers. ACM had
additionally granted local and international
scholarships to 373 emerging talented
artists; trained 1,207 teachers and 7,488
students.
To continue this effortACM has opened
its “Red Ger” creative space last September
2018 based on its “Red Ger” art gallery
running since 2003. As one of the first
private galleries in Ulaanbaatar Red GerArt
Gallery promoted high quality, innovative
and well-presented contemporary art
exhibitions of Mongolian and international
artists to the public. Looking into the future
with its new scope of operation, ACM’s
Red Ger Creative space will focus on not
only promoting visual arts but also others
fields including music, dance, literature
and film. In addition, with ever increasing
demand of online based services, ACM is
going to launch its first online store www.
redger.org on March 06, 2019. The store
will be one stop for those interested in art
and craft and design goods for their homes,
offices, special occasions and presents.
As part of the new strategy for 2019-
2020, ACM will select 5 young talented
artists to be featured at the Red Ger Creative
Space and www.redger.org. The selected
artists will become ACM’s member artist
and will have the chance to do a year
residency at the space.This allows the artists
to jointly curate multidisciplinary monthly
programs offering screenings, workshop,
reading, artists talk and exhibitions to
the audience. The selected artists will be
featured at the launch on March 6, 2019 to
take place at the MN17 Gallery. The launch
event is supported by Ard Financial Group
and Ardshop.mn and MN17 Gallery.
Red Ger Creative space is open to the
public to be part of the monthly programs
offered at the space and use the space
as co-working space. ACM will offer
membership for the public in addition to
their current membership program that
allows two different engagement levels
with ACM activities and Red Ger Creative
Space.
If you interested to be part of the launch,
ACM invites everyone become a member
before March 06, 2019, to be invited for the
event and all year around activities.
For more information please contact
at redger@artscouncil.mn, grants@
artscouncil.mn; and visit www.artscouncil.
mn or call 319015, 319017
TheArtsCouncilofMongoliatolaunchits
firstonlinestorewww.redger.org
successfully accomplished a great number
of projects targeted to protect, preserve, and
promote Mongolian arts & cultural heritage
for the public. These include the Digitalization
of the 50 national opera and ballet musical
score manuscripts–a documentary heritage of
Mongolian great composers; and the “Mongol
Film HD” that digitized 182 feature and 873
documentary film reels and converted to HD
formats. Through the “Secret of Zanabazar”
project, the ACM & MCS group produced a
film to promote the legacy of Buddhist art &
masterpieces of Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar,
providing a new product to the Zanabazar
fine arts museum. In commemoration of
the 25th anniversary of the MCS Group,
we are committed to continue our support
to preservation of the Mongolian cultural
heritage by initiating “Cultural Treasure”
grants program.
MCS group “Cultural Treasure” grant will
also fund the study of the impact of natural
& social factors affecting physical fabric of
Bogd Khaan Palace museum buildings and
development of restoration work drawing
for Choijin lama temple museum complex in
2019. These preventive conservation projects
will play an important role in protecting the
historical buildings and artifacts from the
threats of natural & social factors.
Mend-Ooyo.G, Cultural Meritorious
Fellow, Chinggis Khaan Ordain awardee