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A festival in Malaysia often conjures images of a music festival of sorts, but imagine attending a festival of ideas. Vatsala Devi explores The Cooler Lumpur Festival, a gathering that’s all about creating, sharing, and bringing great concepts to life.

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples, then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. – George Bernard Shaw

Originally envisioned as a multi-arts festival, The Cooler Lumpur Festival has become Asia’s first and only festival of ideas. Curated by PopDigital, a creative media group specialising in media and technology, the festival’s goal is to create a platform that brings together writers, artists, musicians, and thinkers from all across the globe. Aimed at creating new connections, the festival aims to share and spread new ideas (and maybe breathe new life into some old ones), and serves as a catalyst to our cultural conversation.

Held from 20 to 22 June, and jointly hosted by PopDigital Sdn Bhd and British Council in Malaysia, the festival will transform Publika Shopping Gallery into an oasis of ideas –a lively place where professionals and enthusiasts of various creative backgrounds meet to share ideas and knowledge. The Cooler Lumpur Festival aims to enrich Kuala Lumpur’s cultural horizons with a celebration that will strengthen communities, encourage creativity, and challenge imaginations. Festival director Umapagan Ampikaipakan said that the last decade has seen a mushrooming of creativity amongst Malaysians.

“As Malaysians, we have always been an incredibly imaginative people, but it is only recently that we have truly begun to exploit the various creative avenues afforded to us; both the virtual and non-virtual spaces. And while there have been festivals in and around the country that champion various individual aspects of our creativity, there hasn’t been anything that encourages that root source of creativity. And that’s precisely what Cooler Lumpur is trying to do: host a gathering of writers and thinkers, of artists and musicians, of businessmen and teachers, from all backgrounds, that aims to challenge people to debate and learn and grapple with the ideas and issues that confront society,” explained Ampikaipakan.

The British Council is joining in this innovative festival because of its active participation in the arts; supporting it financially, encouraging its growth, and most importantly, constantly trying new things in order to grow the audience. As the official literary partner of the Cooler Lumpur Festival, this partnership will bring the best of British and regional artistic and creative talent — in the field of literature — and link them to their counterparts. “This falls into our efforts for cultural relations or building trust between the UK and Malaysia, as well as connecting the sector with the British Council’s presence in other countries in the East Asia region,” said British Council Malaysia Country Director Gavin Anderson.

The Kuala Lumpur-centric festival adopts specific themes each year and this year’s festival is an expansion of last year’s theme, #WORD, which celebrated the written and spoken word in all its forms. “It championed the notion that words are the primary medium by which we reform and transform the world around us,” Anderson explained. “This year is an expansion on that theme. Words are our foundation; and it is necessary to think of ways to move the culture forward, such as by championing young upcoming talent, by getting society attuned to its creative side, by mashing together literature, art, music, and innovation, and by doing it at the speed of thought.”

With so much going on, it’s hard to know where to start. Some of these events will spark the light bulb of ideas in participants, so presented here are the programmes which will be offered during the festival. So, depending on whether you like your festival experience loud, serious, or arty, choose your flavour, and then dive into the fun.

Source: Senses of Malaysia May/June 2014

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