Inspiring Stories

We want to introduce one of our newest Epic Arts Dance team, Mose, who was born deaf. 

Before joining Epic Arts Mose was building homes with his father who learned about an organisation in Phnom Penh helping deaf people.

There he found details for Epic Arts and Mose joined Epic Arts as a student in our Inclusive Arts Course (IAC).

While in IAC there were many discussions with his parents. His mother wanted him to quit because he was not working and earning money for his family. However his father decided that Mose should stay at Epic Arts because at home Mose had no friends, was not confident and had no communication with anyone.

Before joining IAC Mose felt he didn’t have much knowledge. He only knew one word in sign language, and used drama to communicate.

When he joined IAC he made friends, learned a lot of skills including dance, art and computing. In IAC he felt so happy because he could communicate with friends and finally had the opportunity to learn sign language.

Mose loves dance, as his dance skills grew so did his confidence. He graduated from IAC and became a full time professional dancer with Epic Arts Dance.

Since then he has had the opportunity to perform all around Cambodia and in Singapore. He is a very valued member of the team and we are excited to watch his career grow from strength to strength.

Events and Performances

Last week Epic Arts held their first local fundraising event at Kampot Cafe. The fundraiser was to raise funds for emergency food packages and school packs supporting vulnerable families in Kampot.

Epic Arts run the 24 hour ChildSafe hotline for Kampot and receive regular calls from families in need.

The event was well attended with Kampot locals who were treated to 3 performances by the Epic Arts Dance team to keep them entertained throughout the night.

With over 50 amazing raffle prizes from local businesses it was a fantastic example of a community coming together to support their community. 

A huge thanks to Kampot Cafe for being our fundraising partner, everyone who donated raffle prizes and bought tickets and everyone who attended.

We are still calculating the exact funds raised but estimate that we have enough funds to cover emergency food packages and school packs for 4 months!

Inclusive Arts

In Cambodia 43% of people with disabilities are illiterate compared to only 9% of non-disabled people.

Furthermore, people with disabilities on average earn 65% less than people without.

One of our core programs at Epic Arts is the Inclusive Arts Course (IAC).

Our aim is to draw young people from the disabled and non-disabled community around Cambodia to study an arts and hospitality based course to equip them with skills to gain meaningful employment after graduating. 

Our current students started this years IAC in May, are loving learning and it is a delight to watch them learn, grow, build confidence and develop new skills daily.

Impact Update

Epic Arts Social Work team are dedicated to supporting the Kampot community.

In addition to running the 24 hour ChildSafe hotline, which allows anyone to get in contact if they suspect a child is in danger, they support vulnerable families with emergency food packages and school packs.

Furthermore, they work closely with local authorities and schools to provide children with disabilities school packs and bicycles helping remove barriers to education.

Between January 2024 and the end of June the Epic Arts Social Work team have distributed 52 bicycles, 158 school packs and supported 13 students with disabilities access to health services in Phnom Penh.