Celebration, Advocacy and Inclusion
What's been happening at Epic Arts
This month at Epic Arts we celebrated the 13th Autism and Down Syndrome Day alongside over 300 participants and government partners, proving that students with autism and Down syndrome can participate and thrive when systems make room for them.
World Autism Awareness Day (April 2) reminded us that acceptance goes beyond awareness. At Epic Arts, autistic students learn and create as their authentic selves, through teaching that adapts to different minds, not the other way around.
We also paused for Khmer New Year, reconnecting with family and community before returning to our work with fresh energy.
April showed us what we already know: every life has value when we build systems that prove it.
To all our incredible supporters, thank you. Your continued belief in our mission helps us champion a world where every person counts (EPiC).
Inspiring Stories
Women with Disabilities Leading Change
Epic Arts Café is thrilled to be part of UN Women's WEPs Corporate Action Lab (WEPsCAL) Cambodia where companies co-create practical solutions to advance gender equality.
Here's what we discovered: 80% of our café staff with disabilities already see themselves as leaders. They're training teammates, managing operations, solving problems and building community every single day.
The challenge? Leadership pathways often lack the accessibility support our female staff need to reach their full potential.
So we sat down with our café staff to co-design solutions together. Our goal: by program's end participants will report increased confidence in pursuing leadership opportunities.
Women with disabilities at Epic Arts Café are already leading. Now we're ensuring their leadership is recognized, supported and advanced because when systems support everyone, everyone thrives.
Events and Performances
Dance, Dine, Discover
Epic Arts is launching the Epic Arts Experience in Kampot. An immersive half day journey into inclusive dance, social enterprise and professional arts.
Instead of watching from the sidelines, visitors participate alongside Epic Arts' professional Inclusive Dance Company in accessible movement workshops, learning how the company uses non verbal communication to bridge different abilities.
The experience includes an intimate performance, lunch at Epic Arts Café and a behind-the-scenes look at how our programs fund inclusive education programs.
This isn't charity tourism, it's a professional arts encounter where visitors become students and artists with disabilities are the experts.
The Epic Arts Experience offers conscious travelers a high impact way to engage with Kampot's arts scene while supporting Epic Arts' mission of inclusion and independence.
Opening discounts available soon. Watch this space.
Every Person Counts and every experience proves it.
Inclusive Arts
The Ripple Effect
Epic Arts Dance premiered The Ripple Effect, a powerful new climate performance highlighting why disaster preparedness must include people with disabilities.
Deputy Australian Ambassador Bridget Collier and representatives from the Australian Embassy joined 100 audience members at Epic Arts to witness the performance on inclusive climate resilience told through dance and movement.
When climate disasters strike, people with disabilities face disproportionate risks: inaccessible evacuation routes, warning systems they can't access, response plans that forget them. The Ripple Effect makes that invisible crisis visible, using art to share experiences and needs of people with disabilities in climate conversations.
Epic Arts Dance uses performance to push for real change, proving that climate planning without disability voices isn't just incomplete, it's ineffective.
When art meets policy, communities listen differently.
This work is supported by the Australian Government (Australian Embassy, Cambodia) through The Asia Foundation's Ponlok Chomnes II: Data and Dialogue for Development in Cambodia program.
Impact Update
Kampoul Meas Primary School Becomes Accessible
What happens when 23 decision makers sit down to talk about accessible education? Progress.
Last month Epic Arts convened district governors, education officials, school directors, senior monks and community leaders at Kampoul Meas Primary School to address one critical question: Can we make this school accessible for children with disabilities?
The answer: Yes. Integrated classroom approved for Kampoul Meas Primary School and an accessible classroom and bathroom construction approved.
This means that children with disabilities in this community will attend their local school, not stay home because buildings weren't designed for them. Families will access support without traveling across the province. Cambodia's education system is expanding to include students it previously excluded.
Accessibility requires more than goodwill. It requires meetings where officials commit, approvals that allocate resources, construction that follows through and decision makers willing to say yes.
Twenty three stakeholders said yes.
This is systems change in action: one school, one community, one decision at a time.
This work is supported by Caritas Australia through the "Inclusive Education in Kampot" project.
