Elevations Laos is a contemporary art initiative aiming to support and stimulate mobility and exchange in Laos through annual programming with artists, students and the public.
Elevations Laos organises or contributes to contemporary art exhibitions to raise the profile of contemporary art and artists in Laos.
The inaugural exhibition was held at the i:cat gallery in Vientiane between November 2018 and February 2019.
In February 2020, Elevations Laos facilitated an exhibition by Luang Prabang based Hmong artist Tcheu Siong at the Niagara Galleries in Melbourne, Australia. Spellbrook subsequently funded the acquisition of one of Tcheu Siong’s works by the National Gallery of Victoria.
In 2019, Elevations Laos entered an MOU with the National Institute of Fine Arts (NIFA) in Vientiane to organise contemporary art awareness programs for students from Years 2 to 4. These programs comprised a seminar to over 100 students and a field workshop with over 30 students before activities were suspended due to Covid pandemic restrictions.
The Elevations Laos Art Space was established in 2020 at STELLA’s offices and shares spaces (www.thestella.org) for students and recent graduates to use and to host workshops.
During 2020 and 2021, up to 20 students attended mentoring programs by Lao and international contemporary artists. Students and former students that completed the mentoring program will be invited on a field trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand in October 2022 to visit contemporary art galleries and artist studios and participate in a workshop.
East Meets West has been working with the national and provincial governments of Laos, helping to address the gaps in the country’s rural water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector.
East Meets West’s Women-Led Output Based Aid (WOBA) solution increases WASH coverage and health in poor, rural towns and village clusters. Through this approach, each water system’s costs are funded 75% from the private sector with only 20% from donor funds and 5% from the Lao government. This innovative financing approach matches every donor dollar 3 to 1.
In addition to the tremendous financial leverage of this public-private solution, East Meets West has also reduced implementation times by 30% or more. East Meets West creates meaningful gender empowerment outcomes by systematically engaging women as change agents in the sector and decision-makers in the household.
Spellbrook has been the funding partner for feasibility studies, sanitation and training in the Pakkeng-Hadhuay and MuangKhai, Luang Prabang Province since 2019.
In 2020, East Meets West completed two piped water systems at Pakkeng-Hadhuay and MuangKhai sites. These systems can produce 1,700 cubic meters of clean water per day. Currently 3,075 people in 615 households are connected to the systems.
In 2021, East MeetsWest completed two (one male and one female) primary school latrine blocks in Pakxeng District, Luang Prabang Province for 212 students. Each block comprises three toilets.
Interplast is an Australian public charity that sends teams of volunteer plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied health professionals to hospitals in developing countries in the Asia Pacific region.
The teams deliver life-changing plastic surgery to local people that otherwise would not be able to afford or have access to such expertise. Often the patients are very young and the victims of disabling burns or vehicle accidents.
Interplast has identified key relationships with local surgery practitioners to build upon individual skills and broader team capacity, to ensure as much transfer of knowledge and skill as possible.
Since 2016, Spellbrook has provided 50% of the funding for Interplast’s program in Vientiane, Laos which comprises two surgical teams performing over 50 procedures over a two-week period every year.
During the five years to 2020, Interplast performed 342 surgical procedures and 750 patient consultations.
In 2021 and 2022, the program was suspended due to Covid pandemic restrictions but it is planned to resume in 2023.
Peuan Mit (meaning ‘good friends’ in Lao) is a local non-for-profit organisation in Laos and is part of the Friends International group based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Peuan Mit provides a network of social workers to identify and protect children at risk in Vientiane, the urban centre and capital of Laos. Peuan Mit adopts a holistic approach to help with reintergration into education systems and caring family homes.
Spellbrook provides funding for Peuan Mit’s transitional home for children at risk, and dormitories for youths that are participating in Peuan Mit’s vocational training programs focused on restaurant work and a motorcycle repair shop.
The Spellbrook Foundation Fund (ABN 71502819388) provides assistance to communities in developing countries with a focus on Laos and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Spellbrook partners with Australian public charities and local non-for-profit organisations.
Two projects in Laos aim to improve the healthcare and quality of life of the most vulnerable in Lao society, while a third project in Laos protects children at risk while providing opportunities for vocational training and employment.
In 2018, Spellbrook founded Elevations Laos, a contemporary art exhibition and prize. The art inaugural art exhibition is co-funded by Spellbrook and the Australian Government through the Australian Embassy’s Direct Aid Program.
Having spent much of his professional career working in the Asia Pacific region, with a particular focus on Laos, Gary Stafford has seen first-hand the challenges facing communities in developing countries.
In late 2014, Gary left PanAust Limited after 18 years as its founding Managing Director and founded The Spellbrook Foundation.
“I want to give something back to communities in a country where I had enjoyed good fortune and where I still had many connections”, he said.
Spellbrook (ABN 71 502 819 388) is an Australian registered private foundation and is proud to partner with Global Development Group (GDG) (ABN 57 102 400 993) for donations to overseas projects Elevations Laos, East Meets West (Thrive Networks) and Peuan Mit.
GDG provides a governance role and assists in the areas of planning, monitoring, evaluating and auditing to ensure the projects are managed and implemented in accordance with Australia’s Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme (OAGDS) guidelines.