By NABILA AZLAN
On April 3, 2023, arts practitioners and advocates as well as media partners gathered at the Petaling Jaya Performing Arts Centre (PJPAC), 1 Utama for the announcement of nominees for the 2023 BOH Cameronian Arts Awards (BCAA)!
Following Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh’s glory at the 2023 Oscars and the reopening of various theatres and arts venues after a three-year quiet period, the BCAA is incredibly timely. The 18th edition of BCAA follows the theme “A New Day, Setia Pada Senimu” reflective the relentless spirit of the performing arts community. Together with BOH Plantations, the awards’ long-standing sponsor, BCAA is joined by A Cut Above, Inglot Cosmetics, SUB International Beauty School and SOGO this year! BDO in Malaysia joins this year, too, debuting as Ballot Partner.
According to Jason Foo, CEO of BOH Plantations, “The last few years were a period of testing for us but that same difficult journey has shaped our tenacity as an industry. It’s great to see the arts industry reinvent itself, rise to conquer challenges of the past and concertedly move ahead to shape the exciting future.”
To this, Low Ngai Yuen, President of Kakiseni says: “Performers and practitioners pivoted to online live streaming and other creative solutions until the sector started opening up again in 2022, rebuilding itself. The BOH Cameronian Grants for New Productions helped to kickstart things, some of the shows even made it to the nominations list!”
With over 101 productions submitted from 2020 to 2022, a line-up of judges from various performing arts backgrounds huddled to weigh on the submissions. Judging the Music categories were Dr Andrew Filmer, Dominic Luk, Janet Kan, Ng Yuet Sum, Sara Heng, Dr Sayyid Shafiee and Tan E-Jan; Dance categories were handled by Alla @ Azura Abal Abas, Choong Wan Chin, Foo Chi Wei, Kenny Shim, Rathimalar Govindarajoo and Mohd Yunus Ismail; Theatre duties were taken care of by Christopher Ling, Fazleena Hishamuddin, Dr Syahrul Musa, Dr Muralitharan Pillai and Yves Yap; and Musical Theatre was judged by Colin Kirton, Mervyn Peters, Michael Xavier Voon, Sabrina Hassan and Sandra Sodhy.
Celebrating the forces present on-stage and behind-the-scenes, eight awards are given for Dance, seven for Music, five for Musical Theatre and nine for Theatre. This year, show titles in the running across all categories include Pragina: Emosi and A Streetcar Named Desire (The Actors Studio, Teater Seni Rakyat and klpac), ANGGOTA (Five Arts Centre), Sadhana – The Grace Through Kathak (TFA Inner Space Dance Company), A Pilgrim’s Songs (Viva Opera), The Spirit of Celtic (Philharmonic Winds of Malaysia), Fortune Kooky (Kult Productions), Bangsawan Indie: Raja Bersiong (Revolution Stage X Liveinmypoetry), Ghaib (Fakulti Teater Aswara) and Listen (Asterik Anak Seni).
Five productions across the four categories have been chosen as the “Best Of Nominees”; these are A Notional History (Five Arts Centre) for Theatre, Dark Light (Young Choral Academy) and Dream of The Red Chamber (Lee Rubber Chinese Orchestra KL) for Music, Follow The Light (Theatrethreesixty) for Musical Theatre and N2 (La Danza Theatre) for Dance.
Save the date: The 18th BCAA is scheduled for Sunday, May 14, 2023 at PJPAC, 1 Utama! We at BASKL wish all nominees the best and are looking forward to finding out who wins!
Get the full list of nominees here.
Photos by Kakiseni
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