Prumsodun Ok pioneers strategy and program design for art, education, and philanthropy. Integrating the rigor of traditional master-apprentice training with ideas and approaches from youth development and community health, Ok founded Cambodia’s first gay dance company, which grew into “one of the most revolutionary dance troupes in Cambodia” (Channel NewsAsia, Singapore). Embodying justness in movement, his students and groundbreaking original works have been celebrated as “Radical Beauty” (The Bangkok Post, Thailand).
Ok is a cross-disciplinary thinker, innovative creator, and master meaning-maker who has inspired narrative and culture change through talks at TED and Dance/USA, in academic publications throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, and on major media outlets such as BBC, PBS, AFP, Asahi Shimbun, and South China Morning Post. He is the recipient of grants and fellowships from TED, Hewlett Foundation, Dance/USA, Creative Capital, New England Foundation for the Arts, MAP Fund, and Surdna Foundation, and was honored with the Monette-Horwitz Trust Award and named an LGBT+ Creative Leader of Tomorrow by The Dots and WeTransfer.
With a depth of experience and ingenuity in activism, social entrepreneurship, and community development, Ok is at the forefront of holistic changemaking. An expert networked into and working across multiple sectors, he has adjudicated applications for TED Fellows, Durfee Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts, convened with culture bearers to support the design of the Center for Cultural Power’s $23 million Constellations Culture Change Fund, and served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative. He serves on the Executive Committee of ខ្ញុំទទួលយក – I ACCEPT, Cambodia’s marriage equality campaign, and provides pro bono consultancy to Shogakuin Temple (Japan), agribusiness Thaung Enterprise (Cambodia), and music education organization Southern California Marimba (United States). Ever set on connection, growth, and building up, he is certified through the Cultural Experts Training Program facilitated by Design Council Busan and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, and is partaking in the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center’s Keieijuku Executive Training Program.
Ok is committed to breaking cycles of fear, poverty, and violence. He is invested in art and education for social change, the thriving of refugee, diasporic, and under-resourced youths and families, rightful access to and collective stewardship of nature, and the transformation of systems and cultures to create equity and prosperity. As such, Ok seeks to bridge latent power and resources with high-impact vision and action, shaping a world where everyone may realize and offer the highest, fullest expressions of their joys, successes, and lives.
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