Monastic representatives and cultural officers from ten districts attended first ever training on the use of national and local festivals to disseminate social messages to the public. The training was facilitated by Tango Buddhist University, Dratshang Lhentshog, Royal Academy of Performing Arts, RENEW and UNFPA. 31 participants were oriented on "Tsechuyi Garcham ghi shepa" (Social messaging trough national and local festivals.) and the focus was to explain the significance of mask dance and how different forms of dances can be used to pass social messages (prevention of gender based violence, teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse and exploitation) to the audience.
"I found that the whole concept of integrating social messages in the religious festival is based on the four pillars of Gross National Happiness and this method of integrating social messages into festivals is an extraordinary approach for wider public benefit" Monastic representative from Punakha
"I have been working for 12 years as cultural officer and this is the first forum where I learned more about culture and additional perspective of my role in benefiting communities" Cultural Officer, Tsirang
"I am a performer and though I performed masked dances in many occasions, i never really understood the significance of these dances. Now I can perform the dance and at the same time know which social issues my performance is addressing. I am proud to know that I can do duel good" Artist, Royal Academy of Performing Arts
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