Fascinating Nan Fest set to make age-old province a 'creative space for all'

Nan Fest 2022, Creative Space Chapter, is being held under cooperation by the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), the Nan Provincial Administration, the Nan Cultural Office, the Nan Study Foundation and local volunteer group Salagued from Friday to Sunday.

The Creative Space chapter kicks off the annual festival and will be followed by other chapters until the end of February.

The highlight of Creative Space is turning an ancient, under-utilised building, Khum Jao Thep Mala, into a creative space for all types of activities, including those promoting creativity by local people using the ancient and well-conserved culture of Nan.

During the three-day festival, visitors will be treated to a host of activities, including wolfing down creative dishes based on Nan’s traditional foods, innovative coffee menus, performance and arts shows, as well as learning from ideas by experts on how to balance business and culture conservation in the old town of Nan.

The CEA said the fest is an experiment using the conserved Khumn Jao Thep Mala building as a creative space with a goal to provide inspiration to children, youths, creative thinkers, artists, the elderly and the general public.

It hopes the festival will draw people from all walks of life to visit the building to exchange ideas and learn to develop the valuable assets of Nan town with the ultimate goal to propel Nan into the Unesco Creative Cities Network in local handicrafts and arts.

Nan town is located in the heart of the province. It is an economic centre and possesses a perfect mixture of modern life, old town vibe and interesting architecture. The town has several significantly important sites in terms of history, culture and religion, such as Wat Phumin, Wat Hua Chuang and the Nan National Museum, not forgetting Nan walking street.

The three day festival features seven main types of activities – exhibitions, creative activities, music and performance arts, local special shows, “Nan Talk”, workshops, and a market.

There will also be three exhibitions – Creative Space by the Salagued group, the Khum Jao Thep Mala Creative Space Exhibition and a photo display of olden Nan.

Creative Space will showcase posters displaying ideas from people at different ages. The exhibition will be open from 11am to 9pm from Friday to Sunday inside the Khum Jao Thep Mala building.

The photo exhibition, to be held from 9am to 12pm, will allow only 20 visitors each round from Friday to Sunday. It will display photos that show the life of Nan people, old architecture, important places and beautiful scenery in the past. The exhibition will be held at the common space ground in front of the building.

The Khum Jao Thep Mala exhibition will show how an old, significant building can be used as a model for developing creative space. This exhibition is open to visitors from 11am to 9pm during the three-day period.

Furthermore, there are two creative activities – the Coffee Extraction Experiment Table and Nan Creative Menu. Both will take place in front of the building.

The coffee activity will see Nan’s coffee club turning an area in front of Khumn Jao Thep Mala into a “slow coffee bar”. Interested people can learn how to extract and brew coffee. The activity will be held from 11am to 9pm Friday to Sunday.

And as for the Creative Menu, well-known chefs from Nan – Chef Non, Chef Nat and Chef Pom – will showcase creative dishes with just three main ingredients – coffee, a local fruit called makaen, and salt, from 4pm to 9pm on the three days.

Visitors will also be treated to concerts by several groups, including provincial students and a traditional dance performance by local troupes. The shows will be held from 4pm to 9pm at the main ground in front of the building.

Additionally, a special show will highlight several activities, including how to make old Nan palace dishes, local sweets and “fusion larb” (minced pork or minced beef) typical of the province. The shows will be held from 4pm to 9pm in front of the old building.

As part of the special show, two well-known performance art teachers – Jumpol Apisuk and Jitama Pholsawek – will perform from 4pm to 9pm, but just on Saturday.

The Nan Talk activity features three talk shows. The first will be by Doctor Chatree Charoensiri on the future of Nan, from 6.15-6.45pm on Friday.

On Saturday, a Facebook influencer who is well-known for raising celebrity cats, will host a seminar on Nan’s future from 4.35pm to 5.10pm.

On Sunday, a group of Nan youths will participate in a seminar on the province’s future from 5.15pm to 6pm.

The talk shows and seminars will also be held in front of Khum Jao Thep Mala.

At workshops, visitors can learn how to make soap, northern traditional flags for use in religious rites and paint with locally made soap and water paints.

The market activity will see 12 selected shops sell local goods and souvenirs from 6pm to 9pm at the main ground from Friday to Sunday.