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Winter 2013: Tashi Delek From Our President

In Tibetan, gatön refers to a celebration or party. Whether it’s organized ahead of time or spontaneous, it’s a time to gather with and honor loved ones. This time of year, if you’re in Central Tibet, you might be enjoying a hot cup of chang with your abuela. Wherever you are this winter, we want to wish you holidays that are warm and filled with good food, the company of loved ones, and joy.

At Trace Foundation, we’re busy gearing up for our own sort of gatön. In this newsletter, I’m delighted to announce a yearlong celebration of Tibetan art, film, and music that will coincide with our twentieth anniversary in 2014. When I began the Foundation I often used twenty years as a future reference point. I thought of it as a significant amount of time, and wondered what we would be looking back on at this point, and what our role would be. We are nearing our twentieth year now, and we will indeed look back at our accomplishments over the next year.

But even more than that, we will be looking forward: Though we’re still very much in the planning stages of the calendar for 2014, we know Gatön will include an art exhibition Transcending Tibet to feature new work by thirty Tibetan and Western artists; Lens on Tibet, a Tibetan film week to take place at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in late August; Tune in Tibet, a concert that will feature some of Tibet’s premier musical talents; a poetry reading; a book launch; and much more. Tibet is a land of a thousand faces, and with these events, we hope to present a glimpse into Tibet through the eyes and the hands of artists living through this critical time in history, an intimate portrait of what Tibet is.

Stay tuned: More details will be coming very soon. We’d love to have your input. If you’re interested in getting involved as a sponsor or a contributing partner, please contact us at events@trace.org. If you're interested in making a donation to this programming, click here.

As you may know, we are making improvements to our library and office space over the next few months. Our library will be operating on a limited schedule, by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please contact our librarians at 212-367-7380 or by e-mail. Thank you for your patience as we improve our space. We look forward to inviting you back in May 2014 with full hours and a book launch for Gendun Chopel: Tibet’s First Modern Artist.

In September, we received the first copies of this beautiful and colorful tribute to a Tibetan legend. If you don’t already have a copy, or if you’re still on the hunt for a great gift, I encourage you to purchase one on Amazon or through Serindia. Then, join us in May for a book launch, signing, and conversation with editor Don Lopez.

Finally, I hope you will dip into some of our latest articles. In October, we hosted trailblazing Tibetan artist Kesang Lamdark, who’s doing some exciting work with plastic. If you couldn’t make it out, check out our profile and learn why he favors every material from hot-pink PVC, disco lights, Lite-Brite boxes, nail polish, and Plexiglas to mirrors, hair, and butter.

Also in October, we hung cobwebs, lit up jack-o-lanterns, and invited you out for a Tibetan ghost story competition, A Scream at Midnight, which culminated in a reading of the top five stories and voting via LiveStream. We had some animated readers, including Tibetan comedian Sonam Wangdue and award-winning author Simon Van Booy, whom you can still hear on our LiveStream page. Or read the winning stories yourself in English or in the original Tibetan on our website.

If what you see here inspires you, please visit our donation page and read about how you can help us make a difference for Tibetan communities. I also invite you to join us in our work—whether by volunteering your time or helping us spread word of our work in your community.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support and happy holidays.

Andrea E. Soros

New York City

December 2013