Holidays With Heart

While the magnificent ruins of Angkor Wat remain the star attraction, Siem Reap has also become a magnet for creative titans intent on establishing a sustainable community, writes long-time resident Jonathan Evans.

- Jonathan Evans

In 1994, nine young Cambodian men left a Khmer Rouge refugee camp and set up an association known as Phare Ponleu Selpak, in the northwestern city of Battambang. This association went on to establish schools providing education in art, music and theatre, and today the lessons continue, offering courses in visual, applied and performing arts. But by far its most famous offshoot is Phare, the Cambodian Circus, which has become the country’s most prominent public entertainment attraction.

This anarchic, big-top acrobatic extravaganza and its associated outlets – a boutique and cafe – may have been born out of tragedy, but today it represents hope, artistry and vitality in a secure country liberated from war. In the new century’s wave of socially conscious, largely home-grown organisations, which have since come to define Siem Reap, Phare was the ultimate trailblazer. Now a city icon, as well as its definitive social-enterprise model, the profits the circus generates go directly back into Phare Ponleu Selpak students’ development, or to schools and hospitals around the province.