Creativity
Residencies, exhibitions free to enter, public art, workshops, Kep International Art Week.
Who we are
An independent Cambodian non-profit on a working coast.
We pay artists, and we pay the people of Kep they work alongside, so that the story of this coast is made here and owned here.
What we are
Registered, governed, and separate.
Art for Kep Organization, in Khmer អង្គការសិល្បៈសម្រាប់កែប, abbreviated អ.ស.ក. and A4K, is a non-profit organisation with its head office in Kep, filed with the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Cambodia under the Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations. Registration number to be published with the certificate.
Our statutes commit us to the artist residency, the cultural programme of the Ocean Gallery, exhibitions, public art and festivals, marine and environmental conservation, community workshops and school collaborations, and documenting Kep’s architecture, local narratives and cultural life.
If Art for Kep is ever dissolved, our statutes require that everything remaining passes to the Cambodian Red Cross or another legally recognised organisation with the same mission. No asset of this organisation can return to a founder or a member.
What we do
Art, community, ocean.
The identity of a place is decided by the people who work it and the people who record it. In Kep both are under pressure. The fishing fleet is ageing out, the villas of independence are falling down, the seagrass and the reefs are thinner than they were, and the coast is being built on quickly.
We put artists and the working people of Kep in the same room, pay both, and show the result here first.
Place
Fishing families, boat-builders, salt producers, pepper farmers, schools and youth programmes, in Khmer.
Restoration
Restoration with Marine Conservation Cambodia, mariculture for fishing families, and the cultural programme of the S.E.A. Ocean Gallery.
How the work is made
Six rules, written down.
01 · Nobody works for exposure
Artists, fishermen, boat-builders, musicians, moderators and interpreters are paid.
02 · Artists keep ownership
Artists keep ownership of everything they make. Any sale is split equally between the maker and Art for Kep.
03 · Shown in Kep first
Work is shown in Kep first, free, and labelled in Khmer.
04 · People are not subject matter
Where work involves named people from Kep, they consent, they are credited, and they see it first.
05 · No sponsor logos on art
No sponsor logo goes on a work of art, and no funder or sponsor has any say in selection.
06 · Costs are published
Costs are published.
The principle behind all six comes from the Ten Boats commission: the boat belongs to them first, and the artist works alongside them, never above.
Who we serve
Two communities, counted separately.
Counted
Residencies funded, artists paid, Cambodian artists as a share of places, exhibitions held, commissions placed.
Counted
Cash paid to households, families in mariculture and what they earned, people employed and their rates, children taught, workshops held in Khmer, families whose boats entered the fleet.
Governance
Who decides what, and who checks it.
Executive committee
Jef Moons, President and legal representative. Peter Brongers, Vice President, responsible for day-to-day management and operations. A head of administration and a head of accounting, held internally or by appointed external providers. The committee meets at least quarterly.
Board of directors
Between three and seven members, two-year terms, chaired by the President.
Board of advisors
His Royal Highness Prince Sisowath Tesso, Okhna Luu Meng, Mr. Pierre-Andre Romano, Mr. Youdy Bun and Rithy Panh. Honorary and advisory. Not the governing body, and not involved in expenditure.
Selection committee
Three to five members on two-year terms, convened by the Vice President: Dr LinDa Saphan, Pierre-André Romano and Reaksmey Yean, with Cédric Eloy advising on film and Marc Cholleton on music. External curators, scholars and practitioners. None is a funder or sponsor, and no donor or sponsor has any say in who is selected.
Financial controls
All expenditure is authorised by the President. Any commitment above USD 10,000 requires prior written approval, documented before the commitment is made. All bank withdrawals and financial commitments require two signatures, the Vice President and the President. Bookkeeping, reporting and compliance sit with the head of accounting or an appointed external firm.
Our partners openly
Art for Kep was made possible by our President, who also founded Knai Bang Chatt and Kep West. These founding partners support our work in kind, and Knai Bang Chatt is the proposed operating partner for the S.E.A. Ocean Gallery. To keep this relationship clear, independent directors approve every related-party transaction, and we publish them each year. Artworks commissioned for the S.E.A. Ocean Gallery always remain the property of the artist or of Art for Kep.
Board of advisors
Honorary and advisory — not the governing body.
Prince Sisowath Tesso
His Royal Highness Prince Sisowath Tesso is Director of the Princess Buppha Devi Academy, respected advisor to the King, and former Secretary of State at the Ministry of Tourism. An internationally recognised patron and champion of Khmer arts, he combines deep knowledge of artistic heritage, leadership in cultural initiatives, and extensive experience in promoting Cambodian artists globally.
Okhna Luu Meng
Okhna Luu Meng is one of Cambodia’s most distinguished culinary leaders, CEO of Almond Group, Co-Chair of Working Group 2 Tourism, and Vice President of the Cambodia Tourism Federation (Group B). He has devoted his career to preserving the nation’s rich culinary heritage while driving innovation within Cambodia’s hospitality industry — celebrated for elevating food to the realm of art.
Rithy Panh
Rithy Panh is a globally acclaimed Cambodian filmmaker, celebrated for documentaries and feature films chronicling the trauma and legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime. Born in Phnom Penh in 1964, he survived the genocide and later studied cinema in France before returning to Cambodia. His work includes international award winners such as S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine and The Missing Picture — the first Cambodian film to earn an Oscar nomination. He co-founded the Bophana Center, dedicated to preserving Cambodia’s audiovisual heritage.
Selection committee
Chosen by practitioners, not by funders.
External curators, scholars and practitioners, convened by the Vice President. None is a funder or sponsor of Art for Kep, and no donor or sponsor has any say in who is selected.
Dr LinDa Saphan
Cambodian artist, social anthropologist, and cultural historian. A Fulbright Scholar, she contributed to Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll and has published widely on Cambodian cinema and cultural history.
Pierre-André Romano
Founder of Satcha and Sar Modern Art Museum in Siem Reap; leader in promoting modern Cambodian craft and innovative, sustainable creative economies.
Reaksmey Yean
Cambodian curator, researcher, and educator; Program Director of Silapak Trotchaek Pneik, with advanced degrees and expertise in contemporary Cambodian art and criticism.
Marc Cholleton
Music Programme Director and advisor to the selection committee for music. He books the calendar and guides musical direction across Kep Music and Film City.
Cédric Eloy
Advising on film selection alongside his role as Executive Director of the Cambodia International Film Festival.
Team
The people who do the work.
Jef Moons
President and legal representative. Founder of Art for Kep, and founder of Knai Bang Chatt and Kep West — founding partners that provide venues and grounds in kind, and are not this organisation.
Peter Brongers
Vice President, responsible for day-to-day management and operations. Music education, cultural revitalisation in Kep, and cross-disciplinary collaboration across the programme.
Ms. Monikeo Kol
Programme and enquiries contact for Art for Kep. She answers residency, venue, artist and general contact forms, and is the first point of call for partners writing to [email protected].
Mr Youdy Bun, Managing Partner of Bun & Associates and Board Chair of Teach for Cambodia, has offered his Kep beach property as a hub for gallery and studio spaces. Heads of administration and accounting are held internally or by appointed external providers.
Founder
Why Jef Moons made this a non-profit.
Kep gave me twenty years through the hotels. That work still matters — rooms, tables, the shore — but it is commercial work, and it answers to guests and a balance sheet.
Art for Kep is the part that cannot sit inside a hotel company. Paying artists, paying fishing families, publishing costs, and putting Cambodian practitioners in charge of selection are obligations a non-profit can hold in public. A resort cannot own that story without owning the work.
So the organisation was registered separately, with its own statutes, its own accounts, and a line drawn in public between culture funded as culture and hospitality sold as hospitality. That decision is why this website exists.
Partners
Nine organisations and two ministries.
Knai Bang Chatt and Kep West, founding partners. Satcha. Cambodia International Film Festival. Kep Music City. Marine Conservation Cambodia. Cambodia Tourism Board. Cambodian Watercolour Association. ACDK.
Programme work proceeds under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.
Registration of the organisation is with the Ministry of Interior. Programme endorsement by Culture and Education is a different thing — we keep the two distinct.
Reports
Accounts, impact and archive.
We will publish an annual report, accounts or at minimum a programme-spend figure, the residency handbook, and the post-festival Conversations booklet here and on Support as they are ready.