‘The Buku Project’ aims to collect 500 books
MIRI : The Miri Country Music Fest (MCMF) 2022 is introducing its new corporate social responsibility (CSR) project this year known as ‘The Buku Project’.
This was disclosed by Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Sebastian Ting in a press conference here yesterday.
“A new and highly important addition to MCMF this year is the creation of a CSR project called `The Buku Project’.
“It is a legacy project and an opportunity to give back to the community by collecting books for donation to the rural schools in Sarawak,” he said.
Also present at the press conference were MCMF festival curator Gracie Geikie, MCMF artistic director Raghbir Singh and representatives from participating bands.
According to Ting, the two schools chosen to benefit from The Buku Project are in Long Lama and Long Latei.
“I commend the team behind MCMF for a wonderful initiative, and I hope to see this project grow and expand in the years to come as it provides reading materials that enhance rural education development,” he said.
Through the project theme `One Book for Life’, books were collected from members of the public, festival-goers as well as performers and will be sent to the selected rural schools after the festival.
The charity project was organised in collaboration with Knewton Global Schools, which is also taking lead of the project.
The CSR project aims to collect a total of 500 books; 200 for pre-schools and 300 for secondary schools.
With the reopening of borders and the lifting of travel restrictions, Ting said Sarawak has been steadily getting back on track with hosting international music festival.
“During the pandemic lockdown, we saw the rise of virtual music festivals. MCMF organisers were quick to create the `MCMF Stay at Home Concert’ that was live-streamed during the 2020 lock-down.
“It was an excellent idea to entertain us and calm our minds and hearts at the height of the pandemic. However, it cannot truly replace the feeling of hearing, seeing and enjoying a live performance atmosphere together with your friends and family,” he said.
Meanwhile, the two-day MCMF 2022 which kicked off Friday was held at Eastwood Valley Golf and Country Club and featured nine bands and performers.
They are Tantowi (Indonesia); Lyia Meta (Malaysia); Johnny Loda Trio (Italy, United Kingdom, Thailand); Cambodia Country Band (USA, UK, Canada, Cambodia); Ramon Cedillo (Singapore) as well as Kamal Bukhary (Malaysia); Sessions Band (Miri-Malaysia), Country Road (Miri-Malaysia) and Mountain Wind (MiriMalaysia).