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University Art Students Undertake Entrepreneurship Action in Brunei Darussalam a

Martie Geiger-Ho & Kong Ho a

b

Texas Tech University in 2003

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University of Brunei Darussalam Published online: 13 Jun 2014.

To cite this article: Martie Geiger-Ho & Kong Ho (2014) University Art Students Undertake Entrepreneurship Action in Brunei Darussalam, Teaching Artist Journal, 12:3, 155-167, DOI: 10.1080/15411796.2014.909208 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15411796.2014.909208

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ABSTRACT

TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 12(3), 155–167 Copyright © 2014, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Downloaded by [University of Brunei Darussalam], [Professor Kong Ho] at 20:15 19 June 2014

An in-depth analysis of how something seemingly simple— the establishing of a student-run arts supply store in Brunei—can deeply affect a city and nation’s art, education, and cultural scenes.

University Art Students Undertake Entrepreneurship Action in Brunei Darussalam

Introduction

Martie Geiger-Ho

Kong Ho

Correspondence regarding this article should go to: Martie Geiger-Ho and Kong Ho Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Brunei Darussalam Jalan Tungun Link Gadong BE 1410 Brunei Darussalam [email protected]; [email protected]

The correlation between necessity and change is a well-proven social interaction that can result in a ripple effect that has farreaching implications. Just as dropping a stone in still water causes ringed waves to spread out in all directions, the implementation of a new idea or even a new business in a community can send out ripples of change from its epicenter. This is exactly what happened when Zairah Enterprise, a student founded and run company primarily selling art supplies, was established in the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in 2012. The company was born of a need for quality traditional art supplies, such as acrylic paints and brushes, so that students could raise the standards of the work they produced in their modules at the University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD). A group of students undertook the challenge of being entrepreneurs, and with the advice of two of their professors from the United States they opened a specialty art store to provide for their own needs and those of other students. The immediate aim of the students was to offer a full line of art supplies that would also make it easier for them and interested secondary and primary schools to purchase materials that offered quality and consistency. Other targeted clients included artists and designers working in and around the capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan. The opening of Zairah Art Supplies store and its well-lit art gallery and display area sent out not one but two types of ripples that are helping to stir things up throughout the creative sector of the city. In this article, the authors examine how their students set up an extensive art supply store that is the largest of its kind in Brunei for their own benefit as artists in need of supplies and exhibition space and, as a secondary consequence, how their entrepreneurial undertaking exemplifies the phenomenon of conducting a business that can aid a country’s economy through the support of the creative industries.

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The signs for the emergence of what economist Terry Flew dubbed a new “creative class” are everywhere in Brunei. One can see this especially in the appearance of visual and performing arts venues where contemporary Bruneian artists are showcasing works with an international style and appeal. Many young students are inspired by experimental avant-garde artists like the graffiti painter and installation artist Banksy, and they are looking to make a name for themselves by embracing installation art and new media. However, there is a limit to what artists in Brunei Darussalam can explore as subject matter since the country is the world’s longest running absolute monarchy where any hint of disdain for His Majesty Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan

of Brunei Darussalam and his policies, especially those regarding the following of Islam as it is practiced according to Sunni edicts, is prohibited. According to the statement of Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Brunei Darussalam regarding nation building and rebuilding the Bruneian culture: Due to other priorities in lives, people tend to neglect their own cultural practices. People are also lacking in understanding the relationships of the organization of culture, value and national sustainable in the context of the changing world today. The culture that is based on Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIM) has changed from time to time due to the assimilation of foreign cultural elements. Due to this scenario Brunei culture should be rebuilt and expanded by considering the national concept such as Malay Islamic Monarchy (Melayu Islam Beraja).

Although it seemed for a time that an emphasis on Muslim culture might be relaxing in Brunei, the recent launch of the

Image 1: Final capstone project, Deception of the Eyes, done by Siti Zubaidah binti Haji Ahmadin, and shown in Spectacle: Art & Design Graduation Show 2013 in the Art Gallery of Chancellor Hall, University of Brunei Darussalam, in April 2013. Kong Ho


Education and Brunei’s New Creative Class

2014 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3

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students. The ACT program teaches students about visual art concepts and skills through various design and art modules. Students finish off their fourth year of studies by taking a directed study module that leads into a second-semester capstone project module. During these two semesters all ACT students must choose a topic or art style that they wish to explore and produce as either a body of work or a large installation to be exhibited alongside the works of their peers in their graduation exhibition, shown in Images 1 and 2. While studio equipment for building armatures and frames is quite limited, students are resourceful and usually can find a supply store or small shop to help them with constructing simple structures that they can complete themselves on campus.

Just as dropping a stone in still water causes ringed waves to spread out in all directions, the implementation of a new idea or even a new business in a community can send out ripples of change from its epicenter. This is exactly what happened when Zairah Enterprise, a student founded and run company primarily selling art supplies, was established in the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in 2012. Syariah Penal Code (announced in late 2013) has political analysts wondering what this will mean for the country’s approximate 415,717 inhabitants (Population census from the World Factbook of the Central Intelligence Agency). Another indication of the Sultan’s Islamic reform was expressed in his remarks to the November 2013 graduates of the University of Islam Sultan Sharif Ali. As reported by Azlan Othman, reporter for the Borneo Bulletin Sunday, Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah noted in his speech to the 148 graduates that he was pleased to see that more courses would be added to the law programs already being taught at the campus, because this additional knowledge would assist future degree earners in implementing and enforcing the Syariah Penal Code (1–3). In Brunei, all students are given the opportunity of a paid university education, provided they pass their entry exams and are citizens of the country. Students may choose their own studies leading to a number of diversified careers, and they may even change their career trajectory if they desire. While UBD does not offer music or dance, students can choose to study design and art through a wide range of art media by becoming Art and Creative Technology (ACT) major Kong Ho


Teaching Artist Journal

Image 2: Final capstone project, Free Flow, done by Muhammad Nazreen bin Amin, and shown in Spectacle: Art & Design Graduation Show 2013 in the Art Gallery of Chancellor Hall, University of Brunei Darussalam, in April 2013.


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In his book The Creative Industries: Culture and Policy, Terry Flew explains that higher education has been keen to create programs that provide professional training leading to employment in disciplines such as media and communication, digital media, design, film, and other related fields. Flew goes on to say that “more traditional areas of the creative and performing arts are also increasingly attuned to the employment outcomes of their graduates” (7). However, the best intentioned programs, whether they endeavor to train their students to be commercial designers or fine art producers of work aiming to rock the art world with

held his first semester’s Advanced Painting course. The problem of a computer lab was finally slowly resolved over the course of the following two semesters, but the need for better traditional media supplies such as acrylic paints and drawing pencils was more of a problem. This was because the arrival of the new computers in the new state-ofthe-art lab space for graphic design, digital photography, and new media was ultimately provided by UBD, but no effort was made in response to Prof. Ho’s requests for traditional materials and equipment. According to UBD, students are expected to purchase all of their art supplies because they are

Many young students are inspired by experimental avant-garde artists like the graffiti painter and installation artist Banksy, and they are looking to make a name for themselves by embracing installation art and new media. However, there is a limit to what artists in Brunei Darussalam can explore as subject matter since the country is the world’s longest running absolute monarchy where any hint of disdain for His Majesty Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and his policies, especially those regarding the following of Islam as it is practiced according to Sunni edicts, is prohibited. avant-garde “art for art’s sake” one-of-akind of pieces, the availability of equipment and art supplies for students studying within university programs is profoundly important. Because universities are acutely aware of the importance of student demands for the best training possible, it stands to reason that their professors would encourage them and their departments to invest in the latest computer software and best traditional art supplies and equipment. However, when Professor Kong Ho arrived at UBD in Brunei in July 2011 and took up the position of associate professor of art, he discovered that the students were learning to paint with hobby-grade paints. Also, there was little to no basic art studio equipment: easels, drawing boards, studio tables, spotlights, and a washing sink were not available for painting and drawing. The only art studio found in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FASS) building was a regular lecture room, where Professor Ho

given a monthly allowance by the education department for books and other supplies. Prof. Ho recalls that teaching his first painting module in the fall of 2011 was very difficult due to a lack of materials. Prof. Ho first taught advanced acrylic painting at UBD in a cramped dingy regular classroom space, FASS 1.92, shown in Image 3, to students using low-grade tempera and so-called acrylic paints. He summed up his frustration with the situation by stating, Because my 20 advanced painting students were used to using really inferior painting materials that had no saturation or life, they could not mix the correct colors or blend the paint on their canvases. When I asked my students to purchase better products they told me that they could only purchase cheap hobby stuff in Brunei and that sending for materials was very expensive. Art materials were difficult to find in Brunei.

It is true that Brunei imports most of its commodities from overseas, including meat,

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Nazreen Amin


Image 3: Professor Ho critiquing the paintings done by his Advanced Painting class students in FASS Art Studio 1.92 in the fall semester of 2011–12. The recognized students and teaching artist in this picture (left to right) are Professor Kong Ho, Ak. Khairul Amilin bin Pg. Muhamad, Mohammad Nuriskandar bin Mohd. Hasnan, and Muhammad Alinormin bin Hj. Omarali.

fresh fruits, and vegetables. If there is not much demand for professional art supplies, then no one will stock them. Not being the sort of person that gives up on his standards for teaching, Prof. Ho offered his own bought-and-paid-for acrylics to his class to use until he could figure out a way to get a supply of better acrylic paints to Brunei. After learning to paint with better acrylics and acquiring greater techniques for glazing and building up textured surfaces using acrylic gel medium and modeling paste, Prof. Ho’s students, including Dk. Noor Affizah binti Pg. Haji Abd Rahman, Mohammad Nuriskandar bin Mohd. Hasnan, Muhammad Nazreen bin Amin, and Amirul Jazli bin Jali, were convinced that the dramatic improvement that they saw in their work had to be partly due to the improved quality of their paints and painting mediums. Not only did Ho see an improvement in the assignments of his students, he also felt

at the time that he was establishing a new baseline of quality work that he could expect all of the students to follow in the newly established Art and Creative Technology program, which had been running for only two years. Soon Ho’s students were as determined as he was to find a way to get high-quality art supplies to Brunei. Happily for Prof. Ho and his students, the answer to this dilemma would soon arrive. This solution would also involve everyone’s cooperation for its implementation.

Case Study: The Formation of the Art Entrepreneurship Known as Zairah Enterprise Three major factors brought about the formation of Zairah Arts Supplies store. First and foremost was the need by students


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at UBD and elsewhere in the region for good quality art supplies; next came the opportunity for entrepreneurship on the part of several students who realized that if they could start a trading company, they would be able to work and contribute in several ways to Brunei’s fledgling creative arts industry; and last, Prof. Ho and his wife Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho (who became employed at UBD in June 2012) were putting together a large community mural proposal for submission to the U.S. Embassy for sponsorship that, if approved, would require a substantial order of acrylic paints, gesso, gel medium, and other supplies. Granting of the mural project seemed almost assured, and the promise of an order from the company that the students wanted to establish provided the inertia needed to push one student, Affizah Rahman, to ask her father and her elder sister to invest in and back a trading company with a retail store outlet that she and her art student friends, including Nuriskandar Hasnan, Nazreen Amin, and Amirul Jali, would be able to run. The students felt from the very beginning that without a retail store where they could anchor their business, any attempts to build a strong marketing identity would be lost. Furthermore, the students wanted to create a boutique kind of store, shown in Image 4, where they could feature their own artwork and put their design skills to work in arranging in-house product displays with creative tailor-made exemplars of finished art objects with which the local customer could culturally identify. The final outcome of the store’s identity is one that is both professional and warm, with plenty of browsing room and space for teaching painting classes. Zairah is planning to add the equipment for teaching ceramics at a later date. Pg. Haji Abd Rahman bin Pg. Haji Tahir immediately liked his daughter Affizah’s idea for an art supply store for the following reasons: In the past Mr. Rahman had been the sole owner of a dry goods retail store, and he still held a coveted registered traders license for importing and selling goods; Mr. Rahman believed that if Affizah’s elder sister, Pg. Dr. Noor Affizan binti Pg. Haji Abd Rahman, and her husband Mr. Joe Raihan


Knights put capital into the opening of the store that it would indeed be a family business that his son-in-law could help run even when his elder daughter was busy practicing medicine as an ophthalmologist. Also, Mr. Rahman felt that it was important to establish a business where his younger daughter and her peers could hone their art design skills by creating a corporate identity. Adding to the positive reasons for establishing Zairah Art Supplies was Prof. Ho’s promise to advise the students on how to order art supplies from a company called Utrecht Art Supplies in the United States.

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Kong Ho


Image 4: Zairah Art Supplies store located in an interior plazas area in Beribi, Brunei Darussalam.

Ho felt that he could help his students understand how to stock art materials that would satisfy the needs of most customers plus the learners in his art classes. The opportunity to be the sole agent in Southeast Asia featuring Utrecht’s art supplies was very appealing to everyone involved in the entrepreneurship of a new art supply company. Prof. Ho and Dr. Geiger-Ho’s community mural project, “Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project,” was funded by the U.S. Department of State through the Overseas Federal Assistance

Award and the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam. This good news meant that a large art supply order would have to be fulfilled by someone. If Zairah could form their company, then it would be a win– win situation for them and for the mural project, since no one else could fill such an order in Brunei. Also, Zairah needed a large procurement in order to ensure that its launch would be successful. Taking into account all of the positive reasons for establishing a new start-up brick-and-mortar store Mr. Rahman and his elder daughter, Dr. Affizan Rahman and Joe Raihan, decided to

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set up Zairah Enterprise with a structure of four divisions: Zairah Events, Zairah Design Services, Zairah Art Supplies, and Zairah Custom Badges. Zairah Arts Supplies was the first branch of the business to open; however, before things could really get under way, Affizah and her peer Nazreen needed to finish their college semester abroad at the University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, where they took art courses during the spring session of 2012. When Affizah and Nazreen returned to Brunei in the summer just prior to beginning their senior year at UBD, they joined up with several other UBD students to work part-time in the shop space that would soon become a full-fledged store. Nuriskandar had also gone abroad to study in South Korea in his third year, and he became employed with Zairah along with Affizah and Nazreen. Three other third-year UBD students were already working part time for the company because they had stayed in-country to undertake an internship program that would fulfill


UBD’s requirements for its Discovery Year Program. The four UBD art students were Amiral Jali, Mohammad Airul Arif bin Awang Damit, Muhammad Saifullah Al Waie bin Mat Jinin, and Mohamad Niq’Matul Ghizalif bin Md Jinin. These four latter students had also been working hard with another talented individual, Zaeem Omarali, who was finishing his high school studies at Jerudong International School, and they contributed much toward supplying the mural painting materials and constructing the movable mural panels, shown in Image 5, for the first community mural project in Brunei.

Facilitating Art Production With Professional Art Supplies and Support Instruction Zairah Art Supplies delivered their first big order of art supplies to Ho and his crew of mural volunteers at Pusat Belia

Kong Ho

Image 5: Zairah Art Supplies’ part-time workers building the mural panels for the first community mural project in Brunei at the Pusat Belia Bandar Seri Begawan (Youth Center) in Bandar, Brunei. The recognized Zairah Art Supplies workers in this picture (from left to right) are Mohammad Airul Arif bin Awang Damit and Muhammad Saifullah Al Waie bin Mat Jinin.



Bandar Seri Begawan (Youth Center) on June 15, 2012. According to Ho, the quality of the huge acrylic on canvas community mural could not have been undertaken without the services and art supplies that were ordered through Zairah. Among the supplies that were delivered by Zairah Art Supplies were canvas, custom-made stretchers for the canvas to be stretched over, jars of professional mural acrylic paint, gesso, brushes, and acrylic gel medium. In addition, several Zairah Art Supplies part-time workers or UBD students, including Amiral Jali, Arif Damit, Saifullah Jinin, and Niq Jinin, became actively involved in mural painting workshops with the youths from the Youth Center at Bandar Seri Begawan, shown in Image 6, and later with the volunteers from the Times Square shopping mall and with other UBD students at the UBD Student Center. In the approximate eighteen months since its founding, Zairah Enterprise has provided services from all four areas of its subdivisions; however, the first of these divisions to open, Zairah Art Supplies, shown in Image 6, is still the lifeline branch of the whole operation because of its importance to both the students who are now employed there and because of the high-quality art supplies that UBD students can now purchase for Ho’s and Geiger-Ho’s art and design courses. The importance of Zairah Art Supplies to the art community of Bandar Seri Begawan and the area surrounding the city was confirmed in an article written for the Brunei Times by Ammirul Adnan, who explained, Zairah Art Supplies brings in art supplies from the U.S. and offers personal art tutoring including workshops, mural paintings and sells artworks done by the company’s artists.

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Image 6: Mural Painting Workshop at the Youth Center at Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, in June 2012. The recognized students, voluntary artist and youths in this picture (from left to right) are Amiral Jali, Arif Damit, Annant Whalen, Nurul Amal Iwanina Athirah Muntassir, and Muhammad Saifullah Al Waie bin Mat Jinin.

Recently, a Korean living in Brunei requested for the company to make an eight meter long mural which reflects one of the Sultanate’s famous scenery which is Kampong Ayer. Zairah Enterprise artists took photos of Kampong Ayer and created the mural from their pictures.

An important consideration for any establishment in Brunei that wishes to sell either artworks or art supplies is the request from customers for art lessons for their children and themselves. It seems that Bruneians have come to expect that art dealers also provide on-premises classes that are usually taught by the artists whose work hangs in their gallery. A teaching arrangement of this kind is encouraged by Zairah Art Supplies and other galleries because it increases foot traffic in their stores and they earn money from



Saifullah Jinin

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Image 7: Major Zairah Enterprise associates with Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho and Prof. Kong Ho in the Zairah Art Supplies store in Beribi, Brunei, in July 2012. The recognized students, teaching artists and Zairah Enterprise associates in this picture (from left to right) are Dk. Nur Afiqah binti Pg. Haji Abd Rahman, Dk. Noor Affizah binti Pg. Haji Abd Rahman, Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Prof. Kong Ho, Muhammad Nazreen bin Haji Amin, Pg. Dr. Noor Affizan binti Pg. Haji Abd Rahman, Mohammad Nuriskandar bin Mohd. Hasnen, and Muhammad Haji Hafiz bin Haji Morsidi.

the courses, which they share with their teaching artists. Also teaching artists engage in learning how to pass down knowledge and techniques that they themselves have employed in their own artworks.

Cultural, Social, and Economic Context of Bruneian Creative Industries Brunei became an independent state in Borneo in 1984 after a century of colonial ruling under the United Kingdom and the United States opened an embassy in Brunei upon its independence (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs). Brunei encourages foreign investment in the domestic economy through various stimulations in new industries. However Brunei’s oil and

gas industries still account for most of its economic activity. Similar to its petroleum industries, the Malay culture among people in Brunei has been in place long before the British colonial era. Malay is the official language of Brunei, and coastal Malays make

An important consideration for any establishment in Brunei that wishes to sell either artworks or art supplies is the request from customers for art lessons for their children and themselves. It seems that Bruneians have come to expect that art dealers also provide onpremises classes that are usually taught by the artists whose work hangs in their gallery.



up a major part of its multiethnic indigenous population. Brunei emphasizes national culture building and fosters its rich Malay cultural background. Brunei also actively participates in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and is keen to stay abreast of the economic and educational concepts in this region. A great many articles and books have been written in the past two decades about the rise and importance of the creative industries, also called the cultural industries or creative economy, as an important social and economic phenomenon. Matching this rise in the formal research being conducted in this new suddenly popular area of social science is the number of people who are actively employed in such creative areas as music, design, science, the visual and performing artist, and other knowledgebased professionals. According to Richard Florida’s definition, this new group of professionals whose ranks are swelling to such levels that they are shaping the values and structure of today’s shifting American socioeconomic geography, is what he calls the “Creative Class” (Florida xiii). In his book The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida explains that a force greater than the one that transformed society when it shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one is already here in the form of the creative industries, which he explains are built fundamentally on human intelligence, knowledge, and creativity. It stands to reason, however, that the issues that Florida writes extensively about as they apply to various widely recognized economic models in the United States can also be seen to be at work in other countries that also follow many Western economic and social patterns. These same countries also engage with trading partners who are part of the whole global economy that is now driving markets around the world, and as such they too are experiencing a huge upswing in the creative industries. In Britain, the UK Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport defines the creative industries as “those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation

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and exploitation of intellectual property” (Flew 9). In Brunei Darussalam, the UBD’s faculty are encouraged to recognize the term and concept of the creative industries and to exploit its use as a kind of discipline for encouraging the visual, performing arts, and new media-based knowledge to promote all forms of creative thinking. An example of the cross-pollination that has young creative thinkers looking to future careers as designers and entrepreneurs in Brunei Kong Ho

Image 8: Final capstone project, Alteration, done by Noor Sa’Ariyah Haziqah binti Mohammad Ramli, and shown in Spectacle: Art & Design Graduation Show 2013 in the Art Gallery of Chancellor Hall, University of Brunei Darussalam, in April 2013.


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can be seen in Noor Sa’Ariyah Haziqah binti Mohammad Ramli’s capstone project, Alteration, showcased at the Spectacle: Art & Design Graduation Show 2013 in April 2013, shown in Image 8. Currently, the importance of copyright and intellectual property are not driving creative industry forces in Brunei like they are in Hong Kong, China; however, it is conceivable that the Brunei government hopes that someday they will have an outpouring of creative pursuits in every field from music to science and that they too will also need to place a great amount of emphasis on protecting the creative properties produced by their citizens.

Conclusion: Impact of the First College Art Entrepreneurship in Brunei Darussalam In the Bruneian government sector, the once-plentiful job market is relatively shrinking, so private sectors have to be dynamic and progressive in generating more job opportunities for unemployed graduates. Instead of looking for jobs in government or private sectors in the art and design fields after graduation, Creative Arts and Communication major students are encouraged to apply practical working experience obtained from UBD’s Discovery Year Internship program along with the versatile knowledge acquired from the UBD’s interdisciplinary arts curriculum to generate job opportunities for themselves and their peers. This thinking is in keeping with how Florida describes the way the new social creative class is realigning themselves to meet the needs of a world that is now moving away, or out of the Industrial Age. Florida illuminates his view on this new economic philosophy when he writes, “Creative people have always gravitated to certain kinds of communities, such as the Left Bank in Paris or New York’s Greenwich Village. Such communities provide the stimulation, diversity and a richness of experiences that are the wellsprings of creativity” (15).


Without organizations like Zairah Enterprise, which are set up by creative individuals for established and potential creative individuals, the notion of how communities, and even a whole country, can change the course of its economic development to one that is more reliant on the creative industries will not be possible. The impact of the first professional art supplies store might not cause an instant change in Brunei’s art education; however, it is definitely indicative of an awareness among UBD’s students that a new approach to thinking creatively through the arts and entrepreneurship is dawning. The development of Zairah Art Supplies as the main branch of Zairah Enterprises over the past year has been remarkable. Besides being the sole agent in Brunei Darussalam to supply professional art supplies from the United States, Zairah Art Supplies also offers free art material workshops to the region’s primary, secondary, and international schools. Their design services division created a creative “Stop Motion” video advertisement for promoting an online top-up service provided by a local bank. The advertisement was first screened at Brunei’s cinema houses beginning in August 2013 and has continued to run until the present. Also, Zairah Design Services was commissioned to construct an outdoor steel dome structure for the UBD 2012 Pesta Konvo, an annual Convocation Fair in conjunction with the Convocation Ceremony, in September 2012. In addition, Zairah Design Services has been commissioned to design the UBD Convocation banners for the last two years. As twenty-first-century teaching artists, Ho and Geiger-Ho believe that they have a major role in nurturing Brunei’s next generation toward developing its creative industries. Brunei is a small nation that is perfectly poised to take advantage of its rich heritage as a catalyst for producing creatively designed and environmentally responsible products and services ranging from apparel to design technology. With help from highly motivated and creative individuals within their own cultural ranks, Brunei is sure to meet its goal of becoming ever more increasingly known as a creative society.


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Works Cited • Adnan, Ammirual. Zairah service aims at improving art. The Brunei Times. 18 Dec. 2012. Web.


• Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. U.S. relations with Brunei. 18 Dec. 2012. Web. • Central Intelligence Agency. East & Southeast Asia: Brunei. January 2014. Web. • Flew, Terry. The Creative Industries Culture and Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2012. Print. • Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2002. Print. • Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Nation Cultural Policy. Brunei Darussalam: Author, 2010. Print. • Othman, Azlan. “Criticism of Syariah Law Due to Blurred Vision.” Borneo Bulletin Sunday 3 Nov. 2013: 1–3. Print.

Martie Geiger-Ho earned a PhD (Fine Arts Interdisciplinary) with an emphasis in art education at Texas Tech University in 2003. Currently, Dr. Geiger-Ho is a senior lecturer serving the creative arts and communication program at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (2012–present). In 2006, she was awarded a University Fellowship from the Hong Kong Baptist University and worked at the Academy of Visual Arts (2007–09). Her art has been exhibited in numerous international and national exhibitions. Kong Ho utilizes his bicultural background as a teaching artist trained in both Chinese and Western painting to teach as associate professor of art and program leader of the creative arts and communication program at the University of Brunei Darussalam, 2011 to present. Ho received a Fulbright U.S. Scholarship and taught mural painting at the National Academy of Art in Bulgaria in 2010. His art has been exhibited in more than ninety international and national exhibitions.