Vocational art training centre to open in Korat
Disabled and underprivileged people will be able to gain self-reliance by learning vocational art skills at a centre opening in Nakhon Ratchasima in August.
Ban Silapa Panya Na Wang Namkhieo will occupy a house on four rai in Wang Nam Khieo district’s Tambon Thai Samakkhee donated to the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
Ministry staff and Pongthep Malachasingh, president of the district’s tourism promotion club, led a group of disabled people on an inspection tour of the property on Sunday.
Pongthep said a ministry working team would seek public and private funding to finance the centre, at which professional artists would conduct classes. The working team would also make arrangements for the artwork produced to be sold.
Khatipoj Thirathiti, 45, a well-known painter who lives in the tambon and has been wheelchair-bound since birth, will be among the volunteer teachers at the centre.
He said on Sunday he looked forward to participating in the project, which would inspire disabled and underprivileged people to persevere in the face of restraints and setbacks.
“It would be a sufficient reward to give hope again to people who are in despair,” Khatipoj said. He planned to make his involvement a way of making merit for His Majesty the late King Bhumibol, who often made sacrifices for the country.