Dharamshala: The official handover and takeover ceremony between the outgoing Additional Secretary Tsering Choezom and new Director Ngawang Choephel of Tibet Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) took place today in the presence of witness Dhondul Dorjee, Additional Secretary of the Department of Religion and Culture.
The staff of TIPA expressed gratitude to Additional Secretary Choezom for her dedicated service at the institute and offered good wishes to her future endeavours while they welcomed the new Director Ngawang Choephel.
Ngawang Choephel has years of experience as music teacher in Tibetan schools and has specialised in film studies and international music from the Middlebury College in the United States.
In 1995, he was arrested in Shigatse, Tibet by Chinese authorities on charges of “espionage” while filming his documentary “Tibet in Song” on traditional arts in Tibet. After serving more than 6 years of an 18-year sentence, international pressure secured his early release in 2002, and subsequently, his film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 where it won the Special Jury Award in the World Documentary Competition. Ngawang received international acclaim and numerous awards for his film and is currently working on a new documentary on the most important Tibetan monastery, Ganden.