Stewards of the Bangkok Ford<a:blue> resource and engagement center</a:blue>
Diverse backgrounds bring unique talents to the residents of Bangkok and nonprofit community
Urban Studies Lab, Pongpisit Huyakorn. Pongpisit is an architecture and urban planning professor at Thammasat University, one of the leading academic institutions in Thailand. He and a team of researchers have worked with FREC to connect with local community leaders and politically-important stakeholders. He is the lead author of the FREC community study. Pongpisit is part of Urban Studies Lab (USL), a cross-disciplinary research group founded in 2018. USL's core mission is to advance the field of urban development through collaborative, data-driven processes. It invites partners to collaborate on appropriate research, analysis and design tasks based on the expertise needed to meet common goals. USL then utilizes thoughtful and engaging communication methods to build shared understanding and inspire action that enriches the lives of the people in the urban community. USL is based at FREC Bangkok, where it will continue its work in Nang Loeng. Long-term, the USL team is working toward being recognized as a social enterprise group in Thailand.
Creative Migration Founder/Executive Director, Susannah Tantemsapya. Susannah is a cultural producer based in Los Angeles and Bangkok. Her career has spanned music, art, film, journalism and design. It includes working at Capitol Records, as a production assistant for avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson, and managing mid-century modern architect Richard Neutra's Wirin House. She hosts "… the charming mistakes of my youth …" on KCHUNG, an AM radio station in Los Angeles, and is a Global Ambassador at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in London. Susannah holds a degree in photojournalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Creative Migration Founder/Executive Director, Susannah Tantemsapya. Susannah is a cultural producer based in Los Angeles and Bangkok. Her career has spanned music, art, film, journalism and design. It includes working at Capitol Records, as a production assistant for avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson, and managing mid-century modern architect Richard Neutra's Wirin House. She hosts "… the charming mistakes of my youth …" on KCHUNG, an AM radio station in Los Angeles, and is a Global Ambassador at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in London. Susannah holds a degree in photojournalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.In 2005, Susannah founded the arts nonprofit Creative Migration. Its mission is to advance cultural diplomacy through art, public engagement and sustainability. This year, Creative Migration established Bangkok 1899, a new cultural and civic hub that is associated with FREC Bangkok. Bangkok 1899 is located next to the FREC and strives to be a living model of sustainability, incorporating Zero Waste practices throughout its day-to-day operations. Na Cafe, a social impact establishment, is located within Bangkok 1899 and also serves as part of its overall open space and gardens.
Precious Plastic Bangkok, Dominic Puwasawat Chakrabongse. Puwasawat has worked in the environmental sector for five years, mainly on fighting illegal fishing and human rights abuses. More recently, he has begun working to address the impact of plastics and marine debris across Southeast Asia. In 2018, he helped launch the Bangkok-based chapter of Precious Plastic Bangkok (PPB)—part of a global movement of community-based plastic recycling workshops. PPB works to recycle plastic trash into new products using a line of open-sourced designed and cheap to build machines. PPB has its office and machines based at FREC Bangkok. It plans to have a network of workshops established in communities across the city so that they can tackle plastic pollution.