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Our Mission is to provide free arts education, free arts materials, and a safe space to explore making art for all children around the world.

Through your generous donations, Art Will Save The World hosts lessons, contests, critiques, and workshops at public schools. We currently serve over 1000 students per month at Colors of Cambodia, the birthplace and pilot program of Art Will Save The World, and countless more through the instructional videos we share with organizations around the world.

We’ve been running Colors of Cambodia since 1999, and set up our first official outpost in 2003. The program is currently run entirely by former students of the program, many of whom have also gone on to become professional artists, with international and local professional artists. We provide both a space to learn and grow, as well as a space for and the encouragement around the serious study of Art.

Astounded by the impact of what we have done with Colors of Cambodia, and how it this has reached far and wide throughout the world, we are now committed to building outposts around the world, under our new name, Art Will Save The World. We are currently working on setting up Colors of the World outposts in Ecuador and Rwanda.

Become a Patron Today

Our History

Bill on his first trip to Cambodia in 1999

Colors of Cambodia began in 1999, when founder Bill Gentry first shared his love of art with children in rural Cambodian schools. By 2003, a dedicated school and gallery opened in Siem Reap, expanding access to free art education. Two decades later, in January 2023, the program relocated to a larger space (affectionately known as The River House) where students now explore not only painting and drawing, but also music, performance, sculpture, and graphic arts.

“I got the idea to teach art to youngsters on my first trip into Cambodia. It was 1999. I went to a rural school outside Siem Reap that was tragically under financed. There I witnessed exceptionally talented children just drawing away in their spare time, joyous and free, and budding with potential. What if they actually had the chance to get real training, I thought? Could it make a difference to their lives? I looked at my own life and I concluded Art, and learning all the integral aspects, was truly valuable, no matter what one did with their future.

I was educated at the University of Indiana in Fine Arts, so I knew much. I’d been in and out of the art world showing my art almost all my life. I could help! I asked the headmaster of the school if he liked the idea of me offering art classes, and he said yes, please come! This was the beginning of The Colors of Cambodia. There was no grand plan, no master intervention from another galaxy. It was just me feeling good, teaching kids a skill and seeing the light of hope and passion igniting in their eyes. I came back to Cambodia and taught in my spare time. On weekends I’d fly in from Singapore.

After a few years, with my families’ help, we bought a building in the center of Siem Reap City. On the first floor we created a class room surrounded by a gallery of the children’s work. It was immediately a success! Across the top of the building we wrote “Art Will Save The World”, for no other reason then it sounded and felt good. It became our rallying cry and our motto….and it remains such today!!

Many of the young people we’ve provided this space for over the years have built successful careers as artists, graphic designers, tattoo creators, and in many cases become art teachers themselves. But it is more than art that fosters this, it is the community that was built around it, and the values we prioritize at the school - patience and tenacity, courage and determination, ambition and planning - have a goal, make a plan, and work at it daily, year after year! You will find success!”
— Bill Gentry

Our Projects

Colors of Cambodia

Colors of Cambodia

Established in 2003, Colors of Cambodia is the birthplace of Art Will Save The World. We host free workshops, lessons, events, and critiques in our studio gallery in Siem Reap, as well as in public schools around Cambodia. The school serves over 1000 children each month, and has seen hundreds of children grow into celebrated professional artists. After two decades, we are proud to report that Colors of Cambodia is run entirely by former students of the program.

Check out Colors of cambodia

The River Gallery

Established in 2023, The River Gallery represents a core stable of emerging artists that come directly from the lineage of the Colors of Cambodia Art School, with periodic exhibitions by other local and internationally renowned artists.

We made The River Gallery to bridge a glaring gap in the overall representation of Cambodian artists at scale, serving as a direct pipeline into larger institutions, as well as public and private collections over time. 

Check out The River

Colors of Rwanda

We are in the beginning stages of building out an outpost in Rwanda, and are thrilled to be making so many new friends! With help from our teachers in Cambodia, guest teachers from around the world, and professional Rwandan artists, we are now building out our second Art Will Save The World outpost, Colors of Rwanda.

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Meet The Team