MRISA Arts/Cultural Exchange Early History

May 1999 – The MRISA organization was established by Heads of School of ISHCMC, UNIS, ISPP, VIS. The mission was to provide an international school organization for schools in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam that were not permitted to join similar organizations in Thailand and China. The goal was to have friendly and non-competitive sporting exchanges along with an annual Cultural Exchange, which would explore the arts and the cultural aspects of the hosting country.

February 2000 – First Cultural Exchange at ISHCMC. Students worked in groups to devise a whole performance based on “ Mekong ” incorporating Art, Music, Drama, and Dance. All teachers were involved. It was very intense, hot, and really hard work. By Saturday afternoon the culminating performance was devised and rehearsed ready for the final performance on the Saturday night. The exchange was successful but students were limited to one ‘ arts ’ option rather than exploring all arts disciplines. Teachers were overworked with no opportunity to explore other activities and to check up on their own students.

MRISA Recent Developments and Changes

At the 2014 APM at ISE, AC's from each school all agreed to Change the name Cultural Exchange (CX) to Arts Exchange (AX) because in reality, “culture” is inherent in the arts.  This motion was agreed by all the MRISA present. 

In 2017, after much discussion and piloting a hybrid model of homestay/hotel stay accommodations, ISHCMC and NISC were unable to agree to participate in the homestay aspect of MRISA as outlined in our By-Laws and Handbook. Homestay schools also experienced an increase in cost and consumption of resources as a result of the hybrid model. As a result, ISHCMC and NISC chose to no longer participate in the Association. The number of participating schools was reduced to 6. Moving forward the ADs proposed aligning the sports tournaments with the AX format and also providing additional games to be close to the equivalent of a regular season by increasing the number of tournament days from 2 to 3 days.

In 2018 MRISA entertained applications from several schools in the region, and no applications were deemed suitable.  Further discussion within the association supported staying with the six-school model.  The decision was made to add an Associate Member category to fill open spots at events when member schools were not able to field a team/group.

The 2019-20 and 2020-2021 school years were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  All MRISA events following Jr. Basketball and Sr. Volleyball (Season 1) had to be canceled in 2019-2020 and the entire program of events was canceled in 2020-2021.  The 2021-2022 season has also been canceled due to travel restrictions present throughout the region. In 2022-23 we welcomed a full season of MRISA events back after three COVID-impacted years. 

In 2023-24, KIS Bangkok was made a probationary member of MRISA, taking the place of ISE. ISE remains an associate member participating in tournaments as they are able. MRISA will have a mix of 6-team and 8-team tournaments to accommodate this period of flux while actively reaching out to schools to increase the league size. 

During the 2023 AAP hosted in Bangkok by HIS, the introduction of the new logo was approved by all attending ADs. 

During the 2023-24 school year, MRISA expanded from 6 to 8 schools. 3 school candidates reached the final phase of the expansion process: IGBIS, ISHCMC, and PREM. The final vote by the MRISA board elected the two schools to be added to MRISA, Prem International School of Thailand and IGB International School of Malaysia (IGBIS). Both schools joined as Probationary Members.

In the 2024 APM hosted in Bangkok by KIS, the decision was made to not renew the Associate Membership of ISE.

Additionally, YIS was accepted as an Associate Member.