In a press release, VOA said, “With a background in media, advertising, and management, Gyatso is currently the director of the Mechak Center for Contemporary Tibetan Art in Boulder, Colorado, a cultural organization that exhibits work of young Tibetan artists around the world. Previously, he served as the Senior Vice President for Lintas New York (now Lowe Worldwide) where he directed a staff of media professionals in creating marketing communications for television, radio, and print. At Lintas Delhi (now Lowe Lintas Delhi), Gyatso was the executive creative director overseeing a department of writers, art directors and producers. Multitalented, Gyatso played the role of Lord Chamberlain Phala in the Martin Scorsese directed film, “Kundun”, on the life of the 14th Dalai Lama and is also an acclaimed contemporary Tibetan visual artist.”
The statement added, “VOA’s Tibetan Service began broadcasting in March 1991 and continues to serve as a lifeline of news and information for Tibetans. Inside Tibet programs are received via shortwave radio and direct-to-dish satellite television and radio as well as streamed on the web at [ www.voatibetan.com/ ].”
On his website, Gyatso says, “I was born in Tibet when one could walk around Lhasa without running into a single Chinese, and grew up mainly in Britain, where I attended secondary schools during the era of the Beatles, the moon landing and Vietnam. Returning to a Tibetan refugee community in India, I studied Tibetan painting for two years, before arriving to the United States in 1974.”
An exhibition of Gyatso’s paintings were held at ICT and some of them are also featured on ICT’s calendar for this year.
John Buescher is a 1982 graduate of the University of Virginia’s doctoral program in Tibetan Buddhism. VOA Tibetan service currently has a staff of 25.
Talking about the significance of the establishment of VOA’s Tibetan service, the Dalai Lama said, “Until the establishment of the Voice of America’s Tibetan Service in 1991, the people of Tibet had hardly any credible source of information about international developments and above all the status of Tibet.”