Nora: The Preservation of the Southern Thailand Performing Arts Development and Inheritance

Problem statement: Nora was the valuable Southern Thailand Performing Arts. The objectives of this study were to study: (1) historical background, identity, factor, tradition, belief and lifestyle of Southern Nora Team and (2) problem situations of Southern Thailand Performing Arts and guidelines in promoting occupation of the Southern Thailand Performing Arts. Approach: The research area in Southern Region included Patalung, Nokon-sitammarach and Songkla. The samples were selected by Purposive sampling including the expert group, practitioner group and general people, total of 110 persons. The instruments were the Structured Interview and Unstructured Interview, participatory observation form and non-participatory Observation form, focus group discussion and workshop. Data were classified into groups based on the studied issues. They were investigated by using triangulation technique and analyzed based on the research objectives. The research findings were presented by descriptive analysis. Results: (1) historical background and identity of Nora Team inherited from performing by the family and relatives for not less than 50 years. The team leaders loved and appreciated in Nora Performing Arts. So, they searched for knowledge from the experts and transferred knowledge for those who were interested in Nora Performing Arts. Every Nora Team was connected from the past until now. For the problem situations, found that they were caused by: (1) the decrease of audience’s liking, (2) the import of new media caused Nora to be less popular, (3) the decrease of revenue and (4) for the inheritance, there was no one who would carry on. The pattern of developmental conservation and inheritance could be performed by organizing as the instructional curriculum of Nora Performance of every level of Southern Region. The searching information of Nora should be performed in the Website of the provincial culture. Kooks and CD should also be publicized. The Nora profession should be promoted in order to make income. The training and performance exhibition for publicizing through various kinds of media should be done for marketing in order to help the actor/actress to obtain revenue. For the development of Nora Performance Pattern, the development of management process in public relation, performance business, selling souvenir, as well as application of the story and performance to be concise, should be managed. Every performance should be evaluated for improving and developing the performance. Conclusion/Recommendations: Nora used to play its role in Southern society and culture. So, it was necessary to maintain and inherit further. This research could be used as a guideline in developing Nora Performance and planning for Southern Arts and Culture.