COLLABeyond: The 21st BOH Cameronian Arts Awards Nominees Revealed

The 21st BOH Cameronian Arts Awards (BCAA), or the Cammies as the arts community calls them, officially announced their nominees on 10 February 2026 at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus. And as a proud partner of this year's awards, we at CloudJoi couldn't be more excited to share what went down.

The Cammies have been Malaysia's sharpest recognition of performing arts excellence since 2002 — theatre, dance, music, musical theatre — all under one roof. Now in their 21st edition, they're asking a bigger question: what does collaboration actually look like today?

This year's theme is COLLABeyond: Co-Create the Future.

It's a shift in how the awards think about creativity altogether. Collaboration in 2026 goes beyond two artists sharing a stage — it stretches across disciplines, generations, institutions, and technology. The Cammies are openly inviting artists to define how tools like AI fit into the creative process, and more importantly, who gets to set the rules.

"You need to work with people you're not used to. That's when you really challenge yourself, step out of your comfort zone, and shake things up. That's what art is for me." — Low Ngai Yuen, President of Kakiseni

By the Numbers

This year, the awards received 81 submissions across 39 categories spanning theatre, dance, music, and musical theatre. Following adjudication, 44 productions were nominated — 17 in theatre, 10 in dance, 9 in music, and 8 in musical theatre.

The Bigger Conversation

Beyond the nominations, a Fire Chat at the event surfaced some thoughts worth sitting with.

BOH Plantations CEO Jason Foo spoke about the Cammies as a long-running commitment to building a sustainable arts ecosystem, growing sama-sama with the community for 21 years.

Professor Dr Anindita Dasgupta from Taylor's University made the case that industry–university collaboration isn't optional anymore. The creative industry moves faster than any syllabus can keep up with, and that gap only closes when practitioners are in the room with students.

On AI, Kakiseni President Low Ngai Yuen was direct: using technology doesn't make you a sellout, and it doesn't replace the artist either. What matters is who's in control, whose work is being used, and whether artists stay the authors of their own stories.

"The governance of AI needs to come from us, as artists. It shouldn't come from policymakers who may not be in the same space." — Low Ngai Yuen, President of Kakiseni

Check out the full nominees list on Kakiseni's website →