A new series of exhibits, performances and workshops at the Mariposa Museum and World Culture Center in Peterborough will bring the culture and art of Southeast Asia to life through December. The series draws together the combined arts of Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam from local people as well as the wider New England community.

Museum cofounder David Blair said Tuesday the new exhibit is near and dear to his heart.

Blair explained that he and cofounder Linda Marsella, who died three years ago, lived and worked in Vietnam and the Philippines at one time, and that Blair’s wife, Lina Hervas, is from the Philippines.

A new folk art exhibit, dance performance and instruction, music, artmaking, talks on cultural topics and current events, and more at the museum are some of the ways the public is invited to connect with Southeast Asia, their neighbors and themselves this fall.

While there are a variety of religious and spiritual traditions in Southeast Asia, Blair said he’s observed that many of them, some of them indigenous practices, are very much a part of daily life there.

“[Hervas] feels there’s a very close intertwining of the spiritual lives and the everyday lives of the people,” Blair said. “The temple is not a place you just go on Sundays. It’s an everyday stop. ... It’s a social place.”

Exhibit pieces, which include textiles, religious statuary, puppets, clothing and other works of art, have been borrowed from 10 Monadnock region families. An original 1606 Dutch map of Southeast Asia, for example, came from a Stoddard resident.

In addition to loaned items for the displays, the museum also looked to the community at large in developing its wide variety of programs.

“Members of the Southeast Asia communities will be here to present their culture,” Blair said, including dance performance groups from Lowell, Mass., Boston and Nashua. “We just feel it’s more authentic and more honoring of the culture to have people from the culture presenting it.”

There is a modest Southeast Asian population living in the Monadnock region, including a number of families from Cambodia residing in Peterborough, Blair noted, and the region is rich in people who have traveled to that region of the world. “Everybody has something to add to the conversation,” Blair said, noting that the programs at the museum are interactive.

The museum’s goal, among other things, is to bring people of the same and diverse cultures together.

“Our vision is of a peaceful, connected world,” he said. “Our mission is to bring the world to New England’s doorstep.”

The opportunity to experience another culture through its many incarnations can be an awakening.

“[It’s] immensely opening and even sometimes transformative to see the beauty of something that’s different, to respect it, to feel no fear at what’s different. And then, looking more deeply to see what’s the same,” Blair said. “Finding the common and loving the diversity — they go very much together.”

COMING EVENTS

A sampling of events from the Southeast Asia series follows. Some programs are free; others are at a modest cost. Visit www.mariposamuseum.org for more information.

Bali: Myths and Realities of Living in Paradise,
Sept. 15
Ni Wayan Suarni, who is from Bali, and Richard “Dick” Nevell of Hancock spend half their time in Bali, a place they have a unique perspective on. Suarni and Nevell will discuss the culture of Bali, including family life and spirituality. They will introduce attendees to “Tri Hita Karana,” the Balinese tripartite concept of spiritual relationship between humans and God, and their environment. They will also address celebrations and creating art in the Balinese tradition.

Vietnamese Dance, Sept. 26
Hailing from Nashua, dance instructor Chi Potter and her students will perform.

The Rebirth of Cambodian Dance, Oct. 15
Photographer Eleanor Briggs of Hancock shares photos and slides from her travels to Cambodia, where she had the opportunity to observe Cambodian dance, the main dramatic art form in that country.

The Art of Ikat, Oct. 27
Connie Gray of Hancock will present Southeast Asian techniques in dying and weaving.

Angkor Dance Troupe at the Peterborough
Town House, Oct. 30

Featuring traditional Cambodian dance, this group is based in Lowell, Mass., where a large community of Cambodians reside. Local school children will also perform.