ART (Art Revival Today) promotes crafts
Six professionals have a single objective today — the promotion
of the arts and crafts of India. Together they are forming
an NGO called ART (Art Revival Today) that aims to promote
dying crafts.
Link Road. Malad, resident Anuradha Kabra and her friends,
also Malad residents, Rajiv Bhatt and Virendra Singh, who
have been working with craftsmen for a long period decided
on the crafts they wanted to focus on. “Rajiv has been working
with NGOs, Virendra has been associated with the promotion
of crafts from Bengal and I have my own crafts shop called
The Amiti Shop at Link Road,” says Kabra. She roped in
her husband Preetam Misra, daughter Supriya Mundra, Nirali
Vohra and close friend Kavita Chabra, owner of the Parfait
beauty parlour on Link Road. And so ART was born.
Bhatt says, “Puppetry, miniature paintings from Rajasthan
and bead and shell work from Gujarat are the three crafts
we will be focussing on.” Adds Singh, “We will first work
with small groups of artisans and then expand the group and
also the number of crafts.”
The reason the group cites for the extinction of Indian crafts
is the lack of marketing skills. Misra says, “Most of the
artisans are uneducated and don’t know what really sells in
the market. Our aim to help them identify market needs and
then help them sell their wares.”
“We began by pooling in our own funds, about Rs 50,000. After
two years we will be entitled to government funding and after
five years for foreign aid,” says Bhatt.
How the
group plans to work
Step
1 We will start by identifying the artists and their
families. We already know a few craftsmen who need assistance
and we plan to begin with them. Since we don’t have a huge
budget we want to start with something that won't require
too many funds.
Step 2 After identifying the artisans, we
will form a group of 10 people in each craft. We also plan
to employ a few graduates from NID to teach the artisans new
developments.
Step 3 After the products are manufactured,
we will provide assistance to them as regards marketing. Since
we have our contacts, we will help them display their products
at exhibitions, sales and even help out in foreign transactions.
Step 4 We also plan to educate the children
of these artisans. This will help the kids in understanding
the dynamics of the market and in turn further the cause of
their family’s craft.
http://ww1.mid-day.com/metro/malad/2005/march/104745.htm
