Passionate Profession

(Published in The Bengaluru Pages March 2009)

One of my earliest memories takes me to the dingy Godhuli Cinema Hall in Asansol, just across our little house, where I, four year old, am sitting on Gopalda’s lap, watching ‘filums’ being ‘cut’ to fit into the timings of the four shows. My jaws wide open, my eyes stuck to the screen I would watch the black and white images on the screen with complete awe. We would then rush to the tiny machine room, collect the pieces that have been cut and bring them home for my view master. Gopalda and I would stick these cut pieces together to create our own stories where gods and nagins fought, princesses danced around palaces and the villains got a thorough beating from the heroes. My first love affair, my first rendezvous with the arts still holds me captive.

Working for arts philanthropy though, happened quite by accident. After spending years with the corporate sector and running a business, I was looking for something that would make more sense to my life, make me feel less like a bonsai. When a friend spoke to me about the fundraising job at the India Foundation for the Arts, about eight years ago, I thought why not give it a shot? In the mean time, I had completed my masters in dance together with my MBA, had acted in the theatre, was writing a bit and thoroughly enjoying every art form I could lay my hands upon. As I started working with IFA, a bit gingerly at first, getting paid a quarter of what I used to earn, I realized, I knew so little about the not-for-profit world or about the state of the arts in India. I began to learn and apply those learnings as quickly as I could. And today eight years later, I still see myriad challenges facing the arts that needs to be dealt with.

It’s impossible to discuss the various areas of needs in the arts or suggest ways of engaging with them or even talk about the range of work that IFA and I are involved in, in one article. What I can do instead is talk about a few of the issues that I am concerned with at a professional and a very personal level in the arts.

It worries me to see that spaces for the arts and culture, hubs where addas would happen, performances would take place, artists would huddle and discuss and work in our cities are diminishing at a tremendously accelerated rate. Residential buildings, malls and office spaces are eating away the few spaces for culture that we had simply because the arts on its own cannot compete with the pressures of the market reality today. Thus Bangalore has just one Rangashankara and Mumbai just one Prithvi. While on the other hand since visual arts and Bollywood has suddenly made its mark felt in the Indian economy, galleries and multiplexes are mushrooming across cities. Unlike cities in the west, where the Mayor’s city policy contains a cultural policy, the governments in our cities have no concern for the growth of a vibrant arts scene for our urban spaces. Infrastructure for the arts thus seems to stunt the growth of the arts in our cities. The newly set up Theatre Infrastructure Cell at IFA (funded by the Tata Trusts) is an initiative to better the environment for performance in the country and has taken on itself to commission research, take out publications, advocate and actually support infrastructure projects that will help performances. We also intend to interface with urban development departments to make available spaces for the arts in the very planning of cities.

Another area of concern that I have is the diminishing role of the arts in our education system. The vocationalisation of education in this country is creating a generation of mediocre workforce. While we sing and dance about our new found bastions of the IT and the BPO industry, we forget that we are just glorified clerks and factory workers in these fields as well. We don’t produce creative new products, we just manufacture, at a cheap rate, what is already there. And even there China probably beats us. One of the reasons, I feel, we are not producing a generation of creative thinkers and doers is because there is no scope for creative growth in our education systems. The arts, which stimulates creative growth and makes a wholesome individual has been completely removed from education. I am not saying that it is necessary to produce more violin players and poets than engineers and maths teachers, but I believe that appreciation of poetry and music will make better and more creative engineers and maths teachers. Thus my interest in the arts education programme at IFA. Here we are trying to infuse the arts in primary and secondary level education through empowering teachers with the knowledge and tools that are required. This happens to be a programme in which I spend a lot of my time and energy since I believe that if one learns to explore, widen the horizons of one’s mind and opens oneself up for the arts at an early age, a lot gets taken care of later.

Being part of the student political movement in Kolkata very early in life, I have a natural pull towards the arts that challenge status quo, chronicle our conflict ridden histories and raise issues that concern our social political thought processes. Supports for such often controversial expressions in the arts are difficult to come by. They often cannot be programmed for support either, since their very nature is defiant towards traditional means of support. However, as individuals I believe we must support such expressions that question our ways of thinking and pushes us to reexamine our comfortable ways of being.

I have also realized over the years of working in arts funding that funding is not enough. We have to build many arts and culture institutions in the country that are not totally dependent on government or private funding. There is a need thus to build capacity within these institutions to use their core competencies to create revenues. They need to develop economic models for sustainability and diversify their sources of funding and revenues. The recent tax laws in the country has made this even more difficult since the arts now do not fall under ‘charitable activity’ and any income other than donations might be taxed. Thus the need to be find more creative means of survival. This seems to be the most challenging area to me and I work with organizations among IFA’s grantees and outside on various projects on sustainability.

So, my love affair has continued. I have learnt that the arts heal and bond, express and question, challenge and open new doors. I am one of those lucky ones for whom passion and profession is so entwined that I can happily say I live for what I do. My family and friends worry about what this choice of mine might hold for me ultimately. But they are also coping with the fact that needs, aspirations, dreams and destinies mean different things for different people.

But for me, my journey today is more meaningful in itself and I don’t really care about the destination any more. To quote Constantine Cavafis, a Greek poet from his piece Ithaca, “You arrive not expecting more wealth, than the riches you have gained along the way”.