AR Rahman, Grammy award-winning percussionist TH Vinayakram, violinist L. Subramaniam, playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthi, popular ensemble Shillong Chamber Choir and Shekhar Ravjiani of the singer-songwriter duo Vishal-Shekhar, among others, will come together to perform for a major fundraising gala being organised by Teamwork Arts called I Believe #ArtMatters. The virtual event will be streamed on 4 October from Teamwork Arts’ Facebook and YouTube page, apart from BookMyShow.
Touted as India's "biggest" arts fundraising event since March when the coronavirus lockdown was imposed, the show will feature 70 performances by 450 artists across disciplines including music, theatre, dance, poetry, art and comedy. #ArtMatters is a platform under Teamwork Arts---organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival----working towards awareness building around the plight of artistes across India due to the pandemic.
Since its inception in April, over 100 artistes have participated in #ArtMatters campaigns through video appeals and testimonials. It has also partnered with UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) apart from partnering with organisations like the Rajasthan Josh Sidhar Vikas Sansthan, Brahmaputra Cultural Foundation and Vimor Handloom Foundation to raise resources for families of artists and weavers.
Lost wages, delayed work, cancelled grants and live events, cultural venue shutdowns, etc., have plagued India's creative economy reeling under enormous losses. "Artists and artisans across the country have been impacted by Covid-19 which has led to a loss of work and income for the entire artist community including theatre. Our advocacy and fundraising program #ArtMatters focuses attention on the impact on the cultural sector which spans the Ragis in the Gurdwaras and the Bauls of Bengal to the Kathak and Bharatnatyam dancers, to those who weave magnificent temple and Banarasi saris, to the toymakers and theatre actors, stage designers, stagehands and more," says Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts.
In the run-up to the event, Teamwork Fine Arts Society also hosted a virtual press meet in the last week of September with a panel of artistes decrying the lack of government support and policy initiatives to address the financial distress roiling India's creative and cultural industries and how most senior artists have had to depend on their personal reserves and community goodwill to support grassroot artistes. In view of the current situation in the Indian arts sector, Dilip Chenoy, Secretary-General of FICCI said, "The pandemic has impacted Indian creative and cultural sector. As per recent reports 41% of the creative sector has had to stop functioning during lockdown period. FICCI, Indian Industry and I Believe #ArtMatters, and we need to support artists and artisans in their time of need. "
While the devil's always in the detail, at least some countries are making an effort to give the creative industrial complex the importance it deserves in this hour of crisis.
Three months ago, Australia sought to resuscitate its arts sector with a stimulus package of $250m in loans, grants as part of COVID-19 package. UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak tweeted in July," “We’re introducing a world-leading £1.57 billion rescue package to help cultural, arts and heritage institutions weather the impact of coronavirus.” France's Ministry of Culture announced in March itself an emergency fund of 22 million euros for multiple cultural sectors, including 10 million for music, 5 million for entertainment, 5 million for literature and 2 million for visual arts as reported in the website of EU National Institutes for Culture.
At a time when artists and cultural organisations are needed the most to heal and offer solace, their deteriorating financial situation is being grievously overlooked in India.
