Meeting on 8 Feb 2005 at Charkha office.

Present :  Tripurari Sharma, Shankar Ghose, Sunita Roy, Sujata Raghavan.

1.     The basic premise of this initiative is that it is crucial to preserve and support the  myriad forms of traditional performing arts for the enrichment of our society as a whole by adding value to the this form of rural communication and not just as a support to those performing communities.

2.     Charkha is not mandated to merely conserve traditional arts, its interest in the project stems from its vision and mandate of linking grassroots voices and issues to the media.  In this case it will be done through traditional media.

3.     Tripurari will be the main resource person. She will be backed by her team in Alarippu.  Geographical areas of Charkha’s previous intervention can be the starting point. Alarippu has done research and project work in Bundelkhand which has a rich content of traditional media.  Charkha’s own area includes this region as also Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh.

4.     J&K is also an area of interest and we have a good resource in Hamraj and party,  for the moment it was felt better to begin with areas of more direct intervention(Charkha’s) or indepth knowledge of the arts (Alarippu)

5.     It is important to transform the target community (of performers ) into a group both preserving their art as well as adding value to the larger community through the issues raised and highlighted. The process of empowerment through traditional media is the key.  For eg.  the ‘Bedia’ women in U.P who used to perform to entertain upper caste men have now a new status performing for schools and colleges. It questions social mores within the local community.

6.     The initiative should focus not merely on an individual event to promote or popularize the artistes, but adopt a more long-term view of their sustainability and growth.  This would mean linking them up with relevant local NGO’s, and other institutions, the media so that they can access resources, information and take charge of their lives and their art. This would ensure sustainability financially.

7.     It would be important to assess the needs of the community performers vis remuneration health, pension  benefits, etc for incorporating into the overall programme goals.

8.     The next Charkha Sanjoy Ghose Fellowship Award ceremony 7 Dec 2005 will be befitting way to announce and showcase this project  We need to work backwards form this date.
9.     The work needs to begin as a ‘pilot’. A region, area, issues needs to be identified amongst the regions of Charkha’s pervious interventions. The process can be  monitored and learnings highlighted.

10.     The pilot project can then be adapted or introduced to wider areas to achieve a ‘critical mass’.

11.     Performing communities should be encouraged to undertake the task of documenting the art and chart patterns of the state of its arts.  This subject of folklore research is sadly lacking in today’s milieu and could be a valuable spin of from  from the main project.

12.     A complete list of potential supporters can be made.  Support can be sought  from  people and institutions aligning with this concept.  Mr.Rajeev Sethi of Heritage, Mr.Anmol Valani, (_India Foundation of the Arts) the Ford Foundation, UNESCO, can be approached.  Amongst the foreign donors , Netherlands and Japan Foundation, CIDA can be approached.

13.     Indian institutions like Sangeet Natak Academy and Ministry of Culture can also be approached.

14.     A Proposal can be drawn up with major inputs from Tripurari. The initiative will be within the framework of Poverty Alleviation focussing on empowerment of communities.

15.     The community can be linked up with training inputs eg Gaavaniyar and institutions like National School of Drama for honing their art.

16.     The target community of performing Artistes can produce a play after 6-8 weeks of rehearsals and inputs from trainers, directors  which can get publicity through local papers.

17.     A Plan to showcase the performances both in the urban & rural context should be made.  This should be based on a  respect and adequate remuneration at various fora.

18.     This can  be showcased to a select audience at venues like India Habitat Centre.

19.     At the local/regional level, they can hold performances in neighboring states and hold interactive sessions with local artistes.  For e.g., the Gaavaniyar can be taken up  Madhya Pradesh or U.P to meet and teach local artistes the skills.

20.     In this entire project, Charkha can use its links with the mass media to highlight the process and stories from this initiative.  Print, audio and Audio-Visual mediums can be used to amplify the voices and issues involved.
21.     An Action Plan for one year can be made on the basis of the learnings from this project.