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From Information Technology to the Arts - Indo-American
cooperation is treading new ground. The recently concluded
'Town Meeting' in the city and similar events that have
been planned in other places will facilitate a greater
exchange of ideas in the field of art and culture between
India and the US.
Anm ol
Vellani, Executive Director of the India Foundation
for the Arts, was the convenor at a 'Town Meeting' (one
of six such meetings being held around the country)
at The Orchid Room of The Oberoi
on April 6, 2001. Aruna
Sunderlal of the Bangalore
School of Music, Devendra Bharma, General Manager
of The Oberoi, Aroon Shivdasani, Executive Director
of the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), New York,
USA and Jonathan Hollander, Co-Founder of the IAAC and
Artistic Director of the Battery Dance Company were
hosts to about thirty of Bangalore's representatives
of the arts - visual, literary, music, dance and theatre
- along with a smattering of the media.
The meeting - held on the eve of The Battery Dance
Company performance at the JN Tata Auditorium - was
to explore how an orga nisation
like the IAAC could extend and expand its activities
in encouraging and/or supporting an exchange of arts
and culture between India and the USA. As Aroon Shivdasani
explained, IACC has been doing this for the last three
years, and is now looking for greater opportunities
(currently serving pockets of the Indian Diaspora) to
"mainstream" Indian cultural exposure in the
USA.
Many of Bangalore's theatre, dance and music personalities
spoke and what has been arrived at is an informal List
of Tasks:
One, that IAAC establish a representative in Bangalore
(and in the other five cities?)
Two, that members of the arts establish a network,
irrespective of art form, to keep each other and the
IAAC informed about plans and material available for
this exchange
Three, that this local network also be receptive
to plans and programmes of visiting American tour possibilities
and to extend support to these
Four, that sources for sponsorship be identified
both in India and the US and a two-pronged approach
be employed to optimise support
This could be the beginning of a new era in Indo-American
co-operation - a welcome effort when the US attitude
to India and its arts is lukewarm - and it is, yet again,
salutary that the initiative had to emerge from outside
these shores.
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