Arranging for funds for one’s theatre group and production can at times be a daunting task. Providing a practical solution to such dilemmas, India Theatre Forum (ITF), a theatre network set up in 2006, announces Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre (SMART). The initiative seeks to enable theatre makers to build management capacities to support their artistic work.
SMART, managed by Junoon and India Foundation for the Arts, is a 10-day residential course, followed by a six-month mentorship by senior theatre practitioners. Sameera Iyengar, co-founder and director of Junoon, Mumbai, is the course director. In a telephonic interview, Sameera speaks about what went into setting up SMART: “We had a couple of brain storming sessions. We wanted to understand the lack of infrastructure and the skills people require in theatre management. We also ran a survey through a database on ITF. We got a good number of responses. We then got in touch with Milena Dragicevic Sesic, she has an arts capacity building experience. She did a workshop with us and helped develop the course. During our brain storming sessions, we came across some wonderful stories of innovation and management. In fact, a lot of course material will have some of these case studies.”
Theatre and management may seem like conflicting worlds, but Sameera says that management in theatre is an essential skill. “We often see management as a larger, super imposing structure. But at SMART we view it as a supporting structure. We want to help people to create structures that make them fly,” says Sameera.
Sanjna Kapoor, co-founder of Junoon and one of the facilitators, says that an initiative like SMART is necessary today. “I believe urban theatre today has nurtured a younger generation who look towards a life in theatre. Given half a chance they would do nothing else. But does the ecosystem permit this? There are many lacunas in our theatre world that prevent the possibility of taking theatre up as a profession. One such lacuna in our theatre life is the possibility of training in the management of theatre, and all that goes into thinking about management for theatre. I have felt the impact of this through my 25 years of working in theatre. And perhaps my efforts could have gained so much more of an impact if I had had simple skills, wherewithal and trained colleagues who could realise the dreams we all strived to achieve more effectively. SMART is a small, but necessary and timely step in filling this lacuna.”
SMART will be held in three phases. From January 17 to January 26, 2015, a residential course at Fireflies Bangalore will be held. Phase two will be held from January to August 2015, which includes six months of working with a mentor and your own group. Phase three has a two-day residential workshop, which will be held will be held on August 2015. Theatre organisations and groups can participate. Each organisation is expected to send two members who are decision makers in their organisation. Individuals can apply too, but it would be better if they could bring one more person with whom they have worked in the past or will be working with in future. The application form is available on theatreforum.in and the last date for applying is September 30. The fee is Rs. 15,000 per group of two participants and Rs. 10,000 for individuals.
