The “SPANDAN Pondicherry Art Carnival”, an initiative to promote artists from Puducherry and across India, will get under way here on Monday.
The festival is part of the ‘SPANDAN Global Art Festival’, an initiative aiming to host art carnivals across 29 states and 7 union territories of India. The project was launched in July 2016 and has already covered 10 states and has planned to cover the rest before December 2018.
The SPANDAN Awards is also an initiative to recognise inspiring talent from various segments of art. A lifetime achievement award will be presented to someone who has changed society through their efforts. The 14-day carnival, which featured a pre-launch Bharatnatyam performance by Divya Ramesh on Sunday, will have events such as SPANDAN Interflow, art exhibitions and a sapling planting drive.
More than 100 artists will be participating in the festival with over 250 exhibits capturing an interesting melange of imagination, perspectives and styles. The objective of this initiative is to provide an international platform and facilitate business links to artist from India. Also, considering the challenges faced by the artists in selling their art works, SPANDAN is planning to launch an art souk in Pondicherry.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and Chief Secretary Manoj Parida are expected to attend the inaugural at 5 p.m. at Kraft Market, Gandhi Thidal.
