We finally seem to be waking up to the fact that art and culture of a region has to be a mainstream component of development.
The State is endowed with a gift of rich heritage of art and culture. But many, especially the younger generation, suffer a disconnection; detachment with issues of identity, belonging, isolation and acculturation. A vibrant art and cultural scene is important to strong community.
Recognising the need for change and starting the change is the Cultural Centre of Vijayawada (CCV), established by Madhu Malaxmi Chambers at Mogulrajpuram.
Embracing a culturally-sensitive approach to development for effective, sustainable and inclusive outcome, the CCV has set the ball rolling for increasing the visibility of art and culture by supporting events organised by artists at regular intervals, encouraging new, creative and innovative works of art and broadening cultural understanding.
Turning into a nerve centre of activities aimed at catering to the aesthetic needs of art-lovers, it has organised a series of painting exhibitions of emerging groups of artists in the newly-carved out State. ‘Poetic Prism’, a poetry contest is what it plans to host very soon.
Roping in right people
Sharan Apparao, the well-known founder curator of Chennai-based Apparao Galleries, descended on CCV on Monday to explore the possibility of putting together a show in the new State in the days to come.
INTACH’s local chapter
The VCC premises will soon house the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), an organisation that works to stimulate and spearhead heritage awareness and conservation among people.
“M. Gopalakrishna, the INTACH coordinator for Telangana and AP States, who visited the CCV recently, has agreed in principle to establish the AP branch here,” said Y. Harishchandra Prasad, chairman of Malaxmi Group.
Enriching initiatives
Anita Desai, Director of Goethe-Zentrum, a German cultural centre, Hyderabad, has offered a tie-up with the CCV to host joint cultural exchange programmes.
Goethe-Zentrum is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. It promotes knowledge of the German language and fosters international cultural cooperation. Alliance Française, a Franco-Indian non-profit association, has also come forward to collaborate with the CCV to teach the French language to the local crowd in addition to hosting a series of cultural exchange programmes. In addition, the CCV plans to float a Book Club for book-lovers, in collaboration with the Ashok Book Centre in city.
