A 10-day event aimed at bringing people from different walks of life together and highlighting issues related to their livelihood will begin in the city on Wednesday.
Organised by the NGO, Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), the event, ComplexCity, will be held for the second time. It was first held in March 2018. Roshni Nuggehalli, director of YUVA Foundation, said, “Mumbai is a city with a huge population, diverse cultures, communities and opportunities. However, the city also has people living in slums since time immemorial, who account for 40% of the total population. The huge gap and class divide is apparent. ComplexCity aims to provide a platform to bring them together by initiating dialogues between them.”
Seminars, film festivals, street plays, photography and debating competitions will be held in colleges across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as part of the event.
Ms. Nuggehalli said, “The basic objective behind the seminars and street plays is to make local people aware of their rights. Through such events, we want people across backgrounds to understand the problems of local communities and their roles and responsibilities towards them.”
The main attraction of the event will be city walks, where people will get an opportunity to explore urban localities and interact with locals to understand their history and contemporary issues. Cultural programmes will also be organised where musicians and dancers from the Natural Streets for Performing Arts (NSPA) foundation will be performing.
NSPA founder Ajit Dayal said, “Mumbai needs to be seen from a different perspective than just as a place with huge buildings and roads. Earlier, people who had an interest in music and arts used to earn a livelihood. However, it later became almost impossible for them to survive and gradually the city lost its great local artists and musicians. ComplexCity aims to provide a platform to showcase their talent.”
