In a synergy of shared goals, Auroville will launch a branch of SPIC MACAY (The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) on November 7 to enhance the human endeavour through the medium of art.
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The chapter is being launched as part of the ongoing 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Aurobindo with a rudra veena concert by maestro Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, who engages in the dhrupad genre, the oldest living vocal tradition of India with Vedic roots.
As a prelude to the opening, on November 4, the Ustad will perform at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium for schoolchildren of Auroville and the bioregion. Also, beginning November 7, he will lead an intense four-day residential workshop with the Auroville Film Institute (AFI) for senior participants. “The residency is not only open to musicians, but also for practitioners of all arts. It is designed as a trans-disciplinary learning experience where participants learn the structural possibilities of all art forms, while learning about the structure of raag, specifically dhrupad,” said Rrivu Laha, AFI co-founder and creative director of the residency.
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This art education programme involves an attempt to enrich the practice of cinematic arts by including learnings from other Indian classical arts. It marks the beginning of the SPIC MACAY collaboration, said Richa Hushing, AFI founder-film-maker.
The SPIC MACAY chapter in the universal township is the outcome of a partnership involving the Auroville Film Institute and the Bharat Nivas (the India Pavilion in Auroville). According to Auroville literature, this was the second significant development that The Mother undertook in 1971, the same year when she set in motion the work on the most important and timeless icon of Auroville — the Matrimandir.
A shared vision
The entities have come together on the basis of a shared vision around cultural heritage. If the Bharat Nivas, with its Sri Aurobindo auditorium, was intended to become a model centre to showcase Indian culture in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision and “support creativity that endeavours to reach beyond the ordinary,” the AFI has positioned itself as the manifestation of the The Mother’s dream of having a “cinema studio, a cinema school….,” in Auroville dedicated to the cinema of awakening, “of courageous flights between dreams, realities and alternatives”.
In near-similar vein, the not-for-profit SPIC MACAY’s mission is to conserve and promote awareness of the rich and heterogeneous cultural tapestry among the youth through focus on classical arts with their attendant legends and philosophy, and to facilitate an awareness of their deeper and subtler values.
“The partnership with SPIC MACAY, which is a volunteer-driven movement promoting the intangible aspects of Indian cultural heritage of the kind envisioned by Bharat Nivas, will certainly pave the way for future programmes of high calibre,” said Tapas Bhatt, Bharat Nivas volunteer and programme coordinator.