Four young Pakistani artistes who have been enlisted to participate in the Serendipity Arts Festival(SAF) in Goa may not be able to make it due to the ongoing hostilities between India and Pakistan.
On Tuesday, organisers of annual Goa Art and Literary Festival of International Centre Goa have said that they will miss out on Pakistani participation in their festival.
“It's been a very tough time and we still don't have a real answer. When we conceived the “Young Sub-Continent” project we had four artistes from Pakistan. Will they be able to physically come here? Perhaps not!” said festival director Preeta Singh in reply to a question on Wednesday morning.
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The SAF is a multi-disciplinary arts event proposed to be held over nine days in Goa from December 16 to 23 and curated by a panel of leading experts from across diverse art fields.
The project is promoted by Serendipity Arts Trust(SAT), a Munjal group initiative for the promotion of creativity and imagination in art and culture.
“It is a first of its kind in India to celebrate the diversity in art with special focus on music, dance, theatre, crafts, visual arts and culinary arts,” said Ms. Singh.
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The festival, Ms. Singh said, aims to bind and promote art and culture that is unique to the various geographies in the sub-continent, on a single collaborative platform.
“I am aware of the view that times are tough between our two countries and this is our country and we honour it. Our country comes first, we are definitely clear about that. But these become sad realities when it enters into the field of arts. Pakistani artistes were very much a part of our thinking, our ecosystem, our ideas, but given the present circumstance, the jury is out,” Ms. Singh said in a subtle manner.
This year’s edition of the SAF, she said, is promoted as a part of a long-term cultural project that hopes to bring about positive changes in the arts in India on a large scale. The selection of curators, the festival structure and the programming represents a sincere effort to address the creative needs, aspirations and potential of contemporary India, Ms. Singh emphasised.