New Delhi: One of the sectors and professions to take a big hit during the COVID-19-induced lockdown and continuing importance of physical distance has been the performance arts. As the disease continues to spread, with India reporting a record daily spike of 8,380 new infections on Sunday, it is unclear when performance artists will be able to make a living the conventional way.
In order to ensure that the lockdown doesn’t mean a complete loss of livelihood for such artists, the Sumanasa Foundation has been providing direct cash transfers to them since March 2020. A crowdfunding campaign on the organisation’s website is also collecting funds for this purpose. While the campaign was initially focused on South India, it has now extended to artists in Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Artists the foundation is supporting.
Trustees of the foundation include Carnatic singer T.M. Krishna, music promoter Hariharan Sankaran and corporate manager Maya Hariharan. It was founded in 2005 to “support projects that help in building art and culture, thus enabling communities, in fostering culturally vibrant spaces and also creating platforms for artists and art forms from marginalised backgrounds”.
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According to the foundation, a large number of performance artists in different parts of the country remain outside the digital economy and are having a hard time coping with the lockdown. In the next leg of their efforts to support such groups, the foundation is organising an online festival from June 10 to 14.
Programme for the festival.
The programme, which only donors will have access to view, will see a range of different art forms being performed.