Folk communication battles for survival

Traditional means of  folk communication – folk theatre, folk songs, puppet shows, ballads, religious discourses constitute a rich resource, which can be usefully harnessed for bringing about desirable societal changes for accelerating development.The traditional forms of communication constitute a potential source for conveying messages for economic and social development. Although communities and individuals have utilised [...]

150 craftsmen to take part in Lokotsav

More than 150 craftsmen and 200 performing artistes will showcase their skills at the Lokotsav 09′, a national festival of folk art and handicrafts. The festival is organised by the state government, directorate of art and culture, Goa and West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur from January 4 to 13, 2009 at Darya Sangam, Kala Academy.  The tenth [...]

Chandigarh gets largest ever Santa sculpture

A sand sculptor from Bhubaneswar is upbeat about his new project — a mammoth sand sculpture of Santa Claus that he completed on Thursday morning in the union territory of Chandigarh. Sridhar Das, who has been creating sculptures from sand for the last eight years, said he wants to make the best use of his preferred artform to spread [...]

India: Scrolling Through Life

They came as refugees from Bangladesh in 1949 with nothing but some scrolls tucked under their arms. Now settled with their families in East and West Midnapore districts of West Bengal, these Muslim women continue to earn their living using the very scrolls they had brought along with them. The scrolls, or ‘patchitra’, are part of [...]

Handicraft fair draws hordes of visitors to Bhubaneswar

Artisans from different parts of the country and abroad are exhibiting their works at an ongoing 13-day handicraft fair here.  The fair is a major draw for art and craft lovers to watch a variety of works of art including palm-leaf paintings, woodcrafts, ethnic hand-woven clothes and sculptures. Most of the stalls here are looking [...]

Exquisite handicrafts and handloom items to be exposed in foreign markets

Himachal chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said that the exquisite handicrafts and handloom items would get exposed to the foreign markets as a brand Himachal in a big way in the proposed fairs and also book orders from foreign nationals to parcel them more such items. He said that efforts would also be made to [...]

Connecting environment, people, animals through public art fest

A huge stainless steel bucket, caricatures, movies and street plays – for the next 10 days the capital will connect to issues related to environment, water and a better quality of life at public places, thanks to one of the biggest public arts festival being held in several places across the city. ‘The bucket is a [...]