Early in the year amidst the chaos of the Covid pandemic, a recurring sentiment was around the role artists needed to play—finding innovative ways of connecting with people, providing hope, resilience, and strength. The pandemic marked their time to create art that helped make sense of what was and is going on around us. Art was the much-needed escape, a time-out from the terrifying reality taking over the world, and artists were the healing force behind it. As the dust starts to settle and we are caged in a crisis economy, with reduced spending and large-scale unemployment, the threat to survival of the creative cultural sector is greater than it has ever been.
“The arts as a practice has an innate ability to acclimatise itself to the situations around it,” says Smriti Rajgarhia, director, Serendipity Arts Foundation and Festival, “which makes it an inseparable part of our legacy and being. Looking at the recent past and the current situation globally, caused by the pandemic, we come across several examples where the arts and artists have been...
THIS ARTICLE IS PRICELESS...
To read this piece, and more such stories in India's most exciting and exacting magazine, plus get access to our 25-year archives goldmine, please subscribe.
