By Siddhi Jain
New Delhi, May 15 (IANSlife) Taking cognisance of the COVID-19 impact on the live arts space, a few India-based arts and media organisations have ideated, debated and created an artist support platform, stayIN aLIVE, which is all set to launch its first 24-hour event on Saturday with over 60 artists.
Performing artists from various fields will cover a range of topics, such as, ‘How does one deal with a creator’s block’; or ‘Know your digital rights as an artist’; or even jam with fellow artists on viewers’ screen. Participating artists include Uday Benegal, Naezy, Kubbra Sait, Tanmay Bhat, Shilpa Rao, Nakash Aziz, Dualist Inquiry, Nikhita Gandhi, Suhani Singh, Nikhil D’souza, Tejas Menon who will be sharing their stories, learnings and art, all through the day.
According to organisers, it aims to build a long-term, sustainable platform for artists to nurture, support and strengthen each other in the coming years.
“Fuelled with a deep love and admiration for the live arts and performance industry, this is a collective of organisations and individuals, hoping to create a movement of awareness and self-sufficiency for the live industry. The aim is to educate, inspire and support artists and at the forefront of that aim and vision is a commitment to cultivate best practices, encourage thought leadership and become a compassionate, yet impactful and sustained, voice of advocacy for government policies related to the live arts industry,” they said.
Their motto, #StageBadlega has never been truer. The ‘stage’ is no longer the wood panelled, sprawling space with clear entry/ exit points and synchronised lighting. It is now a soothing cosy corner of the library or a neatly organised living room dotted with personal photos. New trends are currently being witnessed but what happens once this lockdown is lifted? What is the long-term solution for freelancing artists and the live events industry to become self-sufficient and holistically support itself?
“It has taken us almost two months to set our vision and to bring together like-minded individuals that view this as a long term platform. On 16th, the first half of the day is dedicated to information exchange, experience-sharing and really just opening up the hearts and minds of artists to each other and to the audience. This is only the beginning of our journey into building a solid support system for performing artists across fields,” Roshan Abbas, Founder – Kommune shared.
The stayIN aLIVE Foundation is a collective between Kommune, Big Bang Music, Tabhrasa, Priyanka Khimani, KWAN, OML, The ArtX Company, Alok Parande, Paytm Insider, Shark & Ink, Tape A Tale, Artist Aadmi, Unmute, Women of India, Gully Gang and Tarsame Mittal Talent Management.
As per music and entertainment rights expert Priyanka Khimani, many artists who work in the now prevalent gig ecosystem face issues like not being paid on time or at all, struggling to protect their creative work and a myriad of other problems that arise from being an independent creator. These are issues that arise in addition to several things that artists, represented or independent, have to deal with on a regular basis.
The new initiative aims to be that single body that will hopefully be the backbone for every artist to follow with regards to industry best practices, government representation and advocacy when needed. The funds raised from this initiative will be directed towards supporting artists in need.
(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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