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Yatra....banglanatak.comMaking Change Using Culture as a ToolQuarterly e-newsletter : January - March, 2013 April 15, 2013Shubho Naba Barsha! Bengali New Year is here! May it be a peaceful andhappy one for all! The first quarter of 2013 saw a flurry of varied activitiesranging from festivals promoting cultural heritage, campaign on childhealth to empowerment of youth for leading change.Nurturing Creative EnterpriseImproving HealthWe are partnering with BBC WST in ProjectANANYA for shaping demand and practicesof safe motherhood. Theatre basedcampaign is being held in eight districts ofBihar to build awareness, mobilize andinclude the left-outs and resistivecommunities in adopting key behaviorsrelated to reproductive health. Till date 5697shows have reached out to 400000 peopleacross 1490 villages. The shows have focusedon disseminating messages on birthpreparedness and child nutrition in the firstyear.We are working with 1500 folk artists at Bihar aspart of Project JEEViKA. To uplift the livelihoodscope of the rural folk artists, national and statelevel festivals were organized to boost thepromotion and marketability of the cultural artforms. Thousands thronged at the tribal village ofDharhar Yamunia, in Purnea watchingperformance by 200 folk artists from Bihar, Bengaland Odisha. Nirgun singers from Bihar andRajasthan, Bauls & Fakirs from West Bengal sangon universal brotherhood and peace at BodhGaya a World Heritage Site. Folk festival in Goashowcased folk performances from Bengal and Bihar. Madhubani andPatachitra painters and Juteartisans from Bengal and Andhra FestivalDatePradesh also shared space in theth thKabir Festival 25 -26 Januaryevent. The folk artists areth thpresently being registered as Goa Festival 9 -13 Januaryactivity clusters while audiond thdocumentation of Lok Geet is Purnea Festival 22 - 24 Februaryunderway.Women Madhubani painters of Simri inMadhubani district are being empowered torun business enterprises based on theirtraditional art. Direct market linkages havebeen established with stores in Kolkata andDelhi. Leading designer at Lakme FashionWeek has included the painters’ work in theensemble of the gala event.Empowering YouthBritish Council's Commonwealth ChangeMakers Youth Exchange Council programencourages youth to create dialogue,advocacy and practical action in theircountries on youth priority issues. Our youngchange-makers, Pallabi and Deepsikha,attended the training at Sri Lanka asfacilitators for cascading the program tocreate a group of Commonwealth ChangeMakers. Next they held workshops with ateam of 30 young people including Chaudancers from Purulia, Patuas from Pingla,rural youth from Nadia and urban youth fromKolkata, encouraging them to developcritical thinking, discuss and debate theiropinions with youth and build skill to designand deliver youth action projects onlocal/global development themes. TheChange Makers are now taking actions likeimproving sanitation, spreading awarenesson RTI, stopping child marriage et al. Five ofthe champions went to Sri Lanka in March toshowcase their initiatives.

Bridging CulturesSwedish musicians Thommy and Allard presented Swedish folkmusic at Purnea Festival and Akhra. Dalia Faitelson and herteam the ‘Orient’ West Choir’ connecting Judaism, Christianityand Islam performed at Goa, Gorbhanga and Kolkata. Themusicians jammed with rural folk instrumentalists and singers.strdSufi Sutra held during 1 and 3 February broughtparticipation from Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Spain,Russia, Iran and India on one platform thus making ittruly a global musical experience.Folk Nations, organised in collaboration with the British Council,brought together musicians, creative producers andpractitioners from the UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India forexchange, collaboration, creative and professionaldevelopment and showcasing opportunities. Beats of Banjo,Guitar, Harp, Sarengi and Dhol accentuated English verse andBengali folk songs, creating rhapsody.Showcasing Heritageth thThe villagers at Gorbhanga organised the Fakiri Utsav (18 - 20Jan). Honourable Minister of Self Help Groups & SelfEmployment, Shri Santiram Mahato visited the Holi Utsav atDeulghata, Purulia. There were 300+ tourists reveling in thethcourtyard of 6 century terracotta temple laden with redblooms of Palas. Department of Tourism, Government of WestBengal supported our rural festivals showcasing culturalheritage. Painter Swarna Chitrakar, Babu Fakir, Baul ArjunKhyapa, Chau dancers Biren & Jagannath, flute playerth thMohan and others enthralled visitors at ITB, Berlin (6 -10March). Our Director, Amitava spoke at UNWTO seminar at ITBon ICH and tourism. He also presented on ICH baseddevelopment approaches for achieving MDG goals at theUNWTO Silk Road Ministerial meeting.Akhra, venue for cultural adda at Kolkata, was enlivened by singers like Amar Paul, Banasri Sen Gupta, Abhijit Bose,Anasua Chowdhury, Riddhi Bandopadhyay, Upal Sengupta, Anindya Bose, Avik Mukherjee as well as theatreperformances.