The Seven Gems - spic macay

Sandesh15 October 2009I feel stronglyNewly appointed Vice Chairman of SPIC MACAY, Vikas Nagrare,expresses his thoughts on issues confronting the movement ..My tryst with this noblemovement was quite accidental. Itstarted with a peep into theauditorium of Azad Hind College,Mumbai in 1995 -96 where Smt.Kishori Amonkar was at the peak ofher performance. I had gone there notto listen to any classical music, but tovolunteer at the shoe counter outside.For many of us, to volunteer for SPICMACAY programs in neighboringinstitutions, was a good excuse to skipclasses ‘officially’. Till that day,classical music just did not make anysense to me. But that curious 'peep'into the auditorium captivated meforever. The experience left mespellbound long after the performancewas over. I was soon attending classicalmusic concerts regularly, whenever Igot time and the opportunity whileworking for long hours in the hotelindustry.In 2004, when I joined as a Facultyin a hotel management college inIndore, I confronted SPIC MACAYagain. One day I read about PtVishwamohan Bhatt's performing ata local management institute inIndore. I left office early that day andwent for the concert. It was a veryfulfilling and an emotional moment forme when Pt Vishwamohan agreed tomy request of playing his GrammyAward winning number. After theconcert was over, I was approached byNeal Jain, the then coordinator forIndore who insisted that I come for theweekly meeting on Saturdays.I remember going for one of theSaturday meetings and being utterlysurprised to find Neal sitting all alone.I was overwhelmed by his singlemindeddedication and decided tocontribute to the cause then and there.Even then I had never imagined that Iwould be so engrossed in the SPICMACAY movement. Over a period oftime my involvement grew. I wouldtranslate press reports in English fromHindi and coordinate with the press.Later Neal also encouraged me to doartist coordination.Then came the Mumbai NationalConvention in 2004, which was thefirst convention I attended and itchanged my entire perspective of thiscause. I soon moved to Hyderabad andstarted contributing to uplift theactivities there.With all these years of associationwith SPIC MACAY one has also come tonotice some issues that we as amovement must address promptly.I find a big gap between our culturalheritage and the younger generation.No syllabus of any school or universitycovers music, dance, folk arts or craftsas important subjects of study. SPIC... I have gained muchfrom SPIC MACAY. I feel itis an integral part of mylife. I learnt organizing,planning, coordinationand more here . Above all,I found a big family inspicmacayites ...MACAY is dedicated to bridge this gapbut our efforts seem little. Manycorporatised educational institutionsstill display grimace to support thiscause. I am left surprised when I seethe high-fee-charging schools failingto offer even a meager amount asfinancial support for a SPICMACAYprogram in their premesis. I wish theseschools and colleges were moregenerous in contributing financiallyand helping us to spread.The other issue that bothers meis that SPIC MACAY is not active inmany smaller towns. For instance inAndhra Pradesh, there are few ‘B’towns where programs are organized.We msut focus on spreading themovement to all parts of the country.This can be done by funding thesesmall chapters, which most of the timebecome dormant due to lack of funds.Gandhiji used to say that the realIndia lives in its villages. We have toconvince the artists to reach out tostudents even in the villages. Besidesthe private educational institutions,SPIC MACAY must also go to thegovernment schools. If we go throughthe Activity Chart of 2008-2009, onefinds that most places that arehighlighted come from big cities likeDelhi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh,Jaipur, Kolkata, Bangalore etc wheremaximum number of programs areheld. The Youth in these cities isanyways exposed to various art forms,even without being associated withSPIC MACAY. Our focus should be onhow to inspire and make the youth inthe smaller towns more aware.Another thing that I feel stronglyabout is giving a chance to those artistsfrom our ‘Artsites Directory’ who haveso far been completely ignored. Overthe years, we have seen a few artistsgetting too many programs whilemany others not figuring in ourschedule at all. We must understandthat all artists listed in the ‘Artists'Directory’ have been included aftercareful scrutiny. No artist is lesser thanthe other. Picking up selective artistsgives an impression of us promoting afew artsits rather than the art form.Then there is the case of chaptersgoing dormant after some time due tolack of financial support or lack of avolunteer base. At Hyderabad, wehave overcome these hurdles byimplementing a few successfulstrategies. We now charge the privateinstitutions for a performance, in sucha way that we also save money afterall expenses have been met. We nolonger ask for one, big heftysponsorship from a few companies butgo for for smaller amounts from many.Our next step is to coordinate with thecorporate-run schools for an annualfund per student.contd.on page 16