We spoke about Stand up India, Start Up India in our last blog. Entrepreneurs are being motivated to perform strongly to benefit the nation as a whole, and we discussed many scientific and technological ideas that are sweeping the nation.
In this blog, we discuss the spirit of a new kind of entrepreneurship that has made the world of arts come alive – ‘cultural entrepreneurship’. May it be visual arts, performing arts, movies or web series, the spirit of innovation has seeped in, placing India firmly on the global map as well. These initiatives are making all our lives richer by exposing us to art, literature and music.
Cultural entrepreneurship is a win-win scenario, developing new audiences as well as the opportunity for creating revenue to invest back into cultural content. As a result it increases economic independence as well.
The idea of entrepreneurship is integral to democracy. Entrepreneurship signals towards responsibility, accountability, tireless efforts, innovation and initiative – the most important values of a thriving democracy.
Bollywood is a significant culturally entrepreneurial ecosystem. Who are these cultural entrepreneurs, though? According to Anheier and Isar, they “are cultural change agents and resourceful visionaries who organize cultural, financial, social and human capital, to generate revenue from a cultural activity. Their innovative solutions result in economically sustainable cultural enterprises that enhance livelihoods and create cultural value and wealth for both creative producers and consumers of cultural services and products”.
Let us meet some cultural entrepreneurs making our country proud today.
- Neha Kirpal and India Art Fair
India Art Fair is South Asia’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art and portal to the region’s cultural landscape. Founded in 2008, India Art Fair has become the bedrock of a now booming cultural community with connections to every level of the market.
Building on these foundations, India Art Fair is expanding its programming to reflect South Asia’s immense diversity in the visual arts and to provide a platform for innovation across disciplines and exchange, throughout the region and the world.
Founded by Neha Kirpal in 2008, the fair is only growing stronger now. Attendance figures have grown to over 300,000 visitors, making India Art Fair one of the most widely engaging fairs in the world. In recognition of this global impact and success, Neha has received several awards and recognitions in the arts and cultural entrepreneurship.
You can read more about India Art Fair here.
- GSP Rao and Muse India e-Journal
G Surya Prakash Rao founded an e-journal called museindia.com to develop encourage and develop poetry in pace with the advancing web-technology. As the journal’s Managing editor, Rao themes each of its issues, inspired by Indian culture. Muse India, apart from other literary sections has a dedicated space for poetry in each of its issues and this has effectively brought almost every contemporary Indian poet at one place. Surya Rao was also behind the initiation of ‘The Hyderabad Literature Festival’, which has earned great reputation as an annual gathering of authors, and particularly poets, in the city of Hyderabad. Only possible with an entrepreneurial spirit, don’t you think?
Read more on museindia.com
- Akshay Rautray, Satabdi Mishra and Read More, India
Plagued by an article that claimed that only 25% of the Indian population reads ardently in spite of being literate, 34-year-old Akshay Kumar Rautray and 32-year-old Satabdi Mishra have set out on a mission. On December 15, 2015, they loaded a truck with over four thousand books, and set out to travel across 20 states in 90 days as a part of their campaign ‘Read More, India’. During the trip, the duo conducts small book fairs at various schools, colleges, universities and other public places. They park their vehicle at various spots around the city so that people can browse through their collection. People can read the books and even buy them at discounted rates.
Read more about this duo here.
- Aishwarya Natarajan and Indianuance
Indian classical music is a unique art form that is unlike other classical music because it relies on the individual musician to create his or her own path to the concert stage. Thus, Indian classical musicians often finds themselves undertaking the day to day management of each event or recording instead of simply concentrating on their music. Indianuance bridges the gap between musician and audience by arranging, curating and marketing music for musicians and their audiences.
Aishwarya Natarajan, the founder, won British Council’s Young Music Entrepreneur of the year award in 2011.
You can read more about Aishwarya and Indianuance here.
We at Desh Apnayen firmly as responsible citizens, it is our duty and indeed our honour to enable these entrepreneurs to flourish among us for our moral and internal progress as well. Let us all take the lead in our own small ways to fuel our country’s entrepreneurship story collectively and collaboratively.
