support nework and funding opportunities session

Virtual discussion session on ‘Support Networks and Funding Opportunities for art community (Performance/Visual/Word) in North East India’ on 27 September, 2020, organised by WLTC and Nething.

Women Leadership Training Centre and NEthing organized a virtual discussion session on ‘Support Networks and Funding Opportunities for art community (Performance/Visual/Word) in North East India’ on 27 September, 2020. The session was attended by 16 artists and was facilitated by-Mary Therese Kurkalang, founder of Khublei, an Art, Culture and Publishing Agency from Shillong.

Mary who was fascinated with the ‘magic of art’ shared her experience of 25 years on how she placed herself in the ecosystem of art and culture. She called on the participants to identify their ‘space’ to showcase their talents and do their ‘homework’ meticulously for that. Participants shared their challenges as well as opportunities and spaces they found in cyber world through social media platform like Instagram. Participants shared lack of support, empathy and recognition of the art work.

About funding opportunities, Mary explained the challenges in terms of physical space, thinking space and how institutional policies affect those. She stressed the need for planning, research, budgeting and the importance of a well-explained project idea. There is not fixed standard for this however, artists must be able to break down the requirements meticulously.

WLTC and NEthing will continue the conversation in its future programs and initiatives to highlight the challenges faced by the art community.