[Reader-list] Of art, morality, etc.

[Baruk S. Jacob]

hey arka, read your mail with much interest-areas i have been thinking about too. my responses below, thanks for bringing this up!

 
> In each state, three cities will be covered. We will be capturing       > information under the following areas through the study:
> 
> • Growth and decline of groups and performances over the last ten years
> 
> • The needs and problems faced by performance groups and festival       > organizers
> 
> • The advantages and disadvantages of performance spaces in each city
> 
> • The ways in which grantees of different Tata Trusts have tried to
> address some of the needs and issues of performance infrastructure
 
~ i may be overly paranoid, but the line of questioning seems to be trying to get at two things: 1) document how the tatas have 'helped' cultural pursuit by providing infrastructure, and 2) how can the tatas gain more cultural mileage and brand goodwill among people (by providing more infrastructure). 

> Our grant programmes variously respond to existing demand for
> assistance, provide opportunities for artists to explore untried
> processes and new connections in the arts, or address systemic issues in > the field. 

~ notice that the areas given support are 'processes' and 'systemic' issues in theatre? in other words, play safely academic. 

> The Theatre Infrastructure Cell(TIC) was set up earlier this year with  > the support of the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust to look at strengthening  >  theatre infrastructure in the country. 

~ as long as you stick to experiments in technicalities, and do not offend the hand that feeds you.

> in as much as theatre itself is an act of taking a stance,
> an act of principle that takes immense moral courage to execute, I
> wonder how an artist or an artiste could work with Tata money (or money
> from any organization funded by them) and yet be at peace with
> himself/herself? 

~ one can take a principled stance on either side of the fence. while i personally would find it awfully difficult to work off a tata grant, it does not therefore follow that all artist(e)s would therefore have the same difficulty.

> does such 'art' have any integrity? Any moral leg to stand on?"*

~ i tend to take the word 'integrity' at dictionary value-the fact of one's actions being integrated with one's beliefs. by that definition, any art that is true to the artist's beliefs has integrity.

~ to sum up, i completely share in your horror of tata's actions at singur, and am equally disgusted at the way they try to play the role of the old kings, patronising the arts with ill-gotten money. having said that, i cannot impose the moral standard i hold for myself on other artists. just the way i would not appreciate it if they were to impose their moral standards on me!

regards,

baruk

http://bottlebroke.blogspot.com