Journalism of Courage
After a successful three-day Parikrama Dance Festival held in Pune in December 2008,Juee Deogaonkar,a celebrated Bharatnatyam guru,felt a gap in the planning and execution of the management of the festival and decided to look for ways to improve her management skills in the field of performing arts. After much research on the internet,Deogaonkar stumbled upon various arts management courses offered by universities in UK. She applied to a list of universities for a masters course in Cultural Policy and Management and to her surprise,got an admission into all of them,however,she chose to take up the year long course at City University,London that commenced from September 2009.
Our universities have a variety of courses to offer but I could not find even one arts management course. The course I enrolled for,focussed on developing audiences for artistic excellence,social benefits of engaging in art and culture,making economic sustainability or art,and creating public awareness about visual and performing art, says Deogaonkar,who is organising a programme titled ‘Cosmica’ on Saturday,October 6 at MES Auditorium,Bal Shikshan Mandir School Campus,Mayur colony,Kothrud. The programme is aimed at bringing various art organisations under an umbrella of the Cosmica Cultural Collective,an initiative by Deogaonkar to implement proper art management techniques for art events in the city.
As Deogaonkar came back to the city after finishing her course in the UK in 2010,she implemented all that she had learnt into planning and managing the Heritage Walk project organised by Pune Muncipal Corporation (PMC) to be launched later this year. As project coordinator for the Heritage Walk at the Maratha Chamber Of Commerce and Agriculture (MCCIA),she contributes towards the branding of the event as well as planning it with the principles of art management. While I was in London,I attended a number of performing arts programmes and realised that they are presented in an interactive way,which is what I want to bring to performances organised here in India. The audiences must not only watch and appreciate the art,be it visual or performing art but learn from it and take home something new, explains Deogaonkar,who also teaches Bharatnatyam at Sayhadri School on Pune-Nashik highway,which is run by the Krishnamurti Foundation,India.
