Pakistan artistes may not attend Goa arts festival

Panaji : Young Pakistani artistes may not be able to attend the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa due to the ongoing hostilities between India and its neighbour, an organiser said.

"It's been a very tough time and we still don't have a real answer. What we have done is that when we conceived the young sub-continent project, we had four artistes from Pakistan as part of the project. Will they be able to physically come here, perhaps not," festival director Preeta Singh said on Tuesday. The Serendipity Arts Festival is a multi-disciplinary arts event which will happen from December 16-23 in Goa. The event will be curated by a panel of leading experts from across the arts. According to its organisers, the festival aims to bind and promote art and culture that is unique to the various geographies in the sub-continent, on a single collaborative platform.

"I am aware that the times are tough between the two countries. But these are sad realities which come into the arts," Singh said. "They (Pakistani artistes) were very much a part of our thinking, our ecosystem, our ideas, but given the present circumstance, the jury is out," she added. This year's edition of the festival, she said, is a part of a long-term cultural project that hopes to affect positive changes in art in India on a large scale. Talking about the festival, Singh said: "It is a first of its kind in India to celebrate the diversity in art with special focus on music, dance, theatre, crafts, visual arts and culinary arts." The event will have performances by theatre artistes like Lilette Dubey, Anuradha Kapur, percussionist Ranjit Bharot, classical singer Shubha Mudgal, poet Ranjit Hoskote, photographers Prashant Panjiar and Dinesh Khanna, etc. An art collectors' conclave, in partnership with the London-based Art House Christie's, has also been organised in a bid to broaden the concept of patronage of the arts in the country.