Art Spectrum Awards 2017: Giving Youth Of India Access To Arts

Brought To You By Mojarto, NDTV & The Serendipity Arts Festival, the inaugural ASA:SA - 2017 will be held in Goa on the evening of the 16th of December.

The future of South Asian Art rivals the region’s rich cultural history and should be reinforced and sustained by the pioneers of contemporary art and their vision of the future. The extension of that knowledge towards the cultivation of programs and progress into new generations of artists, patrons, and audiences is paramount to the evolution of the arts for decades to come.

After a successful first year partnering with The Serendipity Trust, Mojarto has taken the initiative to host the first ever awards honouring the arts across the diverse spectrum of disciplines within the arts across India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal & Afghanistan. The core mission of the festival and Mojarto are interdisciplinary accessibility to, and education of the arts and this value has created a successful symbiosis between the two.

The awards will take place at the DB Grounds in Panjim, Goa, and will be nationally televised amongst the beautiful backdrop of the 2nd annual Serendipity Arts Festival. They will focus on the essence of the core values of the festival itself – arts education, interdisciplinary awareness & progress, and overall excellence in the arts.

The committee of experts that will make up the awards’ selectors and jury has been releases and will be joined by the esteemed curators of the festival itself. Ranjit Hoskote, Lilette Dubey, Shubha Mudgal, Sumant Jaikrishnan, Riyas Komu, Manu Chandra & Dinesh Khanna, are just a few of the names that will decide 5 major award categories to receive a 15 lakh grant to continue their work in the arts.

The awards process will take place in a format where nominees for each category shall be suggested, refined to three nominations, and then awarded by a jury of some of the worlds’ foremost names in the arts field. The evening will annually set the tone for what has been accomplished over the previous year’s art calendar in terms of education, aesthetics, patronage, and accessibility.

The categories for this year are as follows:

GREAT COLLECTIONS:
Celebrating great, unique collections of South Asia with a focus on collectors who have used their personal collections to educate and enrich the arts publicly as well as preserve a specific heritage.

BREAKING NEW GROUND (ARTS INITIATIVE):
Awarded in 2017 to an artist/collective who has initiated public art projects that have had significant cultural and social impact through immersive urban/rural integration as well as whose work questions our aesthetics and understanding as to the boundaries of art.

TRANSFORMATION (VISUAL ARTS):
Awarded in 2017 to an artist less than 45 years of age who has uniquely enriched and affected their field of visual arts through innovative aesthetics and technical excellence as well as social and educational awareness.

CREATION (CRAFT ARTS):
Awarded in 2017 to the designer/house in the field of textiles that has used traditional techniques combined with modern technology to rethink and redefine design and production processes.

CONNECTION (PERFORMING ARTS):
Awarded in 2017 to an individual/collective for innovation, excellence, and originality in the discipline of theatrical playwriting.

SENSATION (CULINARY ARTS):
Awarded in 2017 to an individual/collective for creative simplicity, sensory complexity, and excellence in the discipline of molecular gastronomy along with the use of ‘forgotten foods’.

We seek to redefine the accomplishments that are worth exceptional recognition for their aesthetic and artistic content. Equally important is their contribution to education and advancement of the arts. It is our hope to encourage the promotion and exchange of future ideas – inspiring the youth of India access to the arts on a meaningful level through diverse social engagement.

We look forward to having you join us on this unique occasion honoring excellence in our region’s variety and wide spectrum of arts.