Contact FICCI
Art & culture need govt. support by way of finances, tax breaks and safety nets for practitioners - Shashi Tharoor
Feb 12, 2019
NEW DELHI, 12 February 2019: Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament & Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs today said that the Jaipur Literature Festival and Kochi-Muziris Biennale art exhibition and festival are shining examples of how soft power can propel cities into the global cultural map, promote people-to-people contact, give a fillip to allied industries such as tourism and build smart infrastructure.
Speaking at FICCI's 'Smart Cities, Art Cities' Summit for building creative industries in India, Dr Tharoor said, "Soft power is the power of attraction of showing to the people that you are worthy of them. It isn't about propaganda, it is about being what you are propagating.� He further added that culture in all its manifestations does not flourish in a vacuum, it needs government support by way of finances to build infrastructure, tax breaks and social security safety nets for the practitioners of arts and crafts.
Mr Sanjoy K Roy, Co-Chair, FICCI Art & Culture Division and Managing Director, Teamwork Arts said that no city or society can survive without being deeply embedded with art and culture. To date, there is only lip service for the promotion of art and crafts. There is no data available of the contribution of art and culture to GDP and that explained the absence of any tangible action.
He said that as India transits from a manufacturing to a service-based economy; its future will rest on thinking out of the box. Crafts, technology and design would have to coalesce to create the jobs that this country so urgently needs to generate.
Ms Harinder Sidhu, Australia's High Commissioner to India; Mr Kieran Drake, Minister Counsellor, Political and Press, British High Commission in India; Ms Maya Kadosh, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel in India and Mr Navtej Sarna, Author and former Ambassador of India to the USA, while addressing the session on 'Developing Soft Power', spoke of the importance of recognising that perceptions were incredibly powerful in creating impressions about a country, the need for creating spaces for creativity to flourish, of branding where creativity and innovation come to the fore and of a society that is capable of solving the problems of the rich and mighty.
Also Read
- Art & Culture can only flourish with govt support: Shashi Tharoor
- FICCI Art & Culture Division organised conference on “Smart Cities, Art Cities" in New Delhi