Arts Spectrum Awards in December, to be given in five categories

The upcoming Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa this December will host the first ever Arts Spectrum Awards in the South Asia region. Being seen as an attempt to recognise, encourage and promote interdisciplinary art forms, the awards will be presented in five categories and the winners will each receive Rs 15 lakh.

The result of a collaboration between Mojarto, an online aggregator for original paintings (an NDTV venture) and the Serendipity Arts Trust, the awards will be presented on December 16 in Goa. The categories include Great Collections, Arts Initiative, Visual Arts, Craft Arts, Performing Arts and Culinary Arts.

As a prelude to this pioneering initiative, the organisers hosted a panel discussion on "Remapping India through Patronage of the Arts" at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art here.

Panellists Kiran Nadar, founder of Kiran Nadar Art Museum; Sunil Munjal, founder of Serendipity Arts Trust; Malvika Singh, Cultural Advisor to Government of Rajasthan; Pramod Kumar of EKA Archiving Services and Akaash Mehta, Art Consultant of Mojarto.com spoke enthusiastically about the importance of making art more inclusive for everyone.

They also discussed the need to bring in philanthropic efforts in focused areas to elevate interest in art.

"We as a society thrive on patronage -- whether it is education, music, art or culture. It is part of our genetic core to express ourselves in a manner that we crave to understand civilization. Hence, with the Art Spectrum Awards, we aim to recognize and appreciate art by bringing the patrons together in one place and celebrating it," said Sunil Munjal at the event on Thursday evening.

The awards are an attempt to encourage the promotion and exchange of future ideas to inspire the youth of India. The nominees have been chosen from across Saarc countries -- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan.

--IANS

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