New Delhi: TRIFED and JD Centre of Arts on October 30, 2020 have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for collaborating on joint socio-cultural research work and anthropological study of tribal art and tradition in tribal dominated regions of India. The JD Centre of Arts is driven by Shri Jatin Das, its Founder and Chairman, a renowned contemporary artist who has also been conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards.
Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED, and Shri Jatin Das signed the MoU in an virtual signing ceremony. The event was graced by Shri Lalit Mansingh, esteemed diplomat, who was also the Ambassador of India to the United States of America, Shri Nandita Das, an established artiste and literary personality, and Shri Siddharth Das, architect, also trustees of JDCA. Shri Anil Ramteke, Executive Director, TRIFED, Smt. Sangeeta Mahindra, Executive Director TRIFED, and other officials of TRIFED also attended the online signing.
The collaboration is an attempt to preserve the arts and crafts and traditions of the tribal communities which are slowly becoming a thing of the past. In a fast changing world, where modernity, technology and development have taken root and primitive indigenous ways of living are but a thing of the past, found in text books, there are hundreds of tribal communities spread across. Tribal artisans, set in their lives, are still trying to preserve the arts and crafts and traditions of their communities. TRIFED has been striving in its mission to empower these disadvantaged people by promoting the economic welfare of these communities and bringing them towards mainstream development.
As a part of this association, it has been agreed to work together and identify areas of cooperation for research, documentation, archiving and collection of tribal art and craft, with specific reference to Tribal lifestyle and livelihood. Based on this, several initiatives which will help in preserving the tribal knowledge would be taken up along with deliverables and timelines.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pravir Krishna thanked Shri Jatin Das and Shri Lalit Mansingh for their goodwill. He was hopeful that along with their scholarship and guidance, these objectives will be met. Thanking Ms. Nandita Das and Shri Siddharth Das for their support, he was hopeful that their insights – literary, architectural – would help take this collaboration forward. Shri Das spoke about his journey as an artist and spoke about the concern regarding survival of indigenous traditions and how this concern had resulted in the setting up of this Centre. He was thankful to the Government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED for taking this association forward. Shri Mansingh, in a brief address, congratulated the tie-up and complimented TRIFED for its various programmes and initiatives towards the empowerment and betterment of tribals across the country.
With the successful implementation of this collaboration and many more upcoming ones, TRIFED not only hopes to preserve tribal art and culture but also empower them by generating income and livelihoods resulting in a complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country.
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