The first visit to Raghurajpur, the village of Odisha Pattachitra artists, was made between 8 – 10 November, 2018 to know about the tradition, population and geographical distribution of the community, the process of art making, current market and channels of distribution and challenges faced by the community. Another key purpose of this visit was to the village and mapping families and documenting colour making process for the Patachitra with the active help of local artists.
In the second visit between 15 – 17 November, 2018, we accompanied 23 Pattachitra artists from Raghurajpur to the local festival Pot Maya organized by the Pattachitra artists of Pingla, West Bengal. This was a exposure visit for the Odisha Pattachitra artists who experienced how a local festival can promote the traditional art and the place as cultural destination.
During the third visit between 22 – 30 November, 2018 the Contact Base team shared information about the research project – HIPAMS with the community artists, made them aware about the implication of being a participant and probable benefit for the community. The visiting team made a list of participants who signed in the consent forms for publishing their images or videos. The team also identified a venue for the workshop in consultation with the local artists and conveyed the date and time of the first workshop to them. Discussions were held on their current trend of sales, market demand etc.
This research project, Heritage Sensitive Intellectual Property and Marketing strategies: India (HIPAMS - INDIA), is funded by the British Academy's Sustainable Development Programme, supported under the UK Government's Global Challenges Research Fund 2018-2021.
