41 Chau maskmakers including 3 women participated in the final culmination workshop at artists’ village Charida on 5 Feb, 2021. The objective of this workshop was to share the outcomes of the HIPAMS project with the larger community, to listen the experience of the artists and to identify the future course of action for the community. The artists discussed how the social media training has helped them cope with the pandemic by sharing products on social media platforms opening up new income avenues. Dharmendra Sutradhar shared that he has received a big order from abroad, the customer had seen his work online and contacted him. The new innovative packaging was appreciated by the community and they shared instances of customer appreciation of packaging. They also decided to order packaging for larger products after a detailed discussion with the community. The Chau maskmakers shared about their new innovative products like masks on COVID, new characters like Mahishi (sister of demon Mahisasura), mask decoration made using natural ingredients like jute, leaves, pulses and seeds. The artists came up with the way forward and aspects that they would like to work on further for the promotion of their art and village like a common WhatsApp group to disseminate information among the community and a Facebook page for collective promotion.
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.
