13 Mar 2015  |   10:17pm IST

Can Art for Life give a new lease of life to Goan art?

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation has committed a partnership with Banglanatak dot com after recognising its model Art for Life at the world’s largest tourism trade fair, Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin that was held recently. Café spoke with Amitava Bhattacharya, Founder Director of Banglanatak dot com and delved into the details of the association and how it can affect Goa

Kishore Amati

Amitava Bhattacharya is an ecstatic man. Post his return from Berlin, he cannot help but share the fact that UNWTO has recognised Banglanatak dot com’s model Art for Life and has signed a partnership agreement at the recently held ITB Berlin, for which Bhattacharya was personally invited. Apart from the partnership, Bhattacharya was also invited to deliver the keynote address at UNWTO conference on Community Empowerment.

Speaking about the partnership with UNWTO, Amitava says, “The Art for Life model touches on safeguarding cultural heritage, helps communities to strengthen livelihoods from the same, develops pride and earns recognition from local, National and International communities. So, art villages evolve as cultural destinations and this increases the community’s involvement in tourism, adds to the socio economic parameters of the communities, evolves Responsible Ethical Tourism and aids in overall inclusive development.”

According to Bhattacharya, what was once a ‘beggars’ village’ in Bengal in 2004, has now been converted to ‘Artists’ village’, at Naya, Pingla. It is the Patachitra artists village, which at least 30,000 people visit throughout the year. In Nadia, the Baul Fakirs villages have evolved as destinations. After hosting the festival for 5 years, Banglanatak dot com decided not to do it anymore as the infrastructure was good enough for the Baul Fakirs to host the festival on their own. Similarly, in Madhubani, 300 women have formed social enterprises on Madhubani painting and handle the same.

Commenting on the importance of the partnership with UNWTO, Bhattacharya says, “With UNWTO recognising this model, it should be easier for us to push to the planners, the need to develop cultural tourism to achieve inclusive development and offer a unique cultural experience to the visitors. After all, 1 .1 billion people travelled in 2014 and 40% travelled to see culture. Goa may like to add its traditional villages to the tourism map and thus focus on some investment in their cultural villages and on cultural products. This is important. For example, Visitors to Goa may like to see Betul, Old Goa, Ponda, Pernem, etc.”