This document is for those involved in or interested in mela developments.

Introduction

Melas are festivals of south Asia. These festivals have also been introduced around the world by south Asian diaspora. This paper tries to create a theoretical framework for melas that are taking place outside south Asia and especially in the European context. Mela translates from Sanskrit as ‘gathering’. From the first melas there have been aspirations to present artists of international standing on local stages at the same time as providing a platform for local artists. An early influence in that direction was the absence in the programme of many mainstream events and venues of proper reflection of the arts of the south Asian subcontinent. It has always been recognised that one of the causes of lack of variety in many melas has been under-funding. Setting out an artistic policy, this paper suggests, is the key to the central quest for artistic and operational excellence that should command proper public funding. The main influences in establishing melas in Europe remain the celebration of diversity and working together towards equality and justice.

Key Issues

Explicit in the formulation of this document are the following issues.

• Clear vision that melas in Europe should be both internationalist and European Regional, and are about quality, innovation and creating magic in peoples lives
• Awareness comes through living in a culturally diverse society that new approaches are required to bring about recognition and celebration of diversity
• Growing awareness of the hybrid nature of south Asian culture and of the diversity of that culture in a changing European and world context
• Having an essential methodology in melas that stresses networking, partnership and collaboration, and that builds in opportunities for members of the community to achieve both group and individual development
• Growing aspirations in melas of achieving recognition as major festivals in their own right and becoming significant players in the local, regional, national and international infrastructures
• Working together across cultures towards racial equality and harmony and the pursuit of justice are central aims

Factors taken into account while seeking Artistic Quality

Melas often have to recognise that:

• A minority of people in the local south Asian communities have an extensive knowledge of the subcontinent arts and cultural sector
• The area of culture in which communities tend to be best informed is in popular culture
• In the subcontinent, although also held in the towns and cities, melas are very much part of the rural infrastructure, from which many of European south Asian migrants came, and thus, melas have not always been seen by some south Asians as so relevant in the urban context
• Young people in the UK south Asian communities do not always see the mela as a cultural pursuit relevant to their own life style. While many are very enthusiastic some are positively hostile looking at mela as a ‘tribal’ throwback to a past that is no part of their present situation
• The vast majority of the south Asian communities wish to support the development of melas that allow them an annual platform to celebrate their cultural heritage alongside the people amongst whom they have settled
• Cultural heritage already encompasses different forms of south Asian culture including rural, urban, traditional, modern, popular and classical, as well as geographical realities from Sri Lanka and south India to the northern Himalayas, eastern Manipur to western Baluchistan
• Older members of the south Asian community often see the mela as an important vehicle for handing down traditions and understanding among new generations
• This factor and the need for widening understanding among the wider community results in educational activity being an essential component of mela strategy
• While a growing number of arts and cultural groups exist within minority communities, it is a minority that are properly resourced, are properly encouraged, and have regular exposure to sufficient models of high quality artistic pursuit
• Among those groups are those that were established to maintain and preserve artistic and cultural traditions, whose aspirations require recognition and respect. A mela should offer an avenue for such groups to experience their traditions in the context of that changing hybrid south Asian culture
• The absence of a plethora of colour in the European mainstream traditions has presented a design challenge for the mela. The design approach to mela needs to take something from theatrical design to bring a colourful environment, perhaps even treating the entire event as ‘one promenade performance’

Developing Artistic Policy

That range of factors has led to a number of conclusions that have influenced policy development in more progressive melas

• Essential need to create a particularly modern and relevant mela in its national or regional context, looking back and looking forward
• The need for direct exchange and collaboration with cultural individuals and organisations on an international basis to grow the melas’ knowledge and expertise while connecting with south Asian roots (e.g. residencies by current south Asian artists). That growth should especially relate to understanding of modernity in the sub-continent and the role of the arts and culture there, exchange of artistic technique for mutual development, and broadening practical knowledge of programming and artistic quality, education and operational activity. Cultural awareness education will result from such increased contact and knowledge exchange. As the melas build into a forward looking national resource, strong contact with the roots will contribute to capacity and institution building. In a practical sense, issues such as the required colourful and theatrical environment can be better addressed
• The need to extend such connection beyond the south Asian sphere (e.g. residencies with artists from other cultures, including those living in the locality of the melas)
• The key connection needed is with international contacts that can help the melas grow skills, knowledge and expertise, and relationships based on longer-term activity of mutual benefit.
• Need for networking and exchange of information within the European Mela Network and cultural operators, both those within and without the south Asian cultural sector
• An until recently neglected area of networking that should be part of future policy is the issue of interregional and European variations of south Asian diaspora cultures, and the need to understand and relate in such networks
• Need for networking and exchange of information particularly with the Festivals sector in Europe and through arts activity with communities in the locations where melas are held
• A practical need for a diverse range of in-house professional expertise in artistic, operational, community development, marketing and administrative fields
• An essential need for the boards of the melas to feel ownership of the vision and the means by which the vision is to be achieved
• A structure for outside community interaction with the melas decision-making processes
• Clearly articulated policies that can be fully understood within and without the organisation, especially artistic policy
• The opportunity for the mela policy and practice to be utilised to advance development in other institutions

Artistic Policy Objectives

The outcome of these approaches would be a set of policies that should be reviewed annually and might include:

• Annual artistic input of a residency nature, ideally serviced by artists from the subcontinent and by artists from the UK with a strong knowledge of the mela sector. A major purpose is to grow local skills and sense of adventure and increase understanding of the complexity of the changing south Asian realities
• Annual artistic input of international artists to give maximum opportunity to see high quality practice
• Developmental visits to and from the subcontinent of key mela players who can grow partnerships and develop networking
• All-year programming of community and artistic development work including innovative fusion activity, perhaps by partner organisations where mela resources are inadequate
• Providing a platform for local artistic groups, especially for those interested in the melas’ sense of adventure and trying new approaches
• Pushing out the boundaries, such as into film, into book fair and into discussion meetings around art forms or cultural themes
• Providing opportunities for members of the community who have not been involved in much artistic activity (especially young people) to get hands on opportunities to learn and develop skills
• Creating new opportunities through links to schools and community arts activity and widening knowledge of world arts in the context of a mela environment
• Celebrating diversity and ensuring that the mela plays a part in increasing the visibility of minority ethnic communities while influencing the mainstream of which these communities are an important part; including in the fields of equality, cultural change and justice.
• Recognising the importance of the media in all its forms and the need for a robust achievable press and public relations strategy to widen promotion of the mela experience and message
• Establishing the mela as a vibrant progressive actor in the regional and national arts environment

The Mela and south Asian arts

Melas need to address their engagement with the continuing development of south Asian arts in Europe. This requires

• Understanding of the base position in that the diaspora from the sub-continent is multifaceted and multicultural, that a changing ‘original’ set of cultures and religions continues to exist and develop in the sub-continent, and that a whole range of hybrid cultures are being created in a world of individual multiple identities
• A vision of an ever-changing and hybrid south Asian arts scene in which European-based south Asian artists are part of that developing hybrid and diversity
• A responsibility to reflect in the programming, tradition (including the importance of language), the present day situation, and provision of channels to the future
• Provision of support for those groups who wish to preserve south Asian cultural traditions and art forms in a European context
• Provision of support for those who wish to experiment and innovate around south Asian arts and be part of the new south Asian arts and cultural activity
• Provision of genuine non-exploitative bilateral or multilateral international exchange, allowing transfer and growth of experience and understanding among artists and communities
• Provision of genuine non-exploitative local exchange on a similar basis
• Helping to achieve recognition that south Asian languages are now part of the indigenous languages of Europe and that south Asian culture and arts (and indeed other minority cultures and arts) are now part of the traditional cultural and arts scene of Europe

These aspects ensure that the mela must be a producer (often a co-producer) as well as a presenter; that it must have an all-year strategy; and that it must have a children and youth development focus within that strategy. There is also a concept that everything is relevant – classical, traditional, folk, popular and experimental arts. Also, the mela needs to position itself at the forefront of cultural change, not be led by it.

Setting Targets

To achieve these policies a range of artistic targets should be in place for each year. This might include some or all of these:

• Although much of the infrastructure may be the same, there should exist for the audience a sense of visiting a recognisably different mela each year. Site design and programme content should have noticeable differences of emphasis
• Actual artistic RISK should be in the programme each year, and there must be at least one serious new artistic challenge each year, but preferably two or three
• Creation of NEW ARTISTIC WORK for every mela, involving an increasing level of local participant involvement (with an aim to achieve at least one new development in each of the fields of new music and new visual art each year and exploration of new development in other art forms, recognising that new development can be across art forms)
• A search for MAGIC in each year’s event, a voyage of collective discovery
• A quest for QUALITY that is assessed on peer and audience feedback
• Quantifiable development of local artistic progress by monitoring artistic activity in a systematic way and reporting annually on perceived progress
• Quantifiable development of artistic networking partnerships by creating a structure for recording core, intermediate and minor partnerships and annually assessing progress
• Increasing the level of reflection of diversity in the programme while maintaining the mela’s unique ‘selling point’, it’s south Asian context
• Agreeing and monitoring more precise targets with core funders and strategic partners

Conclusion

Over the years, there should always be openness to new ideas and to change while being conscious of the need to respect the aspirations of the core audience who want a good celebration each year. They also want to feel that it is a celebration that grows in quality and effectiveness. As the years progress, more and more artistic adventure and quality input will mean changing views on the rationale around what is developing. There has always been an aspiration for quality, but more and more it has been recognised that the mela has to be more proactive in creating opportunities, expanding horizons and developing that quality. This is marathon race, not a 100-metre sprint.

Bansi Kaul, India-based Melange associate but with experience of the UK mela environment writes:

To continue its successful development, the mela of the future will be

                  Flexible   Open   Innovative   Dynamic    Magic

Our melas should reflect multiple streams of humanity flowing together in harmony

                                rivers of tradition

                  rivers of past

                                            rivers of present

                                                                      rivers of future

It is these flowing rivers that we are part of and it is these rivers of future that you are helping to create