GD+Assignment+1

Diane Daugherty discusses the funding of three art forms in Kerala, India. These three art forms are // kutiyattam //, // kathakali //, and // teyyam. // Her studies during the Golden Jubilee year suggest that although the support and funding for the arts was insufficient, Kerala was on the correct track concerning three things. Kerala’s government increased grants to arts institutions, active fund-raising with arts enthusiasts, and the promotion of the arts by the Department of Tourism (p. 238). Daugherty connects a change in the socioeconomic setup with the erosion of the arts at the end of the nineteenth century. She says that the financial support of the arts by a caste of priests, royal families, and Hindu temples declined due to a change in the matrilineal joint-family system and the increase of Indian nationalism. The matrilineal joint-family system traced inheritance through the female ancestry. So upon the change of Indian nationalism and social reform brought impacts to the three performance art forms. Before this change, families of the performers were granted plots of land for an annual performance in a temple. The families would also get a large portion of the goods that would be produced on this land (p.239). After the Indian independence, many performers were stripped of this land that was once the compensation for a performance. Daugherty says that in 1965, the opening of a state-run // kutiyattam // section set the art apart from the temple ritual and would allow training in // kutiyattam //regardless of the caste system. With this change came the development of // kutiyattam // troupes like: the Kerala Kalamandalam Cultural Education Institute, the Ammannur Gurukulam, and Margi, Thiruvananthapuram. These troupes were the first to secure fund raising grants that would help to provide regular performance opportunities for actors. D. Appukuttan Nair, the founder of Margi, Thiruvananthapuram, secured a grant from a Ford Foundation grant that ran for six years (p 241). Daugherty says that in 1976, a law was enacted that broke up the rest of any remaining joint-families and completed land reform. Although this law was taking away from the performance arts, it brought new modern patronage from government grants, temple festivals, and civic clubs. Daugherty says that one government grant to Kerala Kalamandalam of Rs. 89 lakh, even though it took about Rs. 95 lakh to operate the center. With the development of government grants brought the development of the Kalamandalam into a performing arts school to educate performers. The school would be forced to supplement the government grants with performances to make ends meet. They would make banners and other advertisements to showcase these performances for tourists to come watch. This would help to develop large festivals by the Department of Tourism of Kerala. Performers would be paid for these performances, but it is known that this compensation does not even cover the costs for the elaborate costumes (p. 243). Daugherty continues to say that tourism is becoming a large part of Kerala, India. Although performers of // kutiyattam //, // kathakali //, and // teyyam // are paid extremely meager wages, the performing arts in Kerala are on a correct track with the organized performances at tourist festivals, government aid, and fund-raising within these performance art institutions. The move from these art forms to a more tourism funded institute will prove to be a positive one in the long run.
 * Fifty Years On: Arts Funding in Kerala Today. ** By Diane Daugherty. __Asian Theatre Journal.__ Fall, 2000. 17.2. pp. 237-252