Crowdfunding drive to save 1,000-yr-old theatre art
NEW DELHI: To preserve the centuries-old theatre art form of Koodiyattam, a recently launched crowdfunding campaign seeks to fund the training of a new generation of artists in the art form.
The campaign is aimed at protecting the art form from dying out for want of patronage and interest in the modern world.
The Nepathya Centre for Koodiyattam in Kerala is being supported by Sahapedia, the online encyclopedia of Indian arts and culture, in its goal to raise Rs 20 lakh via the crowdfunding platform BitGiving.
Koodiyatam, believed to be the only surviving form of ancient Sanskrit theatre in the world, draws on the plays of Sanskrit dramatists of antiquity. It is said to have followed an unbroken tradition for more than 1,000 years in the state of Kerala.
A highly stylised art form, Koodiyattam evolved its unique theatre grammar over centuries with its own complex conventions, gestures and expressions, which require many years of arduous training to master.
Once limited to temples, Koodiyattam emerged on to performance stages and international audiences in the 1950s, thanks to the efforts of celebrated gurus such as Mani Madhava Chakyar, Painkulam Rama Chakyar and Ammanur Madhava Chakyar.
However, what remains today is merely 50 practitioners and institutions such as Kalamandalam, Margi and Ammannur Gurukulam in Kerala which impart training in the art form. Nepathya’s founder and guru Margi Madhu said the lack of public awareness is one of the reasons for poor financial support and dearth of young artists keen to learn.
The crowdfunding drive is also doubling up as an awareness campaign, he added.
“Nepathya has been struggling to raise funds for the past 12 years. Currently, we are at risk of losing our trained artists,” Madhu said.