Charles Haynes wrote: > Are they "respected" professions? How widespread are they? I'm really > very uninformed about them other than having listened to a few > carnatic music performances, and a few other musical performances. I
Well, they are respected amateur and professional lifestyles. Especially classical music and dance. And you do have stars, especially in classical music, who make lots by cutting records and such. As for amateur .. it is kind of de rigueur in madras at least, typically for tamil Brahmin families, to stick their kid into music and/or dance classes by the time they are 7 or 8. And there's an active community of such people.. with TV shows and such to showcase kids talents. It is when people jump the gap from amateur performance to doing this for "work" that the shoe starts to pinch. > Yeah, patronage was how art was traditionally supported. Where are the > modern Indian patrons of the arts? If there aren't any, why do you > think that is? Perhaps we could support opensource development via a > patronage system? What captains of industry might be willing? Google for "madras sabha season" and see all the names financing all the concerts.. but other, more traditional art forms (folk art, sculpture, etc) tend to languish. > Interesting. Do you think that true of all the British colonial > tradition, or is India different? The initial british colonial tradition was the east india company - in india to make a profit. Much later you did have individual brits (besides their senior Indian employees such as the dubash / interpretor to the local governor etc, as well as local rajas) patronizing local arts and artistes, and awarding them pensions, silk shawls / gold medals etc. This book has a fairly comprehensive history - http://www.hindu.com/br/2006/02/28/stories/2006022800541600.htm > I'm not so sure - see "patronage" above. I think it requires a culture > that appreciate and values art. How would that end up subsidizing the large number of beginner (and worse, workmanlike / mediocre rather than genius level) artists?
