Presented by ACRI Bengaluru
17 February, 2021 | 6.30 - 7.30 pm | Webinar
ACRI Bengaluru Chapter hosted a peer-sharing session for arts professionals in the city. The session looked at how creative professionals are tackling financial planning - a challenging topic even in the best of times. The session was a conversation between Tejshvi Jain - Founder, ReReeti, Rebecca Spurgeon - Artistic Director, Jagriti Theatre, Vishal Kumaraswamy - Independent artist, Giridhar Udupa - Carnatic Musician, Founder of Udupa Foundation with chapter host Dipti Rao, Director - Projects at The Art X Company. The session explored how professionals reimagined their financial strategies during the lockdown and responded to the challenges that 2020 brought. Tejshvi Jain shared how pivoting to digital medium allowed some form of revenue generation and helped them increase their reach all over the country. She also mentioned how the working hours were reduced for employees at ReReeti, as they tried to cut costs with reduced pay. Rebecca Spurgeon talked about managing a physical space and the costs that go into it. She shared that the team at Jagriti Theatre decided to shut the building and work remotely during the lockdown to reduce operational costs.
She briefly talked about B-Safe, an initiative that started when venues in Bengaluru came together to share resources, support and apply for waivers from the government. Giridhar Udupa shared the impact of Covid-19 on music performances and concerts; and the overwhelming inter-community support and networks that the pandemic helped forge. Vishal Kumaraswamy shared his experience as an independent visual artist, working with technology critically and sustaining without receiving any funding from within the country. Vishal also shared some tips and tricks on how to manage finances as a freelance artist in India.
The session ended with all the speakers answering a few questions and from the audience, sharing positive stories from the pandemic, and talking about upcoming projects and initiatives to look forward to in 2021.