SAF Cultural Committee Meeting, 4th March 2008

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Conference 4th March 2008

SOUTH ASIA FOUNDATION-India
A-33 Vasant Marg, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi 110 057

 

Attending Members:
    - Mr. Wajahat Habibullah (Chair)
    - Ms. Madhu Jain
    - Mrs. Vidya Shah
    - Mr. Karan Khosla (Convener)


Minutes of the Meeting

1. Mr. Habibullah suggested that the SAF-India Cultural Committee should set guidelines for proposals on activities and projects; these guidelines should indicate:
    Purpose
        - Should indicate regional scope and conform to the SAF Charter
        - Should fit in with existing SAF-India projects
    Target audience.
    Methods for achieving sustainability.

2. Ms. Jain has been working in Kashmir to revive traditional crafts by infusing production techniques and modern sensibility from all over South Asia.  She has produced a CD of her work, which SAF-India may use as a starting point for a proposal to Ambassador Singh and the Board of Advisors.  Though the project is no longer active, Ms Jain's team is still in Kashmir and could offer its services to SAF-India; SAF-India has vocational development programmes in both Jammu and Kashmir which could benefit from the value addition of this project.  

3. Mrs. Vidya Shah suggested that music, like handicrafts, unifies religions and could be a great way for SAF to promote its cultural activities.  Various artists from across the region could perform in rotation amongst the eight SAARC countries promoting Regional Cooperation.  Both craft and music related projects could be professionally documented for the SAF Documentation Centre which would generate content relevant to (and useful for) our development activities in South Asia;  Mrs. Sabina Sehgal Saikia might be able to help with this process. 

4. The following would also be added to the Cultural committee (members do not only have to be from Delhi):
    - Mr. Milind Soman (Actor)
    - Mrs. Asha Rani Mathur (INTACH)
    - Mrs. Jyoti Sharma (Author)

5.The next meeting of the committee would be in April.