Cult Following: Supporting their own

A couple of weeks back, Mumbai-based pastor Fr Warner D’Souza surprised his congregation and Bengalurean Carlton Braganza when he began his sermon for the day by thanking the latter. “For the last 70 days, he has gone live and regaled over 600 people all over the world and he has done it with his music,” said Fr D’Souza, priest-in-charge of St Jude Church, Malad East. He then went one step ahead and requested his listeners to support artistes’. “Reach out to them - painters, musicians, singers, (because) all of them are going to be really hit…” he said. While one may not have expected a man of piety to say this, Fr D’Souza couldn’t have been far from the truth. Since the beginning of March, weeks before the country went into a lockdown, live shows started getting cancelled and since then artistes across board have lost their means to earn. While those in the cultural sector bemoan the absence of conversation related to artistes’ struggles — the Covid-19 relief package announced by the government didn’t have anything specifically allocated to the arts sector either, there are attempts being made by a few to support themselves and/or their ilk.


THINKING OUT OF THE ‘JUKEBOX’

Let’s get back to Braganza who figured in Fr D’Souza’s address. A well-recognized face in Bengaluru’s live music circuit — he was owner of erstwhile restaurant and live performance venue, Opus — Braganza, one evening during the early days of the lockdown decided to go online and sing, a glass of chilled beer by his side. “I decided that I’ll sing for half an hour every night from my bedroom to entertain myself,” he recalls. Since that random start, Braganza for the past two months has been entertaining his online audience — it has grown from friends and well-wishers to people across the world, Fr D’Souza is a regular — on his show called

Jukebox Jammies

. The show that has Braganza singing popular English songs got so popular beer brand Kingfisher tied up as a sponsor for close to 40 days. “It was a good association because it helped sustain me,” says Braganza who is pleased at the unexpected turn the show has taken. Among all the indie musicians performing to an internet audience in the country, Braganza is among the few who have hit upon an idea that has proven successful and looks set to grow.

In another corner of the country, musician couple Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan have initiated Gift a Concert, a musical series which aims to raise funds a tad creatively. Mudgal explains, “This is an online ondemand series, through which any music lover can

gift a concert

for an exclusive set of invitees at a date and time of their choosing. The idea is one aimed at generating revenues for artistes not as charity, but through professional performances that anyone can host within their budget.” Response from the artiste fraternity for the recently-launched project has been encouraging, she says. “We are in the process of signing agreements and setting up the entire process but we are optimistic.”

It is good to see artistes looking out for their disadvantaged counterparts with or without any institutional support. “Artistes in India are known to have a hand-to- mouth existence unless you are from an economically well-off family or you run institutes that teach,” says Bengaluru-based dancer and curator Masoom Parmar who too is raising funds. “I am collaborating with painter Girija Hariharan where she is creating paintings out of one of my performances based on saint poet Kabir’s work. We are selling these for as low as Rs 1,500 to raise funds. We have raised almost Rs 10,000,”he says.

NEW WAYS TO EARN

While it’s early days to think of newer ways to monetise performances, Braganza is hopeful. He talks of how certain episodes of Jukebox Jammies have been sponsored by individuals. “Recently, a friend of mine from

Singapore

sponsored an episode of my show because it was his birthday,” Braganza says adding, “I think a model where we have corporate sponsorships along with paid subscriptions and listeners pitching in with tips would work.”

Menaka Rodriguez

, head of Resource Mobilisation & Outreach at the India Foundation for the Arts admits that she has her work cut out for her when she approaches corporates and donors for raising funds for art projects in the upcoming months. Most companies have put their funds into Covid-19- or Cyclone Amphan- relief, so it has become challenging to raise funds for art grants. And one doesn’t know if corporates will change their outlook after a year. In times such as these, it is the individual funder who is the hope.”