Chitra Santhe's digital avatar extended by a month

For the love of art

Following requests from artists, this year’s virtual Chitra Santhe has been extended by a further month, the Chitrakala Parishath has announced.

The Santhe, in its 18th edition, was inaugurated on January 3 and was scheduled to go on for a month. It is being held online this year to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19.

More than 11.3 lakh people have visited the virtual santhe. The festival has also allowed visitors to buy artworks ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 8 lakh by helping consumers establish direct contact with the artists. Besides the website, art connoisseurs also witnessed the festival via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. This allowed participation of art lovers from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The five galleries apart, 10 classrooms at the Chitrakala Parishath premises have been converted into display areas for artists to put up their works.

In all, 1,500 artists from across the country showcased at least 10 of their works at the page separately created for them in the portal.

The page contained their contact details, allowing connoisseurs to directly get in touch with them to buy their works. The average view time for each page was 2.51 minutes, officials said.

Hardship, hope

“While Covid-19 put artists to hardship, Chitra Santhe gave them hope,” said K S Appajaia, general secretary, Chitrakala Parishath. “The response for the festival was beyond our expectations. We don’t have sales estimations since visitors connected directly with the artists.”

The decision to extend the festival by a month was made after requests from artists. “We have artists from 22 countries taking part in the festival. The platform enabled artists to appreciate each other’s work. For those wanting to buy artworks, the virtual santhe offered a range of choices,” he said.