BWI: Asia Society hosts first ever Conference on Indo-US Cultural Exchange

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Asia Society
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 08:29 PM IST (02:59 PM GMT)
Editors: General: People; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Education & training
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Asia Society hosts first ever Conference on Indo-US Cultural Exchange


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 28, 2011 -- (Business Wire India) -- -- Eminent panelists conclude with a panel discussion on 'Arts in a Globalizing World: Collaboration or Competition' at IIC on June 27th
-- Featuring: Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University), Joseph Melillo (Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York), Julián Zugazagoitia (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City) and Rajeev Sethi (The Asian Heritage Foundation, New Delhi)

Asia Society hosted a Conference on Indo - US Cultural Exchange, at the India International Centre, New Delhi on June 27th. The conference, fully supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of State, was an initiative of Asia Society organized and led by Vishakha N. Desai, President of the Asia Society, New York; and Bunty Chand, Executive Director of the Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai and their team of working individuals in New York and Mumbai.

The conference convened twenty museum and performing arts professionals from India and the United States for a three-day meeting that commenced on June 25th, with the aim of developing collaborations, sharing vision and expertise, and strengthening the role of the arts in the relationship between these two countries.

"These two days have yielded not only with discussions around the very nature of cultural collaborations in the visual and performing art, but also very concrete suggestions about the way forward. As a group, we are excited about going beyond simple forms of exchanges to developing long term partnership to create joint project among arts institutions and artists of the US and India" said Vishakha N. Desai, President and CEO of Asia Society.

The conference culminated in a two-hour public programme with a panel discussion including eminent speakers, namely, Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University), Kristy Edmunds (UCLA Live, Los Angeles), Julián Zugazagoitia (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City) and Rajeev Sethi (The Asian Heritage Foundation, New Delhi). Vishakha N. Desai, President of the Asia Society, moderated the panel discussion. The speakers discussed the unprecedented opportunities and challenges that face innovators working together in transnational environments.

The panel discussion explored the role of culture in a globalized world, questioning how to bring about new models for arts collaboration in cross-cultural situations, moving away from the familiar tropes of import/export and nationalist show-and-tell.

Speaking on the occasion, Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University) said, This important panel poses critical questions that challenge us to think afresh opportunities for collaboration in art and culture that have been opened up by the technologies and networks of globalization. To take duty of these opportunities we explore the potential for intercultural values to be institutionalized in order to generate empathy and equity amongst parties who feel that their creativity is enriched by making global affiliations and corrections".

Conference Participants

The conference participants offered their candid assessments, and shared experiences and insights laying fertile ground for new kinds of institutional partnership.

Confirmed conference participants and the institutions with which they are affiliated include: Bunty Chand (Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai), Rajeev Lochan (National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi), Sabyasachi Mukherjee (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai), Rajeev Sethi (The Asian Heritage Foundation, New Delhi), Ranvir Shah (The Park's New Festival, Chennai), Leela Samson (Sangeet Natak Akademi-National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama, New Delhi) and Anmol Vellani (India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore), from India; and from the United States, Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University, Canbridge), Philip Bither (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis), Melissa Chiu (Asia Society, New York), Rachel Cooper (Asia Society, New York), Vishakha N. Desai (Asia Society, New York), Kristy Edmunds (UCLA Live, Los Angeles, and Park Avenue Armory, New York), Olga Garay (Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles), Madhuvanti Ghose (The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago), Joseph Melillo (Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York), and Julián Zugazagoitia (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City); additional participants may be announced.

About the Asia Society, New York, and the Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai

Asia Society was founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller the 3rd. It is the leading global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people and institutions across Asia and the United States.

The India Centre is a part of Asia Society's global network of eleven offices. It is a not-for-profit, non-partisan institution inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2006, and aims to be a key forum for catalyzing connections and exchange across and within Asia. It brings programming in the areas of Asian arts and culture, business, current affairs, education and policy to India.

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Asia Society team
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