Chennai: SIFF Young Artiste 2020, a national level competition was launched early this year. It is conducted across 20 genres of music and dance.
Out of 12,000 applicants, 100 finalists have been selected through multiple competitive rounds, for a scholarship worth Rs 25 lakh and an advanced mentorship program.
In an interview with News TodayĀ SIFF founder Kavita Iyer speaks about the the platform and its motive.
Q: What is SIFF? What does it do?
A: Singhal Iyer Family Foundation (SIFF) aims to work with underprivileged children for better education and promote Indian music and culture.
Our flagship initiatives include The SIFF Scholars Program, SIFF Young Artiste, and the upcoming SIFF Academy of Classical and Contemporary Arts.
Q: How did the idea of the platform come up?
A: Having been deeply involved in Hindustani classical music and education myself, I understood that most students stop way below their potential due to the lack of structure and motivation. Therefore, through SIFF Young Artiste and the Young Artiste Advanced Mentorship Program (YAMP), we wanted to create a platform giving aspiring young musicians and artistes an opportunity to showcase their art.
Q: How much has the digital era affected the traditional arts?
A: The impact of digital technology has transmuted human expressions like painting, music, dance, and poetry. Art has undergone a rebirth and digital art is heavily promoted, which has no doubt affected traditional arts. However it has also opened up various possibilities to pass on traditional knowledge of an art-form through innovative means. The process of collaborations and interactions among fellow artists have become much easier in a technology driven space.
Q: What are the present-day challenges of pursuing arts as a full-time career?
A: Pursuing arts as a full-time career presents a number of challenges emanating from the kind of demands it places on a personās lifestyle choices, to having to practice extreme discipline and rigour in their pursuit of the arts and great amounts of perseverance. At the end of it all, however, it is our belief that the pursuit of excellence in the arts itself is a worthwhile goal, as it plays such a crucial role in a personās overall development, particularly in the formative years.