Grade expectations

The Ministry of Culture is making an attempt to classify artistes into grades for performances, but the community at large isn’t very pleased with the move.

In an effort to break cliques that have taken over the cultural space in the country, the Ministry of Culture has started a new policy of grading artistes into three categories — O (Outstanding), P (Promising) and W (Waiting) — based on which they will be sent for various events. After having classified 185 artistes from the world of dance, music, theatre and literature into these brackets, the ministry now plans to expand this programme. While it may seem like an uphill task, the government plans to prepare a database of 1 crore artistes in India, who will be judged on a number of criteria like awards received by them, the years of experience and the number of their performances both in India and abroad.

Contemporary dancer Astad Deboo confesses that he has put in an application for the grading, only because he fears missing out on opportunities. “I think it’s rather sad that senior artistes like myself, who have proven themselves time and again are also being put under this kind of scrutiny. I put in my application as I was asked to do so, since I may not get a chance to perform at all if I do not,” he sighs.

Author Anuja Chauhan slams the government move outright and calls it silly. “It’s a very bad idea and is very uninformed. It seems like people who are supposed to handle culture don’t know how it’s supposed to work. Something that’s more popular need not necessarily be superior; it’s all subjective. Talented artistes in rural areas will never make it to the top this way. How will anyone discover anything new ” she vehemently asks.

World music band Maati Baani’s Kartik Shah mirrors Anuja’s concerns about the process being counterintuitive to supporting rural talent. “The folk musicians in India have no clue this system exists; they may not even have seen these ads the government published, inviting applications for grading,” he says. “It’s important to know what the process is by which they grade artistes. For anything to be acceptable to a community at large, it needs to be transparent. What’s more important is to see if the grading system will give some sort of subsidies and exposure to folk musicians. I’ve seen many of them being offered barely '400 per day by government organisations for concerts. On the other hand, for legendary artistes of the country, what rating will you give them that will justify their stature ”

Kartik mentions that All India Radio (AIR) has a grading system for classical musicians who wish to perform live on the radio station. The auditions and the tests prescribed for musicians have ragas and songs that a candidate must learn and perform. Auditions, says the musician, is a better way to put artistes into grades. “There’s a thought process behind these tests, and requires people to actually work hard for it.”

Bollywood choreographer Geeta Kapoor too believes that categorising in grades should have a broader approach by the ministry. “I feel that you can’t categorise anybody, especially when you’ve never seen their work in their full potential. We mostly do work that is given to us. There could be times when we want to do bigger things but you get an opportunity to do only ground work. How can you just grade the person ” she asks, baffled.

The biggest question that seems to plague many artistes’ minds is whether or not the grading will be fair. Says Astad, “Whether the system will work or not is a big question mark. It’s all very bureaucratic and a lot depends on the luck of the draw since it is completely on the members of the designated panel as to whether or not you are outstanding, promising or waiting. If someone on the panel does not like you, then it curtails your chances.”

Playwright Manav Kaul, on the other hand, believes that goalposts are being shifted with the grading system, while the ministry should be concentrating on being more supportive to artistes. “If they tell me as a playwright I’m Outstanding, that’s nice, but after this, what happens ” he asks. “I feel puppeteers, painters, artists need support more than grading. You need to see why people are not writing enough, not writing in regional languages and see why there is a lack of playwrights. How do you even go and categorise poets, and writers. I’m sceptical of the idea but I hope they have a better idea of how to make it work.”

Anuja flat out refuses to be a part of the grading system, even if she’s asked to apply. “I would never sign up for this. It looks like the efforts are worthy but they’re going about this in the wrong way. The whole thing about culture and art is that it’s someone’s opinion versus someone else’s. This is not something you can catalogue and grade using arbitrary algorithm fed into a computer. You cannot make maths out of art.”