Re: 'Cultural items' programming at TANA meeting
V. Chowdary Jampala (cjampala@quark.dayton.net)
Fri, 11 Jul 1997 13:22:30 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 11 Jul 1997, sadananda wrote:
>... Having said that some weightage has to be given to a good
> cultural programs of the less popular type that other percentage enjoys and
> also that sustains the cultural heritage of telugus.
>
> Five years from now, we may forget Sri Devi and hear about some other Bhu
> Devi. TANA should also be a vehicle that can highlight the other aspects of
> our culture. Many of the artists that come do realize that TANA meeting is
> only a gateway and they will travel around at different places to give
> programs.
The following also addreses the issues raised by chODavarapu
prasaad and banDi sreekaanth.
In all fairness to TANA, TANA does recognize the importance of
providing a forum for the classical and folk arts and other non-filmi
stuff. Over the last 20 years, TANA invited (and bore the expenses of)
many non-filmi artists from many fields and of many persuasions. It
sponsored their tours around the country and gave the various local Telugu
organizations an opportunity to showcase the talents of these artists.
SreeSree, sinaare, aarudra, baapu, mEDasaani mOhan, madhuraantakam
raajaaraam, kaaLeepaTnam raamaaraavu, vempaTi chinasatyam, chaayaadEvi,
Sobhaaraaj, Sobhaa naayuDu, sampath kumaar, and various burrakatha,
harikatha, drama and dance artists came to the US on TANA's expense. If I
am not mistaken, even Sree veeragandham subbaaraavu was here several years
ago at TANA's invitation. TANA was directly or indirectlyr esponsible for
the publication of several important books including aarudra's last volume
on Telugu literary history, baapu-ramaNa commemorative issue, TANA Telugu
katha (a short story anthology), maccutunakalu (a poetry anthology), and
the recent novel competition. TANA also helped bring pOtana fonts into
public domain to supplement RIT 3.0. All this becomes possible due to
interested individuals passionately pushing for these things, the
organization's willingness to subsidize non-popular cultural activities,
and the general revenues from the conferences that makes it feasible.
> As Sri Chowdary gaaru rightly pointed out TANA should, by now, have a
> pretty good idea of the distribution and the density of the audience
> tastes, and plan the items and halls accordingly. Registration fee is
> quite high.
The scale and scope of these events has changed considerably. It
is, I suppose, part of the growth of the community. Gone are the days of
functions in a high school auditorium with meals and accommodations being
provided by the host association families. For many of the out of towners
at the LA conference, this was a major vacation. Many people from LA
itself were staying in the conference hotels as it was more conveninent.
As an aside, I heard from Sri guttikonDa raveendranaath, the
Convener of the first Conference that the first conference (New York
1977) had a budget of $6,000 and a surplus of $2,000.
> Major problem is everyone desires that their program (including the boring
> lectures by the organizers themselves) or their favorite artist's or
> speaker's or idol's to be on the prime time in the main auditorium. By now
> so many TANA meetings have gone. Excessive shuffling of the programs some
> for genuine reason but more so by political pressures or individual
> pressures is one big problem that organizers should avoid at any cost.
I agree. I, for one, believe that programs can be scheduled in
advance and creative programming can find ways to minimize delays for
stage preparation etc. I believe that programs can begin and end on time.
The Chicago Conference demonstrated that without any room for doubts
(Chicago had a major problem with audio, but that is another matter). Such
progamming makes it easy for the performers, the audience and ultimately
the organizers.
> May be TANA meetings should have two auditoriums one for the continuous
> cultural programs to cater to those interested and the other for the
> display of Sri Devis and Bhu Devis that attract 90% of the audience and
> booing and wooing that gets lost in the glittering.
I am happy to report that there is serious discussion about such
strategies. In fact, at LA there was a second stage that was used for some
dance programs and a dance competetion, but it remained a well hidden
secret :) There are some logistic problems with this too as sound and
light arrangements are quite expensive.
> Enforcing a clear discipline in the auditorium so that hecklers and booers
> who are mostly in the minority do not derail the programs that others are
> interested.
I am afraid that this is not practical. It remains the audience's
prerogative to decide what they want to encourage and there are times
when hecklers are the majority. One hopes for respect, politeness, and
generosity, but it is difficult to restrain oneself when a self-important
speech stands in between you and the program that you have been
anticipating. If pillamari raamakRUshNa, who belongs to the relatively
polite and respectful group, confesses to occasional expression of
displeasure, none of us are really safe.
> May be the next TANA organizers should get audience feed back from those
> who attended in terms of what to add and what to drop, and perhaps from
> people like me who did not attend ( not exactly like me since I am too much
> of a minority) in terms what kind of programs would attract us to attend.
Not a bad idea. However, our (Telugu) community's response to such
surveys is notoriously bad.
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala