A CULTURE & ARTS POLICY FOR MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION

Culture is food for the soul, it adds to the quality of life. A nation’s progress can never be measured solely by its material wealth, important though it is for meeting certain essential needs of its citizens. Rather, its true wealth, indeed its very national identity, resides in, and expresses itself through, its unique cultural, artistic and spiritual heritage.

Mumbai has made a rich contribution to spreading India’s cultural influence around the world. Much of this contribution owes to the spirited strivings of creative and enterprising people, with only marginal support from central, state or city governments. But, it is a matter of deep concern that neither the state government nor any of the eight municipal corporations in the MMR area, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has a culture policy for Mumbai? BMC does not have a department, nor even a single officer, to look after this vital sector. It is high time the governments recognised that culture is a fundamental enricher of life and hence the poorest of poor should also have opportunities to access it, experience it, express it and enrich it. Our policy makers at the national, state and city levels must look at culture and arts as key drivers of Mumbai’s all-round transformation.

ORF’s ongoing study will focus on:

1. A mapping of the cultural and artistic landscape of Mumbai.
2. A close look at the sensitivity of the central and state government bodies, as well as urban local bodies in MMR, to the cultural needs of citizens. An assessment of their current provisioning for culture and arts in Greater Mumbai and MMR region. This includes an assessment of the functioning of the institutions/structures that promote one or the other cultural or art form.
3. Problems and challenges faced by private cultural organisations and civil society/philanthropic/corporate bodies supporting them.
4. Problems and challenges faced by artists and cultural personalities.
5. How to substantially expand and enrich the footprint of culture and arts in Mumbai by expanding the number of performance spaces, events, festivals, institutions, modernising their infrastructure, increasing people’s awareness, and mainstreaming culture and arts in the system of education at all levels.
6. How to preserve and further enhance Mumbai’s attractiveness for creative talent, especially young talent, from all over India and abroad.
7. The specific responsibilities of the central and state governments, and the municipal corporations in MMR to achieve the above goal. What are the various models of public-private partnership to achieve this goal?
8. Best practices elsewhere in India and abroad.
9. Social equity: Cultural and artistic needs/potential of common Mumbaikars of all ages and classes – how to fulfil their needs and harness their potential.
10. Geographical equity: The Culture Policy for Mumbai should ensure availability of high quality infrastructure of culture and arts in all parts of MMR.
11. Linguistic equity: The Culture Policy for Mumbai should reflect the city’s cosmopolitan nature, with full support for arts and culture in Marathi and other languages.