A Folk Art Centre is set up to preserve the tradition and showcase different types of Patas, it has emerged as a living museum. Artists at Pingla have arranged for guest accommodation facilities as well.
workshops
A workshop was held with marketing, heritage and intellectual property rights experts from UK and France to generate awareness among the artists on social media strategies using hashtags and digital storytelling. They also learned about individual and collective marketing and importance of attractive and eco-friendly packaging for adding value of the traditional scrolls and products.
Experts on heritage, marketing and IP rights from UK and France interacted with the community artists and saw their scroll paintings, listened to the songs, got to know the stories and the process of art making along with tools. The conversation between the experts and the artists touched multiple key areas like heritage attributes of Patachitra, change of context of the art practice, skill transmission, market and audience and their concerns about heritage and future generation.
"We knew about the scroll painting tradition but were not aware about the wide range of themes painted by the artists. We have seen here the scrolls like Sabitri Satyaban which is based on mythological tales and next to it is displayed a story on modern day social evils. We have also seen the brushes used by the artists and learnt about the flowers, leaves and other natural sources from which they make colours. It is truly a learning experience."
