Dear Reader,
Although we are living through a time of fear and uncertainty, it is also a time of hope and resilience, as India takes its place in the forefront of the vaccine mobilization that will return the world to us. This being the case, we should resist the urge to concern ourselves only with the bare necessities of life that meet our material needs, as tend to be prioritized by governments and business, rather, we should find happy release in culture and the arts.
It would not only be short-sighted to limit our focus to our baser needs, but it would also testify to a misunderstanding of culture and the value it adds to the daily life of us all. Culture is the civilizing and softening interpretation of our world – it is our defense against the Hobbesian rush of ego that wakens from sleeping once our humanity is reduced to its most basic needs and functions, and that alienates us from each other.
That is not to say that culture should be reduced to mere entertainment, the panem et circenses, or bread and circuses, that do no more than act as a distraction to whatever blight may have befallen us, and this is particularly true in dark days like these. More than ever, we need to remember the beauty of artistic creation; the joy and mental engagement it inspires help to make us human, whether it be film, song, performance, or painting. Above all, we need to support the artists who so enrich our experience of life, but who have been unable to perform, exhibit, meet their public, or support themselves during this time.
Along with many other Cultural Centres, the Alliance française has had little option than to cancel exhibitions, films, book clubs, and performances, but although our building has been reduced to a ghost town of hollowed-out classrooms and corridors that seem haunted by our missing students, we, the governing body and executive directorship, have remained committed to the artists, as we have been to you, their potential audience, in spite of the technical and financial difficulties we face.
For this reason, we have invested in the Net and have tried to make our presence effective there and to compensate for our inexperience on this media, by offering even more. Are we offering online cinema? Yes, but there is more – let’s invite the Director for an open discussion with the viewers. Are we broadcasting a live concert? Of course, but let’s go further – let’s meet the performers and ask them the questions we would never normally have the opportunity to ask. Are we organizing a book club online? Naturally, but let’s have the writer themselves to talk about their books and to chat with the readers – not just ten readers round a table in our library, but dozens of them, all sitting comfortably at home, with a little more confidence that environment allows them, to ask more probing questions…
Naturally, it is essential to pay the artists communicating with us through these new channels the same amount as they would earn if present in the flesh: the cost of living, the preparation they have done, and most importantly, the talent they are sharing, have not changed.
In December, to celebrate the end of this annus horribilis (no need for translation here I imagine…), the Alliance française de Delhi has decided to offer you many events online, and I would like to particularly promote three of them: a concert and an interview with the French musician Christophe Panzani, an InChorus performance by French and Indian artists who have been in residence at the Alliance française, and a unique concert performed by some of the best Opera singers in Delhi, organized at the Lotus Temple in collaboration with the Neemrana Foundation.
This Opera performance will be the last event of the year, and I want to dedicate it to all of you who find comfort in sharing in a collective experience of sacred music, written by composers down the centuries and across continents, who were inspired to make shared visions of hope and peace beautiful in song, whatever their Faith.
Wishing you all the best for the Season, and for a happier new year..