And for a Friday in Mumbai after the AGM of IGCC….. some thoughts…..
As one of the longest serving Committee Member of IGCC (Indo German Chamber of Commerce ) it’s always a pleasure for me to learn from the German experience. This year the largest bilateral Chamber’s AGM theme was ‘Business & Culture’. The Chief Guest – Minister Prof. Monika Grutters put it succinctly. “No Business without Culture and there is no Culture without Business”.
Think of Germany and immediately you are reminded of Precision Engineering, Automobile Design, Technology, Chemistry, Autobahn etc. No one thinks of the Soft Power of Arts and Culture – the expression of the heart, Fun, Music, Nature, Arts, Monuments and Orchestras. Germany has the largest number of Opera Houses, all 83 of them owned and funded by the Government. Most of them have regular programmes for children. So family outings are enjoyable and affordable. Tickets are a steal compared to UK or US, but the soft power’s economic contribution is solid. It’s an Industry of more than 105 Billion Euros!!!!
India has a huge Potential, untapped and Raw, waiting to be exploited into business. Already the worlds largest producer of movies, our Multicultural and multilingual landscape offers huge job and business opportunities. Add to it the Historical Monuments, the Religious hotspots, Art and Culture. The Kochi Biennale this December is one step forward.
Bose Krishnamachari of Kochi Biennale and Sabyasachi Mukherjee of Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, are some of the Change Agents. Let us support them, encourage more of our Artists and Artisans, dance and drama and appreciate our Artefacts. Let’s build our “Soft Power” Industry to create more employment, help build our economy, the legal way, the Ethical way, the SEEGOS way.