Kolkata business house keeps contemporary art alive

By Ritwik Mukherjee | NT

Kolkata: She is married into one of the most  prominent business families in Kolkata that owns one of the largest  diversified conglomerates with interests ranging from FMCG to healthcare,  hospital, realty and what not? But her  concerns for young Indian artists and  the desire to do something on her own  and something creative drove her to  run Emami Art and Kolkata Centre  for Creativity.

Motivated by her father-in-law R.S.  Agarwal and his business partner  R.S. Goenka’s passion for art, Richa  Agarwal, a commerce graduate from  Coimbatore, is striving to preserve the  artistic legacy and heritage of Bengal,  whilst embracing its modern and contemporary avatar. Speaking to Ritwik  Mukherjee, Richa Agarwal, chairperson, Kolkata Centre for Creativity and  CEO, Emami Art, shares her story of  how she was initiated into the business  of arts and her aspiration to make Kolkata a hub of contemporary art.

Excerpts:

What was the prime idea behind Emami  Art and Kolkata Centre for Creativity?

I was never interested in trading of  art. It was never like that I will have  to buy this, then I will have to sell this.  It was not just my cup of tea. I was  always interested in promoting arts,  artists, promoting art education and  simultaneously I was keen on understanding and educating myself about  various nuances of art. Some 10-11  years ago, I had first started a gallery  and had got the hang of it. For us, art  was a much bigger idea than just buying and selling. So we started discussing it amongst ourselves (me and my  family) and eventually we came up  with the idea of Kolkata Centre for  Creativity (KCC). KCC was conceived  to be and has been a not-for-profit organisation. But in the long-run, you  need funds and investments to run an  organisation like with such a large vision on a sustained basis. The whole  idea of creating Emami Art was to  support KCC. These are two different  entities with two completely different  teams, different systems.

The organisation, as a whole, is focused on a future-forward, complex,  multi-dimensional approach and  steadfast in the advocacy of emerging,  mid-career and established artists as  well as an engagement with contemporary and historical material.

Normally, corporate patronisation in art  and culture comes by way of buying and  collection of paintings, sponsoring cultural extravaganza. How have Emami’s  initiatives been different?

As I mentioned earlier, me or my family was never interested in buying or  selling of art. We never thought of  getting into art trading. We always  wanted Emami Art, one of the most  significant art institutions in the eastern part of India, to be a key space  for cultural production in the region.  The gallery aims to create dynamic,  wide-ranging registers of exhibitionmaking and viewing. Deeply committed to promoting a regional, national  and international agenda through innovative and alternative programming, emphasis on community and  socially relevant engagements, institutional partnerships and  more via a multi-year vision  for the future, Emami Art is  resolute to be a catalyst of  change, research, innovation  and inclusivity. Therefore, we  are different from the rest in  more ways than one.

We have also been different in the sense that  we never looked at ‘my  profit’ or ‘our profit’. We  always looked at it as an  institution. We have allowed the institution to  evolve and shape up.

How challenging is it to  run this ‘business of art’  (if I may say so?), being  a student of commerce  and hailing from a business  family? How do you strike a  balance between art and commerce?

Yes I was a student of commerce. I also hail from a business family and got married into a  business family. My family hails from  southern parts of India and was always enthusiastic and passionate  about traditional art forms, and so  were my in-laws who hail from Bikaner, Rajasthan. When I got married  there was assimilation of thoughts,  ideas, beliefs and culture. My fatherin-law, Agarwal ji, always used to say  that in earlier times, the Rajas and Maharajas had been the great patrons of  art, culture and literature. In the present day context, businessmen and industrialists will have to come forward  and take up that role by all means. So, although I studied commerce, art is  not something that was new to&n