UK charity’s virtual festival to raise funds for rural India

A UK-based charity will host its first-ever virtual fundraiser to raise money for rural communities in India, in response to an annual arts festival being cancelled in line with the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in Britain.

Action Village India (AVI) said the Madras Café Unlocked event, which runs from July 24 until July 26, will feature an all-digital range of content including exhibitions, talks and yoga sessions. At a digital Food for Thought stage, the charity will launch its ‘Madras Café Cookbook’ packed with recipes.

“Action Village India (AVI) is a small, UK-based charity which partners with Indian organisations who work alongside women, men and children in some of the remotest parts of rural India so they can access their rights and improve their livelihoods and resilience, without being held back by their gender, caste or religious beliefs,” the charity said in a statement.

Partnership and solidarity

It supports initiatives focused on land and water rights, maternal and child health, girls’ education, women’s economic empowerment and disability rights and the support is founded on the principles of partnership and solidarity.

For over 25 years, Madras Café has been a regular presence at the world-renowned WOMAD festival held in south-west England, which annually celebrates the world’s many forms of music, arts and dance. But with the 2020 instalment cancelled amid the strict social distancing rules, Madras Café said it decided to take things digital with a fundraising event and opportunity to raise awareness about AVI’s support to Indian partner organisations and solidarity with rural communities across India.

Virtual stages

It will include a number of virtual stages including Madras Boombox, Food for Thought, Partnerships and Solidarity, Jaijagat Exhibition, a Poetree, Peoples’ Stage and Madras Café Family. The Madras Boombox Stage will have live music contributions from artists from the Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust – Sarathy Korwar, Ansuman Biswas and Rolf Killius, curator of the tribal Indian music collection for the British Library.

The exhibition section also has a number of events from end of July though to September, besides a range of conversations with Indian partners.