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Business News/ Opinion / Online Views/  Delhi should promote its creative culture
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Delhi should promote its creative culture

Delhi should aim to become India’s art and creative epicentre. It already has one of the largest art fairs in the world in terms of footfall

Delhi might be ideally positioned to promote a creative industry of its own, by facilitating the rise of an avant-garde culture from the bottom-up. Photo: Reuters (Reuters)Premium
Delhi might be ideally positioned to promote a creative industry of its own, by facilitating the rise of an avant-garde culture from the bottom-up. Photo: Reuters
(Reuters)

Recently, I visited my hometown of Amsterdam after having been away for at least six months. Our Amsterdam office threw a smashing party to celebrate a new edition of our Champagne brand Zarb and I was attending a few meetings. Walking out of the always-under-construction Central Station on a refreshing spring morning, seeing the city again felt like meeting an old friend. Since university, I have with Amsterdam a type of love affair that one can have with cities. If London is a man, as an American poet once wrote, then Amsterdam is definitely a woman—and a free-spirited one with a rather tantalizing mind.

Historically, Amsterdam is an open, pragmatic, free-thinking place. From the 16th century onwards, it traded with almost the entire world, including Kolkata and Kochi. And its tolerance and openness led, like in India, to a relatively large diversity of cultures and religions. Moreover, it gave rise to a strong yet tolerant sense of individualism. More than most places, the city culture in Amsterdam allows people to develop and express their own views, convictions and values and has protected even radical opinions. Many Amsterdam mayors have tried to foster the co-existence of different personal lifestyles. The slogan of the city marketing campaign,“I am-sterdam", points at this.

As I turned right from the Royal Palace at Dam Square onto the famed canals, it seemed I had already encountered more different (self-designed) fashion styles in 500 metres than can be found in the stores of the world’s main fashion brands put together. Next, I window-shopped the small boutiques in Amsterdam’s 17th century centre. Even though the Netherlands enjoys one of Europe’s highest per capita incomes, I suddenly realized that hardly any global brand has a store in the busiest and most forward-looking shopping district of its capital. Starbucks, Zara, Armani, or Tommy Hilfiger were not to be found. No flagship stores or franchise concepts. Just restaurants, bars, boutiques, and little stores selling everything under the sun, with store names that have no world renown. Top-quality shops with just one establishment in the world, run with care and personal dedication by the owners. Not unlike many of the pop-and-mom stores that dominate India’s retail landscape.

Where India is more and more in the grip of increases in scale—large companies dominate most sectors—Amsterdam has seen the reverse, especially in the creative sector: a trend of scale decrease. And a city like Delhi and others would do well to grasp the opportunity that lies here. Today, Delhi can hardly compete with Mumbai in the area of music, film and television production. Mumbai has all the great names and companies in that field. But big “fraternities" almost always turn conservative and complacent. In a city like Bangalore, the information technology industry has pioneered the idea of incubation with some success. And it seems India would now do well to stimulate the rise of its creative culture. Delhi might be ideally positioned to promote a creative industry of its own, by facilitating the rise of an avant-garde culture from the bottom-up. It could focus on boosting young (female) entrepreneurs in the creative and cultural sectors—attracting them from across India as well as abroad.

Delhi should aim to become India’s art and creative epicentre. It already has one of the largest art fairs in the world in terms of footfall. The city government could experiment with creating a place where young creative entrepreneurs can experiment and work from. Office rents are a major problem for start-ups. Suppose an old factory, like Modi Mills in Ohkla or a campus area such as the Sanskriti Museum in the south, could be reserved to be a collaborative workspace. Basic facilities should be provided—like electricity, water and high-speed Internet—at below-market rent, but other than that entrepreneurs should be left alone to do what they want – as long as they are from the creative industries. Game developers, fashion designers, artists, sculptors, writers, app makers, and the odd creative agency could be attracted from across the country and stimulated to cross-fertilize styles and ideas. Such a central place could help attract angel investors and clients, perhaps from the government itself. True creativity often comes from individuals operating in the right environment. And sometimes it is necessary to make sure such an environment arises.

It could have wonderful effects at the micro as well as the macro levels. India has a rich tradition of great ideas and great arts—philosophy, poetry, literature, handicraft, design and architecture. In it lies a mind-bogglingly large reservoir of cultural capital that arguably no other rising nation can match. It seems to be overlooked rather than cherished, however. India has always been an inspiration for fashion and interior designers from around the world. But it is often just a muse—not a leading creator itself. This could change, and ought to. While it is racing into the future and growing everyday, policymakers and entrepreneurs should not forget India’s grassroots and the value of small scale. Small can be very beautiful, especially if more of its 1.2 billion young individual creative minds can be liberated and connected. It is not easy to do such workspaces well. Yet there are interesting examples in the west, such as NeueHouse in New York. India, and especially Delhi, should learn the lessons from there and implement them fast. Because its creative youngsters deserve some proper and effective help to bloom faster. If they make their own mark, they make India’s as well.

Tjaco Walvis is the managing director of brand consulting andadvertising agency THEY, and a speaker at the Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau. His column will deal with the softer cultural aspects of marketing that often tend to be ignored by marketers.

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Published: 23 Jul 2013, 11:32 PM IST
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