Interview with
SONYA MAZUMDAR :
INDIE EARTH XCHANGE 2017
Congratulations on putting together the 6th edition of the indiEarth XChange this year . Tell us your biggest take away from this edition ?
The biggest take away from this year ’ s edition is that artists are involved in their own development more than ever before , they understand the value of XChange and its impact on the industry in the coming years . This year ’ s XChange was focused on next generation artists and industry , education and skills development . The overwhelming response from artists and learners is a vindication of our efforts to keep XChange going against all odds .
As the Founder of this event , and this being the 6th year , what according to you lacks in an event like this ?
I would love to see more proactive participation by industry ‘ Elders ’, who would chip in their time , money and experience to grow this platform to build infrastructure which will be good for everyone . Apart from a few exceptions , current industry members with their many years of experience still seem hesitant to share their knowledge to pave the path for a new working model that will be built and used by next generation industry . I would love to see sponsors step out of their boxes of stereotyped ROI perceptions and look at developing their brand identities from more creative perspectives .
An event such as XChange is an event which every link in the industry chain should be a part of - from artist to audience and everyone in between : venues , media , sponsors , artist management , etc . - everyone is a stakeholder and we need to encourage the ' pay for the arts ' mentality , it ' s not sustainable to expect one organizer to be able to fund everything and everyone involved in an endeavour of this magnitude .
What were the challenges you faced while putting together the event ?
Funding is the only huge challenge for putting up an event such as this . Other than that , an event such as this should ideally be in a venue that is built for musical performances and film screenings and conducive to the arts , without swallowing up a major part of the budget .
Whats your basic formulae / criteria while picking the artists who perform at the XChange ?
Diversity first - both genre and cultural . I programme acts that the city would love to watch as well as acts that
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