IIT VIRASAT 2006 - SPIC MACAY

SPIC MACAY - Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth

It is one of the societies that I have appreciated the most in IIT. The best thing about SPIC MACAY is the IIT VIRASAT festival that is organised every year. It is a week long programme where eminent artists of Indian Classical music and dance perform in IIT campus. A festival that gives us an exposure to the pure forms of music and dance (the film music, albums and rock are all modified versions of the classical form).

In the year 2004, I was first exposed to SPIC MACAY during the VIRASAT festival. I attended almost all the events, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Last year, I missed all the events primarily because of lack of company. (I hate going alone). That being the background about SPIC MACAY and me, let us now see how it all changed this year.

IIT VIRASAT 2006, was held from 27th Feb to 10th March. As usual there were notices of weekly meetings. Each of these contained an appeal for volunteers to join. I, or I should say we, always had noticed these appeals. But almost on all occasions, we forgot about the meeting and couldnt attend. On one occasion, on 1st Feb (This is an eventful day of my life. See other blogs here and here), we (Anoop and me) decided to join as volunteers.
Initially, we took up the job of bringing in finances. We were supposed to contact the oil companies in public sector and get as much money as possible. We made a lot of phone calls. And I should confess that Anoop did the phone calls. We got a few negative responses. Without saying much, I shall conclude that we didnt bring in any finance for this event. The number of volunteers were very few and hence each one of us got the task of co-ordinating the events of a day. March 7th being the only day with one artist, I chose to pick it up. Moreover the artist was from Chennai, so communication was easier.
Let me describe the things that a co-ordinator should do at least a week before the event.

1. Send thanks letter to the artist for accepting our invitation. Also talk to them over phone expressing gratitude.
2. Check the details of their arrival, stay and departure. Make sure all the bookings of the journey (flight/train) and hotels are done before hand. If not done, then it will cause a lot of headache (U can ask Anoop for an example).
3. Send the tickets to the artists well in advance.
4. Think of some chief guest for your event, contact him and get his availability. This is preferable but not necessary.
5. Get the banners posted within the campus.
   
6. Prepare the posters of the event. Poster should have the photo of the main artist(s). Circulate the posters in other colleges. (Give some posters in Lady Irwin College where there is a weekly meeting of representatives from all colleges in Delhi)
7. Get the venue of the event booked. In the case of hostels, get permission from the Warden for using the premises like lawn, common room, visitor room etc. Also ask for food and refreshments to be provided from the hostels.
   

Things to do on the day before of the event.

1. Confirm the number of artists who are coming along with the accompanists.
   
2. Book transport for picking up and drop from airport/station.
3. Assign somebody for the job of receiving them.
4. Check the hotel/guest house, whether the accomodation is confirmed.
5. Order the gifts that would be given to the artists and the accompanists during the event. Pack the gifts nicely in colour paper.
   
6. Get as many volunteers as possible. Check the timings when these volunteers are available and assign tasks to them accordingly.
7. Make a booking at the tent house for the stage and the hall.
8. Get some girls to do the decoration like rangoli, lamps etc. Also get some of them for the hospitality. Girls are better hosts than boys.
9. Make sure that the posters are in place in the hostels and in the coffee shop, holistic food centre, departments etc. Publicity is very important to gather crowd for the event. If possible. try to publicise the event in localities, in Delhi, from where you expect people. eg. For Carnatic music programs, advertise in RK Puram.
10. Get a person to compere the event.

Things to do on the day of the event.

1. Make sure that the artists and accompanists have arrived and are settled in hotels comfortably.
2. Get garlands and flowers for decoration.
3. Get enough oil and wicks for the lamps.
4. Buy enough bottles of Mineral Water. Also buy refreshments if hostel doesnt provide it.
5. Get the stage and hall ready using the workers of the institute and the tent house.
6. Get the green room ready well before the artists arrive at the venue. It should have aesthetic ambiance. Decorate it with flowers. Light insanse sticks if the artist is not a vocalist.
7. Decorate the entrance by a rangoli and a few lamps.
8. Prepare a shoe counter, if the event is in hostels.
9. Order for the food for the volunteers in the mess.
   
10. Make sure that the artists arrive at the venue at least half an hr before the program. (They will take time in the green room). Keep margins for traffic jams.
11. If the artists are planning to have dinner, then make sure that the food is ordered well ahead in time and it is ready when the event ends.
12. Arrange for the transport for the artists after the event. Also arrange for their transport on the day of their departure from the city.
13. Call a meeting after the event and hand over the charge and items to the next coordinator.

With all those above mentioned points in mind, the March 7th program of Bharatnatyam by Malavika Sarukkai was made a success. There was no complaint from the artist or her accompanists. There was another program on the same day. Rudra Veena by Us. Asad Ali Khan. That too was a grand success with the presence of Us. Fahimuddin Dagar as an unexpected guest.

Other programs in VIRASAT 2006 were
Feb 27th Inauguration by Lt. Gov. B.L. Joshi
Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma (Santoor)
Us. Fahimuddin Dagar (Dhrupad)
Feb 28th Guru Raman Kutty Nair (Kathakali)
Pt. Ronu Majumdar (Flute)
Mar 1st Nizami Brothers (Qawwali)
Ram Kailas (Biraha Geet)
Mar 2nd Smt. Zarin Sharma (Sarod)
Pt. Rajan & Sajan Mishra (Vocal)
Mar 3rd Pt. Debu Chaudhuri (Sitar)
Zaman Brothers (Pakistani Vocal)
Mar 7th Su. Malavika Sarukkai (Bharatnatyam)
Us. Asad Ali Khan (Rudra Veena)
Mar 8th Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia (Flute)
Prof. T. N. Krishnan (Carnatic Violin)

Along with these there were movie screenings
Feb 25th Wild Strawberries
Feb 26th Subarnarekha
Mar 6th Tokyo Story
Mar 9th Under the Olive Trees
Mar 10th Nizhalkkuthu

Thus we were part of the herculean task of organising the events (which are fantastic to attend).