Eleven months after she joined the Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed to be University as its Chancellor, putting in some 25 hours of work every week to bring currency, sustainability and gender-sensitivity to the iconic traditional arts learning centre’s physical, academic and artistic structure, dancer Mallika Sarabhai has not received a contract explaining the terms of her appointment or her compensation package.
Ms. Sarabhai has not taken up the issue with the government, but the Vice-Chancellor of Kalamandalam and the registrar did, about eight months ago. “I have not seen the draft but often joke whether it will be ready during my tenure [which she learnt from the documents at the Kalamandalam is for a period of five years and extendable by one more tenure],” Ms. Sarabhai told The Hindu in an interview.
‘Procedures crucial’
She said that while what was expected of her in the role was never spelt out, “it was obvious that I was not being brought in as an ornamental thing to be put on a shelf”. Without a contract, she would be at a loss to set up a selection committee to identify the next Vice-Chancellor. “It’s not reinventing the wheel, but actually inventing it. We must set procedures because it [having a professional chancellor] is something without a precedent and because we are going to be a State university at some point,” she said.
Her selection to the post was in view of her decades-long experience and skills in art administration (at the helm of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts) and art performance. “And on my first visit to the main campus of Kalamandalam, I was deeply surprised at the complete disarray and the adhocism that had gone into the architecture, and the lack of planning on the campus.”
Changes effected
So, she started to work on many levels with a view to making the campus environmentally sustainable, upgrading living infrastructure, bringing gender and caste equality, initiating conversations with cultural practitioners outside for collaborative ventures, rescheduling art education schedules for young students so that they do not lose out on regular education and introducing self-defence courses for girls and English coaching. She also encouraged teachers to pitch innovative performance concepts, including cross-cultural ideas, and sat with them to draw up a basic list of requirements to be met by organisers of performances.
Besides attempting to change the archaic view of what’s allowed in traditional performances and teaching methods, Ms. Sarabhai said her goals ranged from refining the way the toilets on the campus functioned to raising funds – maybe through crowd sourcing – for the institution. It would be improper to expect her to work pro bono as the time and energies she spent for Kalamandalam could well have been used for Darpana.
Paucity of funds
“It’s been challenging, exciting but frustrating as well, as there’s a paucity of funds,” she said. And the only time she was forced to write to the government was early this year when there was no money for hostlers’ food for the next day. “I’m trying to get a committee to see how we raise funds,” Ms. Sarabhai said.
When asked, Culture Minister Saji Cherian said the absence of a precedent in drawing up a contract for a professional Chancellor was an impediment in finalising one. “But we are looking if such a precedent exists anywhere else. We will have it ready very soon,” he said.
