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Sriram Srinivasan

Chennai , June 22

INDIAN Foundation for the Arts (IFA), a public Trust that supports art initiatives through grants, wants to look beyond its traditional source of funds, corporates.

IFA plans to approach individuals with high net worth as well as convince the middle-class to pitch in with smaller individual payments.

"We have until now focussed exclusively on the corporate sector," said Mr Anmol Vellani, Executive Director, IFA, which is backed by organisations such as VST Industries, Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Indian Bank, among others.

IFA is mulling an online auction of sorts, wherein a catalogue of paintings by 10 established artists would be e-mailed to about 1,000 art connoisseurs and collectors, both within India and abroad.

The proceeds will be shared equally between the artists, on the one hand, and IFA and a venture partner, Seagull Foundation for Arts, on the other.

Still unsure about approaching the middle-class, IFA will initially try to get them to contribute some money every year, in return for information about IFA activities, gifts, and invitations to events.

But before that, the organisation will get prominent artistes to endorse IFA among the middle-class.

Mr Vellani said IFA is also expecting more grant money from the Ford Foundation this year, while it seeks to extend its deal with the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

Under a `draw-down' fund, the Trust contributes a rupee for every rupee that the Foundation raises.

The five-year deal, under which IFA can draw up to Rs 1.25 crore from the Trust, is in the final year but Mr Vellani said his organisation would be able to raise only the first tranche of Rs 75 lakh plus interest by the year-end; he plans to ask for a two-year extension of the deal.

The money will be raised through events, one of which is a planned auction of paintings in a tie-up with the Mumbai-based Himalaya Art Gallery. Mr Vellani said IFA is trying to rope in corporate support for this. IFA has until now financially assisted 143 art projects, he said.

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