Intersectionality of Arts with Social Impact

Hosted by
Ms. Piyali Dasgupta Satish, Founder,
The Hijibijee Collective

Introduction

“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
- Bertolt Brecht

At the core of “ THE HIJIBIJIEE COLLECTIVE ” work lies in Artivism. An intersection of arts for social change, based on principles of tackling perception, thought, behaviour, breakthrough with arts for activism, finding agency and building an equitable world.

Arts - in the forms of creative activities like theater music, painting, poetry, music, festivals, painting, sculptures, installations, spoken words, dance, storytelling and others creates an ecosystem to enable individuals and communities. The mission of this interdisciplinary and collaborative process and experience is to engage people in changing society through the power of arts. By leveraging the power of creativity we can address the world’s greatest challenges to build innovative and scalable solutions. It acts as a catalyst by disrupting systemic oppression.

Learning Objectives
Artivism is a portmanteau word combining art and activism. By the means of art, we can learn how to focus on raising social, environmental, and technical awareness and become agents of social change. Arts builds communities by connecting individuals in inclusive, yet diverse & equitable ways.

Artivism creates impact. Arts can give tangible results, which we can see, touch and quantify. It gives us intangible results like how it makes us feel and how it adds meaning to our lives. It gives us aspirational results by giving us hope in what we want to become or what we'd like to make possible.

Key Insights from the session
Here are the insights and key takeaways from the session:
1. ARTS propel communities to create better outcomes for themselves.
2. ARTS is critically positioned for equitable development of societies.
3. ARTS catalyses resources for people to partner and reimagine their future.

About the Facilitator

Ms. Piyali Dasgupta Satish

Piyali Dasgupta Satish, is an artivist and the founder of “The Hjibijee Collective.” As an interdisciplinary creative consultant, she creates impactful experiences to enable individuals, organisations and communities to become agencies of social change and equitable growth through artivism. She dons many roles as a strategic advisor, artistic director, festival curator, writer, mentor and speaker for more than a decade.

After working for a decade in the aviation industry, she went on to follow her calling. Envisioned in 2008 she founded The Hijibijee Collective an intersectional organisation, which lies in between culture, social impact and education. It's a circle of collective thinking and ecosystem to transform narratives, build equity, and agency for social change in civil society through artivism.The Hijibijee Collective’s domain expertise lies in Artivism which includes: Socio - Cultural Innovation, which includes original theatrical/film production, writing, curation of writing, theatre, art, performance & experiential learning festivals. Strategic Advisory, which includes brand identity, program design and management. Empowerment, which includes workshop, masterclasses, mentoring and capability building.

For clients like Impact Academy - CSR Box, We - Hub Telangana Government, Ashoka University, UNDP, Facebook, Climate Reality Project, Joint Forest Management Committee, Banka (Bihar), Katha, Technoserve India Foundation, Unltd India, Bust New York, Homegrown, Vagabomb, Sheroes and others.

Piyali started out as a child actor, trained under tutelage of the founding members of the oldest amateur Bengali theatre group in Delhi, Dhumketu. Growing up she learnt the ropes of production, stage lighting, make up, marketing and dramaturgy. Thereon, her writing has been published globally in Bust New York, Homegrown, Medium and Vagabomb. Voices In Our Head, 2013, her first documentary film, was world premiered at the VIBGYOR International Documentary Festival. It was part of the repertoire for the best 50 documentary films, globally about the agency for children in the adult world. As an artistic director her work received critical acclaim and all the original pieces of work are based on true stories and research, like My Peace is not your Piece (2022) on climate equity, Suicide Note (2019) on mental health , My Darling Clementine (2018) on data privacy, This is how we live? (2017) on structures of democracy. She also curates artistic and cultural festivals. In 2012, she also wrote a children’s novella Isa and her Friends - The Bully Gully scare.

She is a climate reality leader and a member of International Storytellers Network and Community Arts Network. She has been working for the last 13 years with government bodies, social enterprises, NGOs, CSRs, corporates, educational and cultural organisations globally. The key focus area is to work with vulnerable, marginalised & underserved communities in India, especially women & children, like "Climate, LGBTQIA, Economically weak, Indigenous, Social enterprises, NGOs, Cultural and Educational organisations."

Prior to this, Piyali was the Customer Care Manager for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Maldives from 1999 -2008 where she designed the customer experience for the whole sub - continent. She majored in English literature and then specialised in Expressive Arts Therapy.