Endangered Crafts Mela in Auroville, February 19-25, 2023

WHAT IS THE ENDANGERED CRAFTS MELA AND HOW DID IT BEGIN?

The Endangered Crafts Mela, hosted by Fertile Community in Auroville, started in 2019, modeled after a similar project at Marudam School in Tiruvannamalai, which took place in 2017.

The Mela is intended to be a gathering of local craftsmen and children from the Auroville bio-region schools, including outreach school, after-school programs and children from underserved communities. The children and craftsmen interact creating craft objects and projects which stimulate hands-on ingenuity, and reconnect the children with local cultural traditions.

The 13 Aurovilians who are part of the organizing team this year are: Johnny Allen, Alex Schumann, Sandeep Vinod Sarah, Pragnya Khanna, Vikram Clarence-Smith, Amos Cohen Khallas, Lakshmi Venugopal, Ilango Ramasamy, Francois, Marc Barandard, Camille Leon, Deepthi Indukuri and Jessamijn Miedema. A team of 25 volunteers will also be present.

The Endangered Crafts Mela 2023 is taking shape

Location: The Learning Center Basecamp as in previous years

Current Sign-ups: 35 Tamil artisans

Expecting: 300 participants, mostly Tamil artisans and children

Expecting: 50-80 children from outreach schools

Give Generously to support this unique project 🧡

IMAGES FROM ENDANGERED CRAFTS MELA 2022

Marudam Crafts Mela 2017

A short documentary with scenes from the original craft mela, a week of Tamil craft camp for children and adults at Marudam Farm School.

Marudam is a Farm and Forest School in Tiruvannamalai, at the foot of the sacred Arunachala moutain. It was established in collaboration with Auroville foresters to include research on farming and Auroville reforestation techniques.

Marudam School has contributed to the reforestation of Arunachala mountain. It is located on 8 acres of organic farm and hosts 130 children from the bio-region and 30 teachers and staff.

Auroville Endangered Crafts Mela 2019

The first Endangered Crafts Mela in Auroville took place in 2019, inspired by the Marudam Crafts Mela.

The Learning Center Community, an after school learning program provided the base for the artisan camps and activities.

Some of the crafts practiced were weaving with palm, weaving with split bamboo, handmade paper, blacksmithing, lost wax metal casting, pedal knife sharpening, stencil carving, soapstone carving and more.