Located in the picturesque setting at Altinho, Sunaparanta -Goa Centre for the Arts has been serving as a non-profit arts education centresince its inception in 2009. Apart from aiming to preserve the artistic legacyof Goa, it also works to promote and sponsor work in the visual arts. Thecentre has also been striving to bridge the gap between the Goan art communityand art communities from India and abroad, by inviting famed artists asfacilitators for a number of workshops that are held here.
Apart from focusing on other forms of art, Sunaparanta alsoscreens movies every week and throughout the year, thereby making it, arguably,the most active film club in Goa. Sachin Chatte who curates the screeningssays, “Being an art center, it was natural to cater to cinema as well, since itencompasses all forms of art. Apart from the regular screenings, we also havesome festivals like the French Film Festival and Childrens Film Festival thatwas held during the summer holidays last year. There is no particular genre offilms that are screened. We basically try to show good films from around theglobe, including Indian films that will stir some kind of emotion in theviewer.
Sunaparanta houses several exhibition galleries, a largemulti-functional space for workshops and lectures, studios, two residency roomsfor visiting scholars, artists or faculty, an open-air amphitheatre, an opencourtyard that houses a cafeteria. Thespace and the walls of the courtyard serve to display the works of buddingartists without a fee. The centre has also been laying emphasis on creatingawareness about the different programmes that are conducted at the centre. LizKemp, a Scottish artist who took over as the project director for the centrefew months ago adds, “We have been encouraging people to visit the centre andcome and see our exhibition. The orphanage along the route here did not realisethat we were here. We are trying to push the events out. Most of our workshopsand programmes, including the guided workshops are free. Others attract a feeto take care of the fees of the visiting curator/artists, etc. The work that wedo here is not for just a small group of elite people who like art; but thegallery has something to offer to everybody, regardless of age, ability andsocial status.”
