Young Artistes' fest in B’luru begins today

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: It's Mehak's first time ever in Bengaluru. But more than the sights of the Garden City, it's the Young Artistes' Festival 2023 that the 10-year-old from Chembur in Mumbai is focused on.

"I have made two friends here already," she tells you excitedly, in between rehearsals on Saturday.

Mehak, who started to learn hip-hop online after her doctor advised to take up dancing to tackle her bent leg problem, is now keen to take this forward and do something with it in future.

Mehak is one of the 17 participants from across India, the youngest of whom is a six-year-old, who will be performing on August 20, at Young Artistes Festival 2023 being held in Bangalore International Centre.

The festival is a culmination of multiple national-level competitions that were conducted on Young Artiste's YouTube channels over the last few months.

"Young Artiste is a platform to recognise talents in Indian classical and contemporary music and dance," said Kavita Iyer, founder of the Bengaluru-based Singhal Iyer Family Foundation (SIFF), which is making dance and music accessible to all, irrespective of the background or age, through YouTube channels.

According to Iyer, they now have more than 60,000 students learning from the seven YouTube channels being managed by the foundation.

"These channels are open to anybody, completely free of cost. But mostly youngsters join us. We also have children from government schools. These kids, who would normally otherwise not be going to a paid music class or a dance class, are attending our classes. Through the channels, we also provide performance opportunities. Young Artistes' Festival is an example of that," added Iyer.

She said the foundation was started in 2016, when Iyer's daughter, who started learning music at a very young age, realised firsthand the struggles that one faces when it comes to taking interest in music forward.

"Even sports have a structure and you can progress from one level to another. But interest in the arts has no place to go," added Iyer.

As for the festival, it first started in 2019 as a platform to offer performance opportunities to the talented youngsters who subscribe to these channels.

"For three years, we had to do it online because of Covid. This is the first time it's happening on the ground," added Iyer.