‘Chinha’ starts its new journey!

‘Chinha’ was conceived way back in 1983. It’s been exactly 40 years since, and 4 decades is not a small period. When I came into journalism in 1980, letter press technique was still used for printing. The letters would be set in words, sentences, paragraphs and then sent for printing. Things have changed so much since then that now you don’t even need to use hands for typing. The new technique ‘Speech to Text’ can print as you speak. One needs to use hands only to add exclamation marks, and full stops etc. This is a big revolution in the field of printing.

‘Chinha’ has lived and experienced this journey from very close quarters. Looking back, we are amazed at this journey when we have started bringing out digital edition of ‘Chinha’. Many a times, this expedition looks unbelievable to me that we have ‘travelled’ so much and reached this point today.

First, the art and artists directory ‘Kalakird’ and then the Diwali editions of ‘Chinha’; its transformation into an art magazine ‘Nivadak Chinha’ and then came the book ‘Gaitonde’. We started a youtube channel for ‘Chinha’ at the same time we were active on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Whatsapp too. Thus, from being very active on social media platforms for a long time to starting a website for updates on art and art world ‘Chinha Art News’, this has been an astonishing 40 year voyage. The upcoming ambitious projects by ‘Chinha’ include English edition of book on ‘Gaitonde’, Marathi book ‘J J Jagi Jagle’and publication of Marathi and English editions of book on Prabhakar Barve.

All of this was of course in Marathi language, but hence forth whatever you read will also be published in English language. We are entering this sector with lot of expectations and gut as we want the visual art from not only Mumbai-Maharashtra or India but also entire world to reach to the art connoisseurs. There will be at least one news feature on the day to day happening in the field of art besides 2-3 art-related news including exhibitions etc on the website. Apart from this, editorials will also be a regular affair. We have provided all the information about art galleries, museums, art schools, art societies, and art organisations on the various tabs available on the website, which would be updated regularly. This will help art lovers stay abreast with the current scenario of the art world.

We are probably the first ones to attempt any such thing. At least we are not aware of any other such website, so in case you know of any other similar project, do let us know and please do not forget to send us a link of the same.

We have also started a unique initiative which might prove to be very important from art world point of view. We are going to prominently publish news about the exhibitions and shows being held or to be held every week in metro cities like Mumbai. Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru on our ‘Chinha Art News’ website. We are starting with Mumbai. The art lovers can visit the website and get all the information in the form of features and news, so that the artists can make use of it commercially too.

Today many art galleries across the world have their websites, but they give information about their own gallery only and the artists associated with these galleries only can sell their art works through the galleries. But we are different from such websites. Any artist from anywhere in the country can show his/her exhibition on our website and also sell their art works through us. Exclusively for this purpose, we have started four online art galleries. The first gallery is for the commercial artists, the second one is for the amateur artists, the third one is for the students of art school and societies and the fourth one is for the children art. The most ambitious part of this project is, besides the physical exhibition being in held in non-metro cities like Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur etc.; the exhibition can be streamed online on the ‘Chinha Art News’ website and reach out to the art lovers across India and World. They will be able to sell their art works without paying commission to any middle person.

We are confident that this initiative would reap benefits, the foremost reason being it’s the first time such an idea is being implemented through a website, and if this project becomes successful, it would be a revolutionary one for the artists.

Do let us know what you feel about this project of ours. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, we are open to it. Henceforth, we would be meeting you Monday to Friday. We are already reaching out to art lovers and artists through various Whatsapp groups by forwarding links of the latest art related news and features, and this has been a successful story. Now, we would be replicating it with the English news too. If you want regular updates from ‘Chinha’, all you have to do is send in a whatsapp message stating your name and city to (+91) 90040 34903. If you are an artist, type ‘Artist’ and if you are not, type ‘Art Lover’. Following which you will be added to the admin-only group of ‘Chinha’.

Come, become a part of this unique project, Free of cost.

Please send in your feedback on how you find ‘Chinha Art News’ website.

We are eagerly waiting.

Satish Naik

Editor,

‘Chinha Art News’