Art&Craft in Tourism: a Study Based on Irringal Art&Craft Village at Calicut
Satheesh .K.P Research scholar, University of Calicut
Art and Craft in tourism: A study based on Irringal Art and Craft village at Calicut
The land of Kerala has a rich tradition in arts. All types of art forms were cherished here and among these, the handicrafts attracted the world centuries ago. The handicraft works of Keralites using tree roots, fibers, metals, and wood are unparalleled. In our traditional rituals and festivals, various craft makings are essential. However, during the period of British rule our self-reliant villages and cottage industry totally collapsed and gave way to the imported industrial goods from England or other European countries. Nevertheless, no steps have been taken into account by the government to improve the situation of handicrafts and cottage industry til date. Now the Kerala tourism department has put its steps into this line. The Kerala tourism department started ‘Art and Craft village’ at Irringal, Vadakara in Calicut district. It is an attempt to show casing the skills and products before the tourists and increasing the selling of handicrafts, increasing the earnings and creating more employment opportunities to the traditional artisans. The aim of this paper is to find out how the tourism department arranged the handicraft items and artisans in the realm of craft village. The Art and Craft village is expected to attract native and foreign tourists. The data of this study were collected through the field visit done in the Irringal Art and Craft village at Calicut. The website of Kerala tourism department has been also used for this study. The framework of the paper is developed from observations, the first hand information from the stall owners and the managing team on the bases of unstructured interviews of the traditional artisans and trained artisans in the Art and Craft village. Today almost in all states of India, the rural communities, and peripheral areas are facing
Art and Craft in tourism: A study based on Irringal Art and Craft village at Calicut
The land of Kerala has a rich tradition in arts. All types of art forms were cherished here and among these, the handicrafts attracted the world centuries ago. The handicraft works of Keralites using tree roots, fibers, metals, and wood are unparalleled. In our traditional rituals and festivals, various craft makings are essential. However, during the period of British rule our self-reliant villages and cottage industry totally collapsed and gave way to the imported industrial goods from England or other European countries. Nevertheless, no steps have been taken into account by the government to improve the situation of handicrafts and cottage industry til date. Now the Kerala tourism department has put its steps into this line. The Kerala tourism department started ‘Art and Craft village’ at Irringal, Vadakara in Calicut district. It is an attempt to show casing the skills and products before the tourists and increasing the selling of handicrafts, increasing the earnings and creating more employment opportunities to the traditional artisans. The aim of this paper is to find out how the tourism department arranged the handicraft items and artisans in the realm of craft village. The Art and Craft village is expected to attract native and foreign tourists. The data of this study were collected through the field visit done in the Irringal Art and Craft village at Calicut. The website of Kerala tourism department has been also used for this study. The framework of the paper is developed from observations, the first hand information from the stall owners and the managing team on the bases of unstructured interviews of the traditional artisans and trained artisans in the Art and Craft village. Today almost in all states of India, the rural communities, and peripheral areas are facing
Bibliography: 1.A.K. Bhatia, International tourism management, Sterling publishers, 2001 2.Chris cooper, Ed.Aspects of tourism, Classic reviews in tourism, Viva books, 2006 3.E.K. Govindavarmaraja, Article ‘Thanathu kalaroopangale pariposhippikkanam’ published in Janapadham, published by Govt. of Kerala, Aug, 1996 4.Folklore in the new millennium, P.ChennaReddy, M.Saratbabu, ResearchIndia press,Delhi,2004 5. Hermann Bausinger, Folkculture: In a world of technology, translated by Elke Dettmer, Indiana University press, Bloomington and Indianpolis, 1990 6. Lauri Henko, Folklore process: published in the program for folklore fellows summer school, 1991 Webliogrphy 1. http://www.keralatourism.org/irringal