Cross-cultural collaborations will be on show during the four-day South Asian Festival titled the 'SASIAN Journey' beginning on March 28 at The Ashoka Hotel here.
The festival is an endeavour to bring all SAARC nations together to jointly address the issue of employment and enhance regional integration.
SASIAN will be a launch pad for sustainable, cross cultural collaborations of South Asians across the globe.
The festival will host a Lotus Bazaar, which will include a series of trans-disciplinary workshops, events, performances, symposia, exhibitions and fests. The bazaar will offer space for direct retail to a selected few artists, artisans and cultural enterprises from all 9 South Asian countries attempting to connect the above to the global market.
Lotus Bazaar will also host South Asia's first food festival named Sanjha Chulha, curated by Dr. Pushpesh Pant, to promote the incredible variety of local and regional cuisines of South Asia showcasing the diversity of culinary art.
The festival is a joint effort of the UNDP, World Bank, The Asian Heritage Foundation, The Smithsonian Institution in Washington and SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association).
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The aim of the festival is to reverse de-skilling of artisans and revive the rich traditions of South Asia and to provide the traditional artisan with dignified options.
The proposal will work towards-Increased employment and accelerated growth and also enhance regional integration and cooperation amongst the 9 South Asian countries- India, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Srilanka and Afghanistan
The initiative will be spearheaded by Rajeev Sethi, Founder, The Asian Heritage Foundation, a leading South Asian designer.
Minister of State for Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma will inaugurate the event on Saturday.