Every year, for the past 19 years, students from Manipal Academy of Higher Education’s School of Communication have helped organize Namma Angadi, a three-day exhibition and sale of traditional products made by young artisans from Karnataka.

This was the task our batch of final year master's students set out to tackle.

But what is Namma Angadi? Namma Angadi, which translates to ‘Our Shop’ in Kannada is the flagship event of MIC that happens everywhere in March/April. Under the patronage of the three-time Nobel Peace Prize-nominated NGO ‘Concern for Working Children’ (CWC), Namma Bhoomi is a residential centre in Kundapur that houses around 200 students and provides them vocational skills, education and a safe place to stay and grow. According to the assistant director of Namma Bhoomi, Mr Shivanand, the aim of the institute is to financially empower the children and women but also to equip them with life skills beyond financially viable avenues. Rural craftspeople are given the chance to demonstrate their abilities through selling a range of products to the community. The event shines a spotlight on local artisans, giving them a fighting chance against the market competition imposed by big companies today.

A few days before the final event, Namma Angadi organized a press conference at the Udupi press club. This was done in an effort to inform the media and disseminate information among the general audience about the upcoming event. The press conference was attended by numerous journalists from renowned local newspapers. Delegating the press conference was our faculty co.ordinator Sowparnika Pavan Kumar Attavar, our Department Head Padmakumar K, Shivanand Shetty, Associate Director CWC , Dinesh Sir, Production Head at Namma Bhoomi and Project Manager, Shanmukha Anagh. The press conference focused on what is the event, what should one expect at the event along with the king of products that will be available. Light was also shed on their new line of products - the kid’s collection. A challenge of the press conference was making the press kits with the limited budget.

MIC is doing a great job and it acts as a bridge between the artisans and the customers. Rural artisans themselves get the materials and produce everlasting products. How we make it economically viable and marketing it to the common public is more important. These kinds of programmes will help to reduce the gap between rural people and the urban buyers."

Paper Link : https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=945549