Artist Support Program

SUMMARY

According to official figures there are 7 million artisans (and up to 200 million artisans according to unofficial sources) engaged in craft production to earn a livelihood. The global market for handicrafts is USD 400 billion, of which India’s share is below 2%, representing a tremendous growth.

Camel Central is an online platform which helps Artists and Artisans share their skills with individuals across the globe who are interested in learning and practicing difficult art and crafts forms as a recreation or a learning experience. The platform also provides a platform to sell the handicraft products to the global audience.

Since majority of rural artists, especially women are illiterate, there is a challenge to onboard them to a virtual platform and communicate with a global audience. Our mission is to provide the necessary resources to these artisans for capability building.

We do this by crowd funding loans and unlocking capital for the marginalized artisan community in India, addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Camel Central's work, artisans can start businesses, and are able to invest in equipment and resources to address the needs of the new world market.

From Patron’s like yourself we expect capital to fund the needs of the artisan community in India and can also volunteer to provide your skills and time in up skilling rural artisans to teach online courses and share their skills online.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Women’s Empowerment: Crafts production and sharing their skills with a global audience represents an opportunity to provide a source of earning and employment for otherwise low skilled, home-based women, improving their status within the household.

Return for future generation: Investing in artisans leads to a trickle-down effect of improving health and education outcomes for future-generation of the most marginalized population. It is estimated that in 2003 around 50% of household heads of crafts producing families had no education whatsoever, and more shockingly, around 90% of the women in these households were completely uneducated.

CORNER STONES OF ARTISAN SUSTAINABILITY

Investment should focus on building the four corner stones of artisan's sustainability.

• Handholding the Artisan through the value chain
• Increasing demand for crafts and strengthening market linkages
• Strengthening the decentralized production model
• Building multi-stake approach

5 main challenges facing artisans in creating sustainable livelihoods in today’s economy can be described as below:

• Low Productivity
  • Unorganized Production
  • Low Education
  • Outdated Production Methods
• Inadequate Inputs
  • Lack of quality raw materials
  • Lack of funding
  • Design Inputs
• Information Asymmetry
• Fragmental Value chain
  • Lack of market linkages
  • Dominance of middlemen
  • Lack of aggregation
• Lack of an enabling environment
  • Neglect by central and state government
  • Lack of interest by second generation

BENEFITS OF INVESTING IN ARTISANS

Handicrafts embody India’s History and Diversity over many centuries, an extraordinary legacy has nourished Indians across religious, ethnic, and communal Boundaries. The highlight the country's unique cultural mosaic and offer a powerful tool for pluralism and co-existence.

• Economic Opportunities
  • Employment and Income
  • Migration
  • Economic Growth
  • Competitive Advantage
• Environmental Benefits
  • Low energy requirements
• Social Empowerment
  • Women's Empowerment
  • Return for Future generation

 

Cause: Creating quality video content for course creation

Recipient: Mohan Prajapati, Rajasthani Miniature Artist

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