AHVL showcases its first batch of 'culturepreneurs'!

Ahmedabad Heritage Venture Lab (AHVL) has organised an  exhibition of Ahmedabad based Heritage Ventures, displaying their heritage related products & services in diverse areas: artworks, cultural tourism, film shooting, food & lifestyle, Handicrafts, Heritage Home Stay, Performing arts, Photography, Radio Broadcasting, Town Planning & web portal for arts & culture.

The exhibition was inaugurated by the Mayor of Ahmedabad, Shri Gautam Shah and Shrimati Bijal Patel, the Chairperson, AMC Committee on Heritage and Recreation and Prof. Devanath Tirupati, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University (CHM,AU). The exhibition is being held at the Amrut Modi School of Management Studies, Vastrapur. It was inaugurated on the 16^th of April and will continue till the 17^th of April and is open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Prof. Tirupati welcomed everyone to the event and expressed his pleasure about the fact that Centre for Heritage Management was emerging as a pioneer for Heritage Management in the country.

He mentioned that AHVL is a collaborative effort of two important parts of the Ahmedabad University family- Venture Studio, which has been established to promote entrepreneurship and CHM, which has been established to promote the study and management of heritage. AHVL has been established under a European Union funded project.

Ms. Patel mentioned that she was happy to see the response of the people to exhibition and was happy to know that people were so interested in the event. She said that the AMC was proud to be a part of such an event and that more things were in store for the future. She also referred to the fact the Ahmedabad has been nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage City and the AMC is doing all it can to make it a success.

Mr. Shah was also very pleased with the event and he emphasised on the fact that for any city, region or state it is very necessary to preserve its heritage. Heritage is what gives identity to a city and to preserve it is the duty of every citizen.  The setting up of the lab with the help of EU, CHM and VS is a step in the right direction.

The inauguration started with an enlightening and enriching speech by Dr. Debal Deb on the indigenous bio-agricultural diversity of our country. He talked about the rich variety of crops and plants which used to exist in our country and across the world in fact and how they have been lost and how more are being lost every day. He talked about the advantages these crops offer in terms of resilience, longetivity, low energy input and nutrition; but he also pointed out the sad fact that no one is acknowledging or studying this and because of this ignorance, this very important part of our heritage is being lost.

During the inauguration the auspicious lamp was lit by the dignitaries present and the gujarati brochure of the Ahmedabad Heritage Venture Lab was released.

Many interesting ventures are exhibiting their efforts at the exhibition. Some of them are:

Shoot in Gujarat: it has been established to promote the shooting of films, TV serials and ads in Gujarat.

Meet me in Khadia:  It aims to inform people about the walled city of Ahmedabad, it is especially aimed at the younger generation and aims to do that through the medium of photo walks and photography exhibitions in the old city.

Hunar: This organization promotes the craft of zardozi. It promotes the rich built heritage of the city by creating the famous monuments in zardozi.

Heritage Photo Art: It focuses on heritage photography and has been organizing photo exhibitions promoting the city’s heritage.

Sustain-Ably: It is an initiative focused on sustainable development within our settlements using innovative techniques.

Sarkhej Roza Women’s Collective: This organization trains the women of the Sarkhej Roza area to create souvenirs using crochet whose designs are inspired by the motifs of the monument.

National Heritage Volunteers:  It is an informal association which trains tourist guides within Ahmedabad and in the state of Gujarat.

Arya Sanskruti: It is a organisation which sources organic food items prepared using traditional methods. It is also displaying 1100 varieties of rice which were traditionally grown in the country and are slowly being lost.

Radio Nazariya: It is a community radio which was conceived to deal with the urban question through dialogue and informal sharing.

Creative Yatra: It is an online media space in the field of arts and culture. Creativeyatra.com fuses together culture, creativity and community to create fascinating original content that can be consumed by people of every age group.