Days before lockdown 1.0 was imposed, Kolkata-based dancer and arts manager Paramita Saha decided that stepping out was not going to be possible anymore. "I stayed home, listening to news of the pandemic and hushed rumours about an imminent lockdown. As someone working in the art world, I kept wondering how we would manage," she shares. To make sense of this change, and also to cope with it, Saha, co-director of ideation agency Artsforward, started an Instagram page. "It was a way to document how people were functioning through the lockdown. We started sharing works by artistes and found various ways to engage with art lovers through creative prompts, weekend activities, etc," she adds. Two months on, the agency has tied up with Smoke Inc, a creative solutions firm, to host their first festival, named after the page, ArtAloneTogether, this Sunday.

Maya Krishna Rao