Charitable Arts
Charitable Arts
Philanthropist Ajay Raju—with help from Christie'south Auction House—uses international art to brand Philly a destination city and connect the haves and have-nots
Sep. 12, 2016
Here'south a peculiar sort of riddle: Over hither, you have legendary New York auction house Christie's, holding its annual Asian Art Calendar week, where millions of dollars of fine art will pass from rich hands to other rich easily. Over at that place, you have a poor Philadelphia neighborhood, where strokes and heart attacks are all too frequent killers. How are they connected?
The answer: Through a passel of 10 artworks in Wednesday's South Asian Modern and Contemporary Fine art sale, whose expected $300,000 sale will all go towards education CPR to Philadelphians in underserved and unhealthy neighborhoods.
Information technology is, to say the least, an unusual set-upward. But then, it's the abstraction of an unusual sort of art collector/philanthropist, chaser and businessman Ajay Raju. (Raju is a co-founder and lath member of The Citizen.)
Over the past twelvemonth, Raju—an gorging collector of contemporary Indian art—has arranged with artists and other collectors to donate pieces to the Pamela and Ajay Raju Foundation, which in turn has given them to Christie'due south to sell. The proceeds from that sale—estimated at at least $300,000—volition go towards Raju'south Germination Project, a mentoring programme for area high schoolers. In particular, the money volition go to fund Germination'south healthcare initiative, which includes working with the American Center Clan to teach ten,000 low-income residents CPR to assistance save lives in their neighborhoods. Already, GP high school fellows have learned CPR themselves, started didactics others, and lobbied in Harrisburg to brand Pennsylvania the 33rd state to make CPR training a graduation requirement.
Raju's challenge to the world of art, and those who collect information technology, is to see Philadelphia the way he does—as a city of world-class institutions. "We seek to prove to the globe that Philadelphia is not an outpost, but a destination, not a backwater but a nervus center," he says.
Christie'south, which is non charging the Raju Foundation its usual seller's fee, is besides hosting a dinner in honor of Germination on Monday night, and has featured the project in its promotional materials for Asian Fine art Week—touting amidst the glittering artworks being sold to millionaires around the world the work of a small family foundation, in an American city in demand of a leg upward.
"Sometimes in order to address the despair and hurting that afflict these neighborhoods, yous have to wait at information technology through the lens of commerce," Raju says. "The rich people who are giving the fine art, and buying the art, will exist giving direct to poor people who need it."
This melding of worlds is the keystone to Raju's vision for bettering Philadelphia. Born in India and shaped by his move to the Philly suburbs with his family when he was 14, Raju is a self-made millionaire with an impatient philanthropic mission. He wants to put Philadelphia on the map as a earth form city, which likewise means lifting upwardly its poorest residents. But he's not satisfied with the usual channels. That's why he started Germination Project, which has a very long view: In exchange for the admission and experiences he affords with his rolodex, Raju expects the Germination fellows to return to Philly later on higher and work to make the city peachy for everyone in information technology.
The Christie's auction is the latest deed of IntXchange, a Raju Foundation project to bring Indian artists to Philadelphia, in a cultural exchange with a typically Raju twist. A Philadelphia Museum of Art trustee, Raju in each of the last two years has sponsored (through his foundation) the Initiative for S Asian Contemporary Fine art. In 2013, the PMA showcased the piece of work of Indian painter Atul Dodiya; two years later on, multi-media installation creative person Jitish Kallat; and in October, sculptor Ranjani Shettar. He is also, in Nov, altruistic to the Museum's permanent collection a video project by Kallat called Roofing Letter, which features the words from a letter of the alphabet Mahatma Ghandi wrote to Hitler asking him to reconsider his aggression. (The Raju Foundation and The Citizen will concord a series of events around the opening of the exhibit in November.)
The predictable $300,000 from the Christie's sale will go to fund Raju's Germination Project healthcare initiative, which includes working with the American Heart Association to teach x,000 low-income residents CPR to help save lives in their neighborhoods.
The IntXchange exhibits and accompanying events accept provided a new American audience for the Indian artists; broadened the international telescopic of the museum, helping to define it as a hub of Indian contemporary fine art; and opened a sort of art portal between Philadelphia and Republic of india, the globe's largest democracy. They are Raju's claiming to the world of art, and those who collect information technology, to see Philadelphia the way he does—equally a metropolis of world-class institutions on par with those in New York City and London and elsewhere, fifty-fifty though information technology may not take the aforementioned reputation.
Just IntXchange is about more than the art. It'south an invitation to come see all that Philadelphia has to offer, both culturally and otherwise. Each time the PMA presents a new Indian artist, Raju hosts art lovers and collectors from around the world, who also happen to be leaders in business, and scientific discipline, and engineering science and medicine—like billionaire Shiv Nadar, a technologist who is one of the richest men in India. The hope, Raju says, is that those leaders come up hither for the sake of the art, only walk away wanting to spend more than fourth dimension and money hither—even, possibly, to exercise business organisation in Philly.
"As a region, we're in competition with every other region in the world," Raju says. "The question is, Are you the magnet that attracts the best human talent? We seek to show to the globe that Philadelphia is non an outpost, only a destination, not a backwater but a nerve center. We're selling Philadelphia in the best way, making this region a bit more than relevant to people outside of it."
Header photo: Chrysallis, by Ranjani Shettar 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/art-to-the-rescue/
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