May these associations between Nepal and the UK long remain. Yet what of the present, and especially the future? The bicentenary presents a historic opportunity for Kathmandu and London—one of enormous proportions for both countries and peoples but a no less great challenge too. To be meaningful and to deliver real results, the bicentenary needs to focus purely upon the strengths and unique contributions to global civilisation and global citizenship of the peoples of the two lands. In this the arts should be a top priority.

Meaningful celebration

What is the most meaningful contribution that can be made to honourably represent the past 200 years from the UK side? Is it the amount of foreign aid benignly bestowed upon one of the so-called Third World’s poorest countries? Is it kind and sometimes slightly condescending words about the special contribution made by Nepali soldiery —the shedding of their blood and loss of life—from the early 19th century to the present in the story of a Britain that has moved from being an imperial to a global financial power? Neither of these. It should be rather about people and international amity rather than international political and diplomatic gestures and mantras. The global spiritual and cross-cultural language of communication that is found uniquely through the arts should deservedly be a prime focus of the bicentenary—the arts, not the art of war.

No politically powerful nation has ever ignored its artistic heritage. And in the global economy of the early 21st century, culture unites under its name substantial parts of national economies. Arts-driven culture (from traditional and religious forms to street art, fashion, popular music, theatre and dance), is therefore not a

luxury item, but a key component

of the proper functioning of the global economy.

In Britain, it has been the case that via phenomena such as Beatlemania of the 1960s and the very successful Cool Britannia fashion and popular culture orientated international marketing tourism campaign of much more recent times, the strategic thinking behind the connection between the arts and economic and commercial success is self-evident.

Challenge for Nepal

Nepal needs to be wary that it can no longer ignore its greatest human asset: its creative community. It should be looking at this in a more farsighted and strategic way. And the new government should ensure that the British Embassy in Kathmandu and the Nepal Embassy in London collaborate actively together to bring about this

badly needed change. It is not good enough to argue that the arts are not as important as overseas aid, promotion of tourism or DFID, USAID and EU-funded projects.

There are positive signs of change taking place, and a re-evaluation of the role of the arts for both international prestige and economic benefit. During the past year, there have been a couple of important arts related initiatives pursued by the Nepal Embassy in London. In addition, at a private business rather than broader community level, there are regular Nepali music festivals and concerts in the UK, and there has recently been a screening of a Nepali movie at a British university.

However, much more needs to be done. The UK Nepal Friendship Society, a UK-based INGO with a chapter in Nepal, is leading a large-scale three-year project. This initiative, the Nepal International Arts Programme, will be commencing from April 2014 when a start-up website will be complete. It is designed by a team of NHD students of the art department of one of South West England’s largest colleges. By the autumn, it will have developed a strong social media support and potential campaigning dimension.

The project aims to give a powerful voice to the whole of the creative community of Nepal, encompassing visual, performing and musical arts, and ranging from traditional culture-related forms of art to street art, fashion and popular music. Its agenda is to empower the Nepali creative community and will follow the British Council’s equality and inclusion values.

The initiative’s core features will be an online journal where experts and practitioners of the range of Nepali arts will provide articles. It will contain a glossary of technical terms and information about the different art forms and be an invaluable one-stop educational resource that will stimulate arts-orientated cultural tourism. Finally, the project website will develop an online market where artists and whole communities engaged in ethnic culture-related art can project directly to the world market.

Strength of support

Already in its formative stage, this bicentenary related initiative is gaining extensive support in Nepal. It is strongly supported by the director of the British Council Nepal and by experts at a UK university, South West England-based arts and music organisations, internationally renowned Nepali artists in the UK and the Dorset Race Equality Council. In addition, one aspect of the project will link spiritual and sacred art with the intention of raising awareness of Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.

The project’s ethos will highlight Nepal’s incomparable richness in terms of spiritual motivation in artist creativity in the UK. The project’s online resources are intended to be used as cultural awareness material for dissemination in UK schools, and to connect these to schools in Nepal by uniting young people in both the lands through art. Such an initiative is a suitable tribute to the bicentenary of the historic relations between the two peoples and nations, and it is to be hoped that it will bring further leverage for the new government of Nepal and the Nepal Tourism Board to re-prioritise the arts of Nepal as a key living national treasure, as a resource that can be of much greater benefit to socio-economic development through cultural tourism.

Mercel-Sanca is a co-founder and vice-chairperson of the UK Nepal Friendship Society