Facilitation of & support for the NIAP:
The NIAP is initiated and provided by the UK Nepal Friendship Society (UKNFS). In both Nepal and the UK it is supported directly by a number of volunteer advisors, project development volunteer officers, visual and performing arts and music technical experts as well as UK Nepali community members.
All contribute their particular areas of individual art forms specialisation, or equality and multicultural learning through their arts expertise, and do so in wishing to utilise the platform of the NIAP website to explain about the incredible richness of the contemporary arts of Nepal, and their special role in representing the spiritual heritage of the nation and also Nepal’s challenges and issues in seeking to become a land free and inclusive to all of its citizens, irrespective of economic status, class and caste, race, sexual orientation and gender.
Team members:
Our main volunteer team members in Nepal and the UK are:
Alan Mercel-Sanca (UK): NIAP initiator and project lead
Govinda Sah ‘Azad’ (UK): Nepal’s most internationally renowned abstract art painter in the West
Saroj Mahato (Nepal): Film maker and arts center director; lead supporter in Nepal for equality and empowerment aspects of the NIAP
Andrew Yearp (UK): NIAP IT website officer
Deepak Tamrakar: NIAP international communications and liaison officer
Leroy-Winston Scott (UK): Officer for Bournemouth, Dorset & Poole marketing and development of the NIAP
Barsha Pant (UK): graphic designer & photographer
Shishir Dhakal (Nepal): NIAP archivist / photographic researcher for the Kathmandu Valley area
Rabindra Puri (Nepal): Nepal’s foremost traditional Nepali architecture conservationist
DB Gurung (Nepal): Internationally renowned Novelist and Senior Advisor of the NIAP Contemporary Literature Section
Kumar Shrestha (Nepal): Internationally renowned Nepali short stories writer and song-writer
Sita Maiya Rajchal (Nepal): NIAP Music Section Technical Advisor
Sayaad Ashok & Samuna KC (Nepal): Performing Arts technical advisors, and Directors of Kitlee Arts Cafe [KTM]
Nar Kumari Gurung (Nepal): NIAP Womens Rights & Gender Equality Lead and international advisor
Krishna Subhedi (Nepal): NIAP Children’s Rights advisor, writer and arts promoter
Bournemouth University Nepalese Society: Supporting the NIAP in Bournemouth
Srijana Thapa (UK): UK NIAP projects Principal Support Officer
Other support: Individuals:
Roger Potter (Chair of the Britain-Nepal Society): from the inception of the UKNFS initiated NIAP, Roger has been always a strong advocate of the project’s value and importance, and it was through him that the UK Nepal Friendship Society was introduced to the informal group of organisations involved in the official commemoration activities in the lead up to the UK – Nepal Bicentenary
Sangeeta Thapa (Nepal): Siddhartha Art Foundation [SAF] lead and co-lead of the Kathmandu International Arts Festival [KIAF]: Sangeeta’s encouragement of the the NIAP is greatly appreciated
Sushil Thapa (Nepal): One of Nepal’s foremost ethnographic artists, and supporter of the NIAP from its inception
Ajit Kumar Sah (Nepal): Nepal’s most renowned internationally recognised ambassador for education about and promotion of Mithila Art
Umesh Shah (Nepal): One of Nepal’s foremost Mithila artists
Uma Shankar Shah and Seema Sharma Shah (Nepal): Internationally renowned artists and print-makers, supporting the NIAP
Jib Acharya (UK): Founder Member of the NIAP [UK]
Denise Wootten (UK): NIAP Trustee & Board Member, and Chair of the Its All About Culture [IAAC] Boscombe-based multicultural group
Professor Shreedhar Gautam (Nepal): NIAP Literature section technical advisor
Saurabh Baral (Nepal): NIAP Literature section technical advisor
Professor Laya Mainali (Nepal): internationally renowned sculptor, and supporter of the NIAP
Professor Shiva Raj Poudel (Nepal): internationally renowned Musician and Professor of Musical Arts at the Lalit Kala Campus
Other honorouble mention:
Bikesh Shrestha: UKNFS Vice Chair and NIAP Lead officer [Nepal] for the project’s environmental art section
Ram Hari Adhikari: Co-initiator of the UKNFS: Ram was responsible for facilitating a number of key introductions to artists and key figures and organisations (such as Rabindra Puri, and the Lalit Kala Arts Campus, Lalitpur, KTM)
Basanta Adhikari: for his invaluable support at a number of key NIAP supportive meetings in the earliest stage of the initiative in the summer & autumn of 2013
Groups & organisations supporting directly & indirectly the NIAP:
The following organisations are providing either direct (such as working with us on projects) or indirect support to the NIAP:
Bournemouth & Poole College: Art & Design Department:
The UK Nepal Friendship Society:
The Kathmandu Post:
Nepali Patra:
We Nepali.com:
Wave & SoundStorm arts and music organisations and Bournemouth & Poole Cultural Hub:
DEED:
IAAC (‘Its All About Culture’):
UNESEEN:
Lalit Kala Arts Campus (Tribhuvan University):