Thursday, 8 September 2011

Project aims to create change with art


uy Laliberté hopes his ONE DROP program will initiate change in India through the use of arts and popular culture.

In a joint venture with RBC, ONE DROP’s Project India aims to improve the living conditions in Orissa — one of India’s poorest states, through educating and creating awareness about water.

“ONE DROP will address some of the socio-cultural factors in the use and treatment of water with an arts and education program intended to create lasting behavioural changes with residents in the community at large,” said RBC President and Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon, as he pledged a $1.1 million grant from RBC to fund the arts and education component of Project India on Wednesday in Toronto.

Created by Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, ONE DROP fights poverty by improving access to clean water and educating about the importance of water.

“Water is not an infinite resource, it is something that we have badly used and if we don’t correct the way we use water as a global community, we will be in trouble probably within the next three to five years,” said Laliberté.

Project India will be working with local organizations to carry out the initiative, which is estimated to benefit 100 villages and over 55,000 people in the community. 

Laliberté says both the technical and educational components are essential to the success of this project and that water is the key to a multitude of issues.

“When you look at every aspect related to humanitarian causes in the world: education, health, biodiversity, environment and pollution, water is always at the centre of those problems,” he said. “So if you resolve the situation of water, you probably will have a lot of resolution in a physical sense.”
 

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