Avid Learning to host ‘Sustainability Now’ series on World Environment Day

Mumbai: On the occasion of World Environment Day, Avid Learning, the cultural philanthropy arm of the Essar Group launches a series called – Sustainability NOW – as a part of their ongoing digital initiative, AVID Online. As environmental concerns continue to grow worldwide, AVID finds it imperative to shed some light on such issues and use their platform to educate and spread awareness by communicating through arts.
 
The Sustainability NOW series consists of targeted online episodes aimed at converting audiences into change makers and active catalysts and custodians of a greener future. In collaboration with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), AVID has curated a week of robust programming – dedicated to World Environment Day 2020 – celebrating the champions of sustainability and environmental activism.
 
Showcased as ‘Environment Week @ AVID Online’, this series will be centred around the topic of sustainability and will consist of short and engaging pre-recorded AVID Online episodes as well as AVID’s first-ever live online panel discussion and masterclass, featuring leading experts from the fields of art, architecture, design, dance, fashion and film.
 
Asad Lalljee - CEO Avid Learning commented, “Environment Week @ AVID Online is our latest attempt to showcase the power of arts, as it brings to fore the many issues of sustainability the world is currently facing and highlights how practitioners and experts from the creative sector are – both individually and collectively – responding to and engaging with these matters through their work.
 
With issues and concerns regarding climate change and environmental degradation growing worldwide and with all the unprecedented changes and shifts occurring around the globe at this time, I believe that it is critical to keep the conversation on sustainability alive and ongoing now more than ever. We are at the brink of a crucial and seismic shift and we believe that the arts have the power to leverage conversations toward cultural changes around this topic and successfully usher in and showcase the spirit of sustainability.”
 
“AVID is excited to be participating in the global movement for change and a greener future and that through such programming, we are able to facilitate conversations that could help people and the planet achieve a sustainable equilibrium." He further added
 
During the course of this week, AVID Online will present engaging episodes featuring the likes of Creative and Design Consultant/Stylist Ekta Rajani, Product Designer and Animator Shashank Nimkar, Industrial Designer Malvika Vaswani, Independent Filmmaker Priya Thuvassery and Dancer and Choreographer Revanta Sarabhai leading up to World Environment Day 2020. These sessions will touch upon topics such as the emergence of slow fashion and future trends in the industry, the importance and benefits of recycling and upcycling waste and the development of eco-friendly materials, as well as, the role of the arts in spreading awareness about environmental degradation.
 
On the occasion of World Environment Day, AVID will present Sustainability NOW: Architecture + Urbanism – a panel discussion that explores the concepts of sustainable architecture and urban design while uncovering the systems and practices adopted by professionals in the industry that are carving out pathways to a more sustainable future and current reality. This live virtual discussion will feature – Architect and Creative Head, Mozaic Dean D'Cruz, Urbanologist and Co-Founder, URBZ Matias Echanove and Eco-Architect Trupti Doshi in conversation with Author, Architectural Journalist, Curator and Editor Apurva Bose Dutta and will look at how we can improve our building and construction processes and approaches as well as our living styles and habits in order to ensure a sustainable existence. This will be followed by AVID’s Eco Reel – Sustainability NOW: Creating Change for a Greener Future – a short film celebrating the champions of sustainability.
 
To culminate this week of exciting programmes, it will present a live masterclass on The Future of Textiles with Lifestyle Journalist and Sustainability Activist Bandana Tewari – which will look at emerging trends, initiatives and best practices in the textile space as well as analyse future trajectories for the fashion industry as a whole.