Rudhan Devi smiles as she holds up a large painting of animals in circles, in front of a wall painted with peacocks and flowers.
Living Art Traditions

What it takes for an art tradition to pay: skills, savings, health and a route to buyers.

Living Art Traditions works with artists and artisans to improve how they work and what they earn. Training, financial literacy and pathways to market strengthen livelihoods, and health and eye-care support decent work.

See how the initiative works Pictured: Rudhan Devi, Sohrai and Khovar artist, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
The gapThe artistsThe workHow it worksProvenanceIn the fieldQuestions
The gap

India's art traditions are admired worldwide. The artists behind them often stay poor, unseen and unprotected.

The skill is not in question. What lets artists down is everything around the work: who sets the price, who gets the credit, what the work costs the body, and who can reach a bank, a scheme or a buyer. India has no national survey of traditional artists, so the evidence comes from studies of single art forms. The same problems appear in one after another.

  1. Artists rarely set their own price

    Middlemen place the orders, choose the designs and keep most of the margin, and few artists can reach buyers on their own.

  2. The designs travel without the artist

    Motifs are copied onto mass-market and luxury goods, and the artist's name rarely goes with the work. Copies compete on price, and the credit goes elsewhere.

  3. Fine work costs the body

    Hours of close, precise work bring pain and eye strain. Much of it is done at home, often at night, without dry storage or health cover.

  4. Savings, credit and schemes stay out of reach

    Income comes order by order, savings are thin, and few artists know which government schemes they qualify for.

  5. Gender, caste and distance limit access

    Women do much of the work, yet in several traditions men handle the trade and the price. In some places caste has shaped who could paint what and who met buyers, and distance keeps many artists waiting for buyers to come to them.

  6. The materials, walls and next generation are thinning

    Natural colours are giving way to synthetic paint, the mud walls and rituals some traditions grew from are disappearing, and fewer young people take up the work.

Each challenge is documented in published studies and reporting across several art forms. Read the evidence and research

A young artist kneels on the floor painting a large, brightly coloured folk artwork, with paint jars beside him.

What has already worked

Programmes in several traditions show that these problems respond to the right support.

Read more about each approach

  • Training

    About 1,250 Warli women learned to apply their art to new materials, formed producer groups and took paid orders. Four of six groups opened bank accounts.

  • Co-creation

    A Sanjhi paper-cut master from Mathura worked with a contemporary artist, and the work was shown at Homo Faber 2026 in Venice.

  • Direct and fair sales

    157 Gond artists sell online under a written agreement that gives them 60% of profits. Artists near Ranthambhore who stopped selling through Jaipur dealers found ready buyers.

  • Making artists visible

    Sohrai and Khovar artists learned to paint on paper, and a register of nearly 500 artists helps buyers find them. Their work covers a 17,500 sq ft public wall in Ranchi.

  • Community-held protection

    A Warli-led organisation holds the Warli Geographical Indication, so the right to the name rests with the community.

Traditions and expertise

A Padma Shri, national awards and six generations of practice.

Living Art Traditions works with master artists and the families that keep these forms alive, from miniature painting and Sanjhi paper-cut to Sohrai, Khovar, Saura and Zardozi. Their work has been honoured by the Government of India and shown in Venice, London, New York and Hong Kong.

Art forms in the initiative
  • Madhubani
  • Gond
  • Bhil
  • Saura
  • Sohrai
  • Khovar
  • Tikuli
  • Warli
  • Phad
  • Sanjhi
  • Rajasthani miniature
  • Pahari miniature
  • Zardozi
The list grows as the initiative reaches new artists and states.
The work

Work that holds its own on any wall, and goes further with co‑design.

Paintings, paper-cuts and embroidery by artists in the initiative, from miniatures that reward a magnifying glass to murals that cover a wall. Every piece is made by hand by a named artist.

Select any work to view it full screen. Zoom in, then drag or scroll to see every part of it.

What co-design adds

When a traditional artist works with a designer, an architect or a contemporary artist, the skill stays the same but the scale, the format and the audience change. The result is work made for a hotel lobby, an office or an international exhibition, still made by hand by the artist.

Hotels, real estate developers, galleries and institutions can commission original or co-designed work through Tri-Impact's partner platforms, KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts.

  • Sanjhi in Venice

    Mohan Kumar Verma's paper sculptures with artist Sumakshi Singh, cut from banana-fibre paper, were shown at Homo Faber 2026 in Venice.

  • Zardozi with Kalamkari

    Mohammad Bilal joins Zardozi embroidery with Kalamkari in shared wall pieces and carries a Mughal-era technique into contemporary work.

  • Paper-cut for new uses

    Ashutosh Verma has worked with Project Tarasha and Creative Dignity on new applications of Sanjhi paper-cutting.

How the initiative works

Living Art Traditions brings skills, provenance, buyers, savings and health together around each artist.

Living Art Traditions runs five supports together, around the same artists. Training raises the quality of the work, the record of origin carries the artist's name, the route to buyers turns the work into income, financial literacy helps that income last, and health care keeps the artist working. Each provides solutions to the challenges artists face.

Training and co-design

Better work

Training in quality, cost and time gives artists more control over their work. Co‑design with designers and contemporary artists opens new formats, scales and buyers.

Responds to
  • 01 Price
  • 06 Next generation
A record of origin

The artist's name travels

A record travels with each work: the artist, the tradition, the place, the materials and the colours. A copy cannot carry it.

How the record works
Responds to
  • 02 Copies and credit
A route to buyers

Work becomes income

Through KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts, work reaches institutions, hotels, galleries and buyers with the artist's name attached.

Responds to
  • 01 Price
  • 05 Access
Financial literacy and savings

Income lasts

Sessions help artists manage irregular earnings, save through lean months, use formal banking and reach the government schemes they qualify for.

Responds to
  • 04 Savings and schemes
Health checks and eye care

The artist keeps working

Health check-ups and eye screening, with spectacles where needed, for artists whose work depends on hours of close, precise attention.

Responds to
  • 03 The body

Support the initiative

CSR teams, foundations and institutions can fund the whole initiative or one part of it, from training and health camps to financial literacy, or commission work through the partner platforms.

Provenance

Every work carries a record of who made it, where and with what.

Every work in the initiative is made by hand, so no two are the same. Living Art Traditions keeps a record for each one: the artist, the tradition, the place, the materials and the colours. The record goes with the work to the buyer, through KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts.

Ram Soni holds up a paper-cut tree, with blue and rust-brown colour showing through the cut leaves.
Record of originSample

Tree, cut in paper

Artist
Ram Soni
Tradition
Sanjhi paper-cut
Place
Alwar, Rajasthan
Materials and method
Cream paper, cut freehand with scissors
Colours
Blue and rust brown, seen through the cut paper
Recognition
National Award 2002, Shilp Shiromani 2008, UNESCO Award 2012

For the artist

Their name stays on the work wherever it is shown or sold, so a buyer who values the work can find the artist again.

For the buyer

Proof of who made the work and where, and the story behind it to share with guests, staff and visitors.

For institutions

A record that procurement, CSR and sustainability teams can check before they commission or buy.

In the field

Fourteen years in the field, now working for artists.

Since 2012, Tri-Impact has run health camps, eye screening, financial literacy and social security enrolment for workers in labour-intensive production across Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Delhi-NCR. Living Art Traditions brings the same field systems, partners and methods to artists.

515,523workers directly supported
126+health and eye camps
14,965health check-ups
15,700eye screenings
7,299spectacles provided
7,836trained in financial literacy
1,841bank accounts opened or restored
3,985linked to social security and financial inclusion

Cumulative figures for Tri-Impact programmes since 2012.

A health worker examines a worker lying on a table at a health camp.
A health camp at a carpet unit in Mirzapur, 2023
An eye specialist and camp staff sit at a table with workers under a Tri-Impact Global banner.
An eye specialist at a camp in Aligarh, 2023
Women seated at desks in a classroom during a financial literacy session.
A financial literacy session for workers

Partner platforms

Tri-Impact connects artists to KalaAnchal, a curatorial platform that brings their work to institutions and buyers.

Visit KalaAnchal (opens in a new tab)

Dharohar Arts, a partner platform, brings artists' and artisans' work to institutions and buyers.

Visit Dharohar Arts (opens in a new tab)
Questions

Questions from funders and buyers.

Which art forms does Living Art Traditions work with?

Madhubani, Gond, Bhil, Saura, Sohrai, Khovar, Tikuli, Warli, Phad, Sanjhi, Rajasthani and Pahari miniature, and Zardozi embroidery. The work includes paintings, paper-cuts and embroidery. The list grows as the initiative reaches new artists and states.

What does an artist receive through the initiative?

Training in quality, cost and time, co-design with designers and contemporary artists, financial literacy and savings, health check-ups and eye screening, a record of origin for each work, and a route to buyers through KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts. The supports run together, around the same artists.

Can a company or foundation fund one part of the initiative?

Yes. CSR teams, foundations and institutions can fund the whole initiative or one part of it, such as training, health camps or financial literacy. A first conversation sets the artists, the places and the scope.

How does the initiative fit CSR priorities?

The initiative works on preventive health care, livelihood enhancement and the promotion of traditional arts, which are activities listed in Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013. Tri-Impact Global is registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to undertake CSR activities (CSR00007814).

How can a hotel, developer or institution commission work?

Start a conversation with the space, the scale and the timeline in mind. Original and co-designed commissions are placed through KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts, and each work carries its record of origin.

What does the record of origin contain?

The artist's name, the tradition, the place, the materials and method, and the colours used. It goes with the work to the buyer, so the artist is credited wherever the work is shown or sold.

How do KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts work with the initiative?

KalaAnchal is an independent curatorial platform and Dharohar Arts is a partner platform. Tri-Impact works with artists on skills, finances, health and records of origin, and connects them to both platforms, which bring their work to institutions and buyers.

Support the artists behind the work.

Fund training, health and eye care or financial literacy for artists, or commission work through KalaAnchal and Dharohar Arts. A first conversation is the quickest way to see where Living Art Traditions fits your CSR or philanthropic priorities.

Your enquiry goes to the Tri-Impact team and is kept as a record, as the Privacy Policy explains.

Zoom in, then drag or scroll to see every part of the work.