A one day event Journey of the Artisans, which was part of a cultural extravaganza of heritage and fashion called Hunar Ke Rang was organised by the Indus Heritage Trust, an organisation working to preserve and promote the arts and crafts of Pakistani artisans, by enhancing their skills and designs to make marketable products of excellent quality and find best markets for them and thereby promote and propagate the heritage of the Indus Valley. Developing artisan livelihoods in rural Pakistan or Rang is a unique initiative of IHT in collaboration with the World Bank and the Japan Social Development Fund, to take the finest work of Pakistani artisans to the world, while developing sustainable incomes for them. With an out-of-the-box Artisans Cluster Enterprise approach, IHT’s goal is to empower over 2,600 artisans of South Punjab and Sindh to help them become entrepreneurs of their own craft. Through the Rang Project, rural artisans have established production capabilities of high-end export quality hand embellished products. This event showcased the vibrant collection of the artisans and brought to the world what Pakistan has been best known for – for centuries-hand-embellished fabric products. This was an extravaganza of the journey of Pakistan’s artisans narrating their challenges and successes to this moment and the new vistas that are being opened by IHT for these artisans. The event was inaugurated by the Minister of State and Benazir Income Support Programme Chairperson Marvi Memon who spoke about the importance of preserving the arts and crafts of the region and in particular looking for synergies and alliances between all stakeholders. She suggested using the talent of women artisans and marketing their products thru e-commerce to reach a worldwide market. The keynote speech by World Bank Country Director Illango Patchamuthu was read out by World Bank Pakistan Programme Leader Cristina Santos who touched on the importance of taking a global view of crafts interventions and their significance to promoting human social development. The Indus Heritage Trust Chairperson Siddiqa Malik introduced the organisation and the uniqueness of the project Rang with regards to enhancing livelihoods, exports and microfinance impact of the creative industries. Rajiv Sethi South Asia’s leading designer and scenographer also graced the occasion. Rajiv Sethi is the founder trustee and chairman of the Asian Heritage Foundation. The Hunar Ke Rang evening event was a celebration of using centuries old embroidery skills of artisans and incorporating them into contemporary apparel and home product lines for national and international markets. With a combination of light, sound and visual representations from Sindh, Southern Punjab and Sufism, supported by background recorded audio tracks choreographed and produced by Frieha Altaf of Cat Walk, the audience was shown the modern collection of cloths designed by IHT’s senior designer Samina Mahmood and her team of young designers. The evening was further made vibrant with the showcasing of the Co-Creation, which was collaboration between the three World Bank supported livelihood projects namely, Indus Heritage Trust Rang Project, The Asian Heritage Foundation JIYO project and The Poverty Alleviation Fund. The fashion show culminated into the showstopper modelled by the original super model herself Frieha Altaf, who is the pioneer of the fashion industry in Pakistan. Moammar Rana, famous film and television actor, walked for IHT as the male showstopper. The evening culminated in a celebration of the artisan’s from Sindh and Southern Punjab who had travelled to Lahore to display their skills and their products at the Artisan’s installation display pavilion organised by IHT. The event was well attended by stakeholders from the diplomatic corps, donors, policy makers and government representatives as well patrons of the art and culture. Published in Daily Times, November 21st 2017.