The woes of rural artisans of both coconut cluster and Pattachitra with the effect of cyclone FANI is still a concern. The first-hand visit of CYSD team to the artisans’ clusters of Puri district witnessed the major craft that suffered the wrath of cyclone was coconut coir craft and Pattachitra along with the handloom textiles. With a view to get a clear picture of loss occurred by cyclone, a team of five representatives led by ‘Kala Aur Katha’, having technical expertise on craft sector, visited the Pattachitra artisans affected villages of Raghurajpur, Sakhigopal, Dandasahi, Badurasahi, Chandanpur of Puri district. The team closely interacted with every Pattachitra artisans to find out their basic requirements. Keeping in mind the above, it was decided to give a space to the rural Pattachitra artisans, especially the young men and women artisans, for restoration of their livelihoods in a sustained manner, in upgrading their existing skills and empowering them to recover from distress.

In this context, a seven-day Capacity Building Workshop for Pattachitra Artisans was organized from 20th – 26th August at CYSD-DRTC, Bhubaneswar in association with Kala Aur Katha. Around 15 artisans from FANI affected villages of Raghurajpur and Dandasahi of Puri district participated in the programme. After receiving the week-long training, the Pattachitra artisan participants could upgrade their skill base and felt confident to bring quality finished products for wider marketing to meet the changing need of customers. The concern of the artisans in terms of networking and marketing of finished products was assured to be solved by finding the possibilities to make a Centre for Excellence connecting local & global marketing through e-commerce.