Charupith

Charupith was founded in 1985 with the vision of increasing the impact of art within society: predominantly in their local rural communities, but also across Bangladesh.

Charupith means ‘a place for aesthetics’ in English. Over the last thirty years, that is exactly what the initiative has established in Jessore through a variety of programmes, including establishing their own independent school of Fine Arts, Library and Research Centre; maintaining an active involvement in numerous local social awareness campaigns, and conducting an innumerable number of children’s workshops.

Additionally, the initiative is committed to creating social awareness through art, by working with local communities in and around Bangladesh whose livelihoods have been threatened by economic and technological changes.

Most famously, the group hosts Jessore’s yearly Pohela Boishakh (Bangla New Year) festival on 14 April and were the first to initiate the Mongol Shovajatra procession in 1987, which is now considered to be an important expression of the identity of the Bangladeshi people and a promotion of their unity. In 2016, the procession was granted UNESCO’s world heritage status, as a heritage of humanity.