Preparing for the 50th 

In spite of concerns from some quarters that the 50th anniversary celebrations would be disruptive of community life and not ‘in tune’ with the deeper purpose of Auroville, there was general acknowledgement that they had been a great success, both in presenting Auroville to the world and in strengthening our communal bonds and aspiration.

Much of the success was due to the enormous amount of energy poured into the organization and communication of events by dedicated Aurovilians. In these pages we describe and celebrate the often invisible work of some of these people that helped make the 50th celebrations such a success.

Brief organizational chronology

The formal planning for the event began with the Governing Board setting up the Envisioning Committee in August, 2014, consisting of some members of the Governing Board, International Advisory Council and Working Committee. The new Working Committee offered its help to the Envisioning Committee and, with its approval, invited the community to submit projects. The Auroville Arts Service and Outreach Media took on the preliminary task of ordering the many proposals. As it was clear that government funding would be required, a monitoring group subsequently formed to examine the viability of the projects in detail. Their recommendations were forwarded by the Working Committee to the Governing Board.

In December 2016, the Governing Board submitted a finalized proposed programme to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), requesting funding through a special grant. The total budget requested was 28.5 crore rupees (approximately US$ 4.3 million) to cover many different activities, including exhibitions, conferences, cultural offerings and celebrations with the neighbouring villages etc., as well as infrastructure projects.

It was unclear, however, how much the government would be willing to provide, so there was a necessity to prepare different budget scenarios. There was also a need to prepare detailed plans regarding venues, dates, event coordination, media and public relations, as well as documentation, overseeing the budget and, finally, evaluation.

The Working Committee appointed a few Aurovilians to be the Core Organization Team for this enormous task, a task that became even harder when it was learned that the Prime Minister would be coming during the birthday week.

In September, 2017, this team organized a meeting at the Unity Pavilion to update the community on their work. They explained that the government grant had still not come through, so they were working on additional fundraising. They also sought additional support from the community. As a result, a number of people stepped forward to help, enlarging the core team.

In mid December, a special task force was set up, drawing upon some members of the core group, to prepare specifically for the visit of the Prime Minister in February, 2018.

The first tranche of government money, 10 crore rupees, finally came through, but this was only for capital and infrastructure expenses and not in time to finance the first event of the 50th anniversary year, an Auroville exhibition and conference held in Delhi between 21st - 24th November (the Auroville Foundation advanced funds to enable this to happen). The most recent event was Sangamam, a collaborative celebration between Aurovilians and workers held in early March. In between, something like 25 different events, exhibitions, recitals etc. took place, culminating in the dawn bonfire and water ceremony on 28th February.

A further government grant is expected, which may enable other 50th anniversary projects that had been stalled because of insufficient funds to be realised in the coming year.