Toto Funds The Arts

About

Toto Funds the Arts is a non-profit trust set up in 2004 in

memory of Angirus 'Toto' Vellani, who was intensely
passionate about music, literature and film. It nurtures and
encourages young artists in India through awards,
workshops and other events. Currently our annual awards
are given in the categories of music, photography, short
film, English writing and Kannada writing.
 An Award For Young Artists
Awarding achievement is easy, but recognising and encouraging potential takes heart. We at Toto
Funds the Arts know what it’s like to be young and driven with a passion for the arts - music, writing,
photography, drama - and yet feel hesitant to take on the world. We know this hesitation and risk marks
the art of the urban youth particularly. Much of your art is neither classical nor folk, not national or
regional, its form is hybrid, of mixed origins, influenced as much by the local as the international. This
means that you must strive harder to gain encouragement and validation for your creativity, because
you are contesting the categories that have been used, traditionally, to judge the arts. It also means
that your art presages India’s future.

The exuberance of this future was embodied in Angirus ‘Toto’ Vellani - in his love for music, literature,
cinema, theatre, criticism, in the energy with which he participated in these fields, inspiring others of
his generation to find their own way, helping to mould their perception and taste.

In a tragic accident in 2004, Toto passed away. TFA is the memory of his love, and of the pleasure he
took in art, in people, and in creation.
The Toto Music Award

The Toto Music Award was in fact the first award instituted
by TFA in 2004. Many will say that this was around the time
that the Indian indie music scene began to open up. It has in
fact exploded since that time and grown into a full blown
industry and while this has been happening, the Toto Music
Award has run head to head with it. If you look at the list of
shortlisted artists (and of course award winners) from 2004
till date, you will probably see the synopsis of the Indian
indie music story emerging from back then into what it is
today.
Our Process for Evaluating
Applications
I. Calling for Applications(July/August)
We call for applications around June or July every year and we are open for two months. We have
some eligibility criteria: every applicant must be an Indian citizen residing in India and under the
age of 30. We are open to any kind of music from any part of India as long as the compositions
are original. In fact we make special efforts to get the word out to music communities in lesser
connected parts of the country and to encourage them to send in their applications. In order to do
this we ramp up our outreach efforts during this window of time and thus this is when the Toto
Music Award is very visible in the public eye.
II. The Long List (September/October)
By the time we close applications at the end of August, we have usually received entries crossing over
a huge range of genres and comparing them is no easy task! The first step is the creation of the long-
list of the top ten to twenty contenders for the award. This is an internal process where our music
experts sift through every single application received and evaluate the entire lot. Evaluations are
compared and debated intensely to decide who makes it into the long-list, which is usually announced
in early November.

II. The Jury (November/December)

The last step after the long-list is the jury. Depending on the nature of the applications received for
that particular year, we put together an expert external jury that we believe could do justice to that
particular long-list. Jury members tend to be musicians, music journalists, producers or other kinds of
industry folk who are in touch with the current scene. We usually work with a three member jury that
contains within it a good balance between youth and experience. Each jury member is sent the long-
list entries and given a couple of weeks to listen and formulate their opinions. Once they are all ready,
we set up a meeting to get together and discuss their opinions. From this meeting emerges the
shortlist of the top three and also the winner. The shortlist is announced in December and the winner is
announced at a ceremony early in the following year.
India's Premier Indie
Music Award
Since we are not a music agency we do not have any artists or genres that we are
trying to specifically promote. Our position allows us to have a bird’s eye view on the
Indian music scene to be able to pick the best artists based completely on merit.
Over the years we have rightfully gained the reputation of being India’s premiere
indie music award by spotting talented artists early in their careers, many of whom
have gone on to become some of the biggest acts in the scene today. Our efforts
towards excavating young talent from across the country and not just from the
metropolitan cities is what makes TMA truly "open for all" .
Past Winners
 Parvaaz(2015)

Prateek Kuhad(2016)
 Plastic Parvati(2019)

Peter Cat Recording Co.(2012)

 Prabhdeep(2018)

Swadesi(2020)
Past Jury Members

Jayshree Singh T.L. Mazumdar

Suman Sridhar Malini Hariharan
Aditya Balani Bruce Lee Mani
Gowri Jayakumar Amit Gurbaxani
Arjun Ravi Tanvi Rao
Miti Adhikari Bhanuj Kappal
Sanaya Ardheshir Dhruv Ghanekar.
Contact Us

Email - totomusicaward@gmail.com
Ph# 9844406380 (Abhijeet Tambe)
http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/