"I would call what I do a `bridge service'. It is like providing specialised information and knowledge. Though one can't call it curatorial -- for we don't have such trained people in Mumbai -- we function as a liaison body between say, artists and museums," says Anupa, who is already four-exhibitions old. Client servicing begins from coordinating the event to designing catalogues, documentation, and even providing for the maintenance of paintings.

"Such art events and exhibitions give a lot of peopleopportunities," says Vickram Sethi of The Arts Trust, famous for their involvement with Tina Ambani's Harmony Show and the recently-held Art Camp at the Oberoi Hotel. His trust starts with giving shape to the client's vision of the event to finding the right venue. For a corporate house it also entails sending out the right message. "If a corporate wants to buy art, they can do it with money and be happy. But with a show, they are doing much more than that.

They are doing it for the people," says Vickram. And he really believes that this facilitation work will bring art closer to the common man. "Everyone has a birthright to art, it is not the privilege of a few," says Vickram. As does Anupa who is concentrating on documentation and research to make art more accessible and answerable. Before going ahead with an event, she provides her client with a computerised record of the artist -- from the resume to a visual image of the work. On the cards is an art website which will provide information on selectartists.

But their work does not end with putting a client on the information highway. Most events rely heavily on restorers to add a sheen to the event, since even artists store their work in a haphazard manner. While Artworks Inc and The Arts Trust recommend a few names, restorers too have branched out to join this band of Art Facilitators. Chandrakanta Das, who recently set up her own studio, Tasveer, in Delhi, is one such person. In the business for 10 years, she now has her own team of framers and cutters as well. And business is already booming. "Now people don't wait for a painting to spoil before looking for a restorer. I even have client's calling just for a consultation," says she.

Which is why though her base is in Delhi, Chandrakanta finds herself in Mumbai every six weeks. With two assistants holding fort here, they advise clients on framing, hanging, maintenance, storage, and even provide a report on the current condition of the canvases. In her column for Art India, Chandrakanta makes it apoint to give a list of simple do's and dont's like: `Don't stick newspaper at the back of a painting' or `Don't stick it with fevicol' -- all in an attempt to increase awareness. A must to increase business. "As of now there is not much money to be made in this line of work. This is really a very unglamorous, behind-the-scenes job," says Anupa. Which has endless space to go wrong. "For weeks you have been looking at the pictures of the paintings and have the whole exhibition planned in your mind. Then you go to the hall and find that the paintings look completely different from the pictures. And poof! there goes your well-planned hangings," says Vickram.

But these are minor hitches in a profession that is growing to meet the increasing demand. And with Indian art gaining ground in the West, these facilitators are soon going to need another ancillary industry to iron the lines.