Kali-Kalisu is an initiative of Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan and India Foundation for the Arts, who have jointly envisioned a series of arts capacity building workshops for school teachers in the state of Karnataka in association with five other major institutions:Ananya, Attakkalari Centre for the Movement Arts, Bharath Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS), Gombe Mane (Puppet House) and Ninasam.

Kali-Kalisu’s mission is to enrich the classroom experience of primary and secondary education in schools across rural Karnataka by offering teachers a holistic range of arts education opportunities.

Kali-Kalisu is a series of hands-on experiential workshops designed to provide educators a chance to explore creative tools and arts-based approaches in their everyday teaching experience. These workshops aim at enhancing the ability of the participating teachers to imagine something new and to bring about change in their everyday working conditions.

Programme

Workshop Series One IFA and Ninasam coordinated the first leg of five workshops at Ninasam, Heggodu, from 11th to 25th May, 2009. This marked the beginning of the series of 20 workshops in different regions of Karnataka. The 15-day session targeted 37 young teachers who have recently been appointed to teaching positions at government schools across the state. The five facilitator institutions enthusiastically took on the challenges posed by the group of young teachers, who were distinguished by their democratic and participatory energy. Being mainly drama teachers, the feedback that these participants were able to bring was insightful and critical. Overall, the participants were very enthused by the give and take of the workshops. The IFA-appointed external evaluator corroborates this view. “The pilot workshops have signaled the importance of arts education pedagogies that build collaboration between students and faculty.” She also quotes one of the participants:“I was touched by [the facilitators’] patience to receive from us during the process.”

Workshop Series Two A second venue for two workshops was finalised within a short period after the first leg at Ninasam. With the past association of Gombe Mane with the District Institute for Education and Training (DIET) at Dharwad, we received an invitation to conduct a four day workshop (June 17-20) for primary school teachers who had just undergone a ten day DIET training programme. 67 teachers from 5 talukas in the district received the benefit of workshops conducted by Gombe Mane and Ninasam. Interesting synergies and overlaps between the pedagogies of theatre and puppetry emerged.The valedictory function was chaired by the District Commissioner, Mr.Ramakrishna, Dr.Hust from Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan and DDPI of the DIET Dharwad.

Workshop Series Three With interest being shown by Mr.Abdul Rab, Additional Commissioner Public Instructions, Gulbarga and Principal, DIET, Bidar, along with Shri Inayat Sindhe, Block Education Officer, and Shri Syed Khursheed Quadri, Resource Person, Block Resource Person, Bidar we organised a double workshop by Attakkalari and Gombe Mane from 21st July to 24th July at DIET Centre- Bidar for 57 teachers. As was the case with Dharwad, these were school teachers with very little exposure to the arts. There was keen passion at the workshops and in the community at large. This was reflected in the considerable coverage in the Bidar area, both in the local print media and on television.

Workshop Series Four This has further triggered the interest of Urdu medium teachers and Carmel Vocational Training Institute teachers to undergo similar workshops in the region. Having been invited to conduct more workshops in North Karnataka, Kali-Kalisu has finalised two venues, one at Gulbarga and the other at Bidar, to begin workshops simultaneously on the 11th to 14th August 2009.

Kali-Kalisu enables all the partners to exchange experiences and evolve future strategies. It would help the young teacher-participants to see arts and culture as an activist force in their academic careers. More workshops are in the planning stage, targeted at various locations across the state.

For more information write to Sanjay Iyer:sanjay@indiaifa.org