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For research and the making of a film on the satirical poetic tradition in Dakhani known as Mizahiya Shairi. A vibrant form in the 1940s, this tradition is now in decline, not only due to the fading syncretic socio-cultural fabric of the city of Hyderabad but also because of the erosion of the Hyderabadi style of literary Urdu and the arts associated with it. The film will explore the complex relationship between Dakhani as a regional linguistic form and the socio-political factors shaping its contemporary use.
For the third edition of a residency programme for six emerging choreographers from diverse dance backgrounds and regions. The resident artists will engage in intensive workshops and discussions with peers and mentors over ten weeks to create individual pieces of work, which will be shown to the public at the conclusion of the residency.
For the translation of a three-volume book, Marathi Natkachya Tees Ratri: Ek Samajik Rajkiya Itihas from Marathi to English. The book chronicles the socio-political history of modern Marathi theatre and has the potential to inform and enrich the more mainstream, but sometimes blinkered English language discourse on the arts. An earlier IFA grant had supported the research and writing of the book.
For research towards a book in Malayalam on women’s participation in three different performance traditions in Kerala—Kathakali, Singaari Melam and Mudiyattam. Through documentation and analysis of female interventionist strategies within the folk and classical arts, the project will shed light on emergent female aesthetics within these traditions and fill a serious gap in academic and popular perceptions of female performers in Kerala.
For research towards a book and an exhibition on the impact of the Rajasthan government’s policy on and patronage of public art projects in Jaipur. The book will examine the reasons for the surge in state-commissioned public art works in the last ten years and how these works reflect a larger political and cultural ideology. The effect of each new government’s changing policy on the content, form and location of public art projects in the city will also be studied. The exhibition will include photographs and a map of public art projects in Jaipur.
For research and the making of a film on the journey of a Genda Phool song, with its origins in Chhattisgarhi folk music, across varying musical, cultural and social contexts. The project will trace the various transformations and appropriations of the song and the different meanings it has acquired as a result.
For research into the archive of the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) to shed light on how the State, as embodied by the CFSI, imagined and represented the child. The research will cover the period from 1955, when CFSI was established, to the early 1980s. The project will result in a monograph and a curated package of films from the CFSI archive.
For research towards a travelling exhibition kit consisting of materials from the Archives of Indian Labour. This project will also extend earlier research with migrant labourers in Bangalore that culminated in a short film titled In Transience. The kit will make material from the Archives available to a wider public and the footage gathered during the filming of In Transience will be deposited in the Archive.
For the creation of sequential visual storytelling techniques based on the study of three picture-based folk performance traditions. With the aim of enriching the contemporary comic book form, the project will focus on how Patachitra from Bengal, Kaavad from Rajasthan and Togalu Gombeyatta from Karnataka depict stories from the Mahabharata.
For the creation of a multi-channel video installation titled ‘Between the Waves’, which uses text and dance choreography to explore contemporary conceptual understandings of the relationship between Animal – Human – Machine – Divine. Drawing upon Donna Haraway and Virginia Woolf, along with theories of evolution and existing religiocultural practices, the project will highlight the inevitability of interstitial existence and challenge received notions of gender, race, evolution and consciousness.
For the second edition of a four-month residency programme, which will enable four Indian photographers from diverse cultural backgrounds to explore and experiment with different approaches to the photographic medium. This edition will introduce a three-day walking expedition to sensitise the residents to the local ethos and encourage them to use the experience to reflect on their practice.
For a storytelling and visual arts workshop for children from Chizami in Nagaland. In the absence of any encouragement for the visual arts in Nagaland, this project will give the children the opportunity to explore their creativity by engaging with various styles of narration, visualization and illustration. The workshop will result in a book of stories illustrated by the children as well as exhibitions of their artworks.
For creative arts workshops with children living in and around four railway platforms in West Bengal. Drawing inspiration from the dramatic, rhythmic and free-flowing character of railway platforms, the project will enable the children to experience and explore a wide range of artistic processes drawn from storytelling, movement, music and theatre. The workshops will lead to four large site-specific performances and the emergence of the four organisations as community cultural centres.
For preserving and sustaining the performance practice and repertoire of the Bettiah gharana, one of the oldest and richest traditions of dhrupad. Through interactions with two contemporary musicians living in Kolkata and Bettiah, the musical ecology of Bettiah dhrupad will be documented and reinvigorated. The project will result in a multimedia physical archive located in Bettiah and Kolkata, an online portal and a guided listening DVD of the dhrupad of Bettiah.
For a three-day national conference bringing together performing artists, writers, educationists and teachers to discuss theatre for young audiences (TYA) in India and its relationship to other performance and pedagogical practices. The conference will strengthen existing networks among TYA stakeholders and outline possible actions to support their future endeavours.
