Hello Readers!

We hope you have had a fabulous start to 2018!

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) is happy to be back in the New Year with news on our work between October 2017 and January 2018. Scroll for exciting updates across our four programmes—Arts Research, Arts Practice, Arts Education and the Archival and Museum Fellowships and events—film screenings, lectures, exhibitions and more!

We are delighted to present our unique 14-month Limited Edition Calendar for 2018-2019, featuring a select range of IFA projects! Order your copy for Rs 450/- (inclusive of domestic courier charges) online now or write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org before February 15, 2018 and spend the year flipping through diverse and captivating work—from the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines; an interactive game with literary and historical characters; the many cultural lives of Urdu to a Tamasha performance in Maharashtra! Our calendar will see you through early 2019 and allow you to choose the image and project that captures your interest—with any month of the year.

Spend the year flipping through IFA projects in our 14-month desk calendar for 2018-2019!

Please visit our website or follow us on Twitter and facebook for updates!

We would love to hear from you—write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org with any feedback or query.

Warmly,
The IFA Team

The Arts Research programme at IFA supports research into the histories and expressions of artistic practices in India. Under this programme, scholars, researchers and practitioners receive support for projects that investigate marginalised or relatively unexplored areas; create spaces for dialogue between theory and practice; offer new readings and frameworks for artistic practices; and use interdisciplinary approaches to break new conceptual ground.

The Arts Research programme sent out a Request for Proposals in April 2017. We received over 350 queries and 300 draft proposals—in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil, from Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, West Bengal, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Finally, we received 160 applications and of these, 25 were shortlisted. An evaluation panel of experts comprising Sadanand Menon, Samik Bandyopadhyay and Rashmi Doraiswamy convened to select final proposals on October 30, 2017. India Foundation for the Arts made eight grants across diverse areas, covering photography, music, theatre, film and marginalised histories and cultures, to artists and researchers:

The evaluation panel for the Arts Research programme, comprising experts Sadanand Menon, Samik Bandyopadhyay and Rashmi Doraiswamy, met for the final selection of proposals at the IFA office in October 2017

Screenwriter and researcher Rajesh Devraj will study the life and work of Baburao Painter, producer, director and the founder of the Maharashtra Film Company, situating his work amidst the literary and visual culture of his time, and tracing his influence and connections in this milieu, for a book.

Research scholar Rohit Kumar will study the discourse of dissent in Natua Nach, the Dalit folklore of Bihar, its political expression and resistance, and trace its transformations with the advent of technology, for a book.

Filmmaker Aditi Maddali will study Uyyala Paatalu songs, which are predominantly sung while working in the fields or in the informal sector in Telangana today. The project will explore the socio-political and cultural relevance of the songs in the present context by looking at the subversive histories of the participation of women in the people’s struggle of Telangana and their assertions against patriarchal and caste oppressions in the region.

Musician Deepti Navaratna will trace the journey of the Royal Carnatic Orchestra of the Mysore Court—which continues as the Mysore Police Band today—from being ‘exotic’ during the colonial period to being an ignored ‘relic’ against the socio-political and cultural transformation of music in South India, for a book.

Researcher Bhagath Singh A will research the evolution and development of the music culture of Gaana in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and as a medium of socio-cultural and political expression to produce a series of essays or articles in Little Magazines in Tamil.

Scholar K P Jayakumar will study and critique the colonial visual narratives and the accompanying civilising discourse of the landscape and people in the High Ranges of Kerala, for a photo essay and an exhibition.

Theatre person and activist V Padma (A Mangai) will write a critical history of Tamil theatre during the anti-colonial and nascent anti-Brahmanical movements in the early 20th century, studying the writings of Pammal Sammadha Mudaliar (1873-1964), ‘the founding father of modern Tamil theatre’.

Photographer Sharbendu De will research using photography and video, the life of the Lisus, a forest-dwelling community in Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve on the Indo-Myanmar border of Arunachal Pradesh, to explore alternative aesthetic approaches of depicting tribal culture, contrary to colonial-anthropological exoticisation.

The next call for applications for the Arts Research programme will open in April 2018—stay tuned!

The Arts Research programme for the years 2017 to 2019 is supported by Titan Company Limited.

The Arts Practice programme supports critical practice in the arts. It encourages practitioners working across artistic disciplines to question existing notions through their practice. We made three grants to artists to work with a neighbourhood, gender and sexuality, and a minority community, in this period:

Artist and designer Sumona Chakravarty with collaborators Nilanjan Das and Varshita Khaitan will design workshops and an exhibition in the historic Chitpur locality of old Kolkata. A continuation of the Chitpur Local project, these workshops aim to reactivate the cultural life of this heritage locality, involving the local community.

Dancer and choreographer Mandeep Singh Raikhy will conduct a series of workshops in five Indian cities pegged around the performance piece Queen-Size, to generate conversations around sexuality, desire and gender activism; and raise critical queries about Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality.

Photographer Alakananda Nag will explore the idea of attachment in the minority community of Armenians in Kolkata, using alternative photographic processes and materials for an exhibition / installation and a book of photographs and essays.

The Arts Practice programme welcomes queries and applications through the year. Apply in any language with your proposal today! Visit our website for more information or write to shubham@indiaifa.org or sumana@indiaifa.org

The Arts Education programme called Kali Kalisu, (‘learn and teach’ in Kannada), focusses on integrating arts with the curriculum in government schools in Karnataka. It attempts to achieve this objective through grants made to artists and teachers; facilitating training workshops for teachers and block-level events for administrators.

In this period, India Foundation for the Arts received 57 Arts Education proposals, of which about 15 were shortlisted. Proposals were received from the districts of Mysore, Haveri, Dharwad, Kalaburgi, Gadag, Shivamogga, Bangalore, Tumakuru, Bijapur and Belagavi in Kannada and English. Finally, eight grants were made to teachers and artists:

Teacher Gundurao Desai will conduct a wide-ranging engagement and workshops with seventh grade students of the Government Model Higher Primary School, Maski, Raichur district to introduce them to the short stories of Masti Venkatesha Iyengar and enable them to write and publish their own.

Teacher Baby Biradar will design a series of workshops for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students of the Government High School, Muchalamba, Bidar district integrating geometry and art by using different forms of visual art, folk stories and theatre games to result in a performance and publication.

Teacher Gangappa S L will formulate a series of workshops for sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Alkeri Gauliwada, Uttara Kannada district to enable them to develop an appreciation for literary art practices. They will also document stories of their nomadic Marathi communities in a publication.

Teacher Dandappagoud I Patil will conduct a series of workshops for eighth grade students of the Government High School, Ankalagi, Kalaburgi district to develop literary arts practices, enabling them to document their personal narratives as monologues—Namma Swagatagalu in the form of a publication.

Teacher Kotresha B will design workshops for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students from all schools in Pagada Dinni, Raichur district to introduce them to different styles of journalistic writing and support four publications of Pencil, a student’s newspaper.

Artist Mohan Kumar N will facilitate a wide-ranging engagement and workshops with fifth, sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Hulasogi, Haveri district to introduce them to Kolata—a popular stick dance form of Karnataka.

Artist Savita Uday will organise storytelling sessions for fifth, sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Primary School in Angadibail, Uttara Kannada district, involving teachers and members of three tribal communities in the Gokarna–Ankola region, to document and revitalise disappearing oral traditions of these communities.

Professor Chandrappa Sobati will facilitate wide-ranging engagements and workshops with seventh, eighth and ninth grade students of the Government High School, Hiremanakatti, Haveri district to introduce them to the songs of Dollu Kunita—a popular drum-dance form of Karnataka, and its applications in the school curriculum.

The above projects seek to involve the local language, knowledge, and art forms to enable a connection between the curriculum and lived experiences of the students. This ensures participation of the community within which the school functions, and create multiple stakeholders invested in the future of education.

A two-day Arts Education training session for headmasters at Kalaburgi Division, Kamalapura in Karnataka in November 2017

A number of training workshops continue to be held in various parts of Karnataka by faculty members and resource persons of arts and education—many of whom have been associated with India Foundation for the Arts, facilitated by our Programme Executive for Arts Education, Krishnamurthy T N:

A block-level event was held at Chikkamagaluru district in Muthodi Tiger Reserve from November 06 to 08, 2017 for the community and local headmasters with 47 participants. A Kali Kalisu training session for assistant teachers from Belagavi division was held at Kulagi Nature Camp in Uttara Kannada district from October 14 to 16, 2017 with 42 participants. A training session for headmasters from Kalaburgi Division in Kamalapura took place from November 28 to 30, 2017 with 42 participants. A training workshop for assistant teachers in Kalaburgi Division at Basavakalyana was held from December 27 to 30, 2017 with 37 participants.

“The training for assistant teachers isn’t ‘extra’. It is essential to learning and achievement.”
Gangappa S L
IFA grantee and Assistant Teacher, Government High School, Alkeri Gauliwada, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka

“The workshop greatly expanded my understanding of arts education and how it can be used in class.”
Omkarappa G M
Assistant Teacher, Government High School, Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka

The Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative seeks to provide practitioners and researchers with the opportunity to generate new, critical and creative approaches to reading, seeing and interacting with materials in archives and museums. It is also invested in energising these spaces as platforms for dialogue and discourse, to create awareness and increase public engagement.

In this period, India Foundation for the Arts received 18 applications, of which seven were shortlisted for the Archival Fellowship in collaboration with the Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK), Ambedkar University, Delhi. Three Fellowships were made to architect Bhavin Shukla, researcher Koyna Tomar and designer Vaibhavi Kowshik:

Bhavin will conduct research towards an understanding of community, gender and space, and the changing relationship between an ‘image’ or representation and a built environment, for a physical exhibition titled ‘Delhi Dialogues: A Conversation between People and the City’.

Vaibhavi will work towards an interactive virtual exhibition with both experiential visual and audio inputs. She will also create public programmes through the use of memory pods, an app and a website, aimed to connect different communities and members of families with each other and, with the Centre for Community Knowledge.

Koyna will create an online visual exhibition which will use various vantage points in the city of Delhi to explore life around it. In addition to the exhibition, she will also collect metadata for images/collections, which will become an important resource for future projects at the Delhi Visual Archive.

India Foundation for the Arts collaborated with the Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD) for three Archival Fellowships for a period of one year.

In November and December 2017, we invited applications for two diverse Museum Fellowships—in collaboration with the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum in Bangalore (VITM) and with the Archaeology Museum at Deccan College, Pune. The fellowship with VITM is designed to develop dialogues and interdisciplinary practices between the fields of arts and science, and the one with the Archaeology Museum, is to enable curatorial work in the dual presentation of knowledge and objects.

We look forward to introducing you to the recipients of the two Fellowships and their projects in our next newsletter—stayed tuned!

The Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative for the years 2015 to 2018 is supported by Tata Trusts.

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We organise grant showcases that take the form of presentations, performances, panel discussions, film screenings and more for audiences across the country. These grant showcases help create dialogue and become exciting spaces of discovery and discussion. Our staff also participated in various Seminars and Conferences to talk about our programmes, projects and philosophies of grantmaking and arts philanthropy. Below is an account of activities over the last few months:

Art workshop for school children in Karnataka

Artist Ramesh Narayanarao had his final workshop on October 06, 2017 to introduce 40 students of the sixth and seventh grades of Model Primary School, Hesaraghatta to the visual arts and design.

Ramesh Narayanarao received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Education programme.

Final art workshop for students by artist Ramesh Narayanarao at Model Primary School, Hesaraghatta in Karnataka in October 2017

Outreach programmes of the IFA Fellowship with Assam State Museum

Research scholar Shubhasree Purkayastha organised the following outreach programmes on October 14 and 15, 2017 as part of her Fellowship in collaboration with the Assam State Museum in Guwahati to challenge the notion that regional histories develop in isolation and have separate historical trajectories—with a focus on the region of ancient Assam in the pre-Ahom period:

These public programmes were a lecture on the pre-Aryan history of Kamakhya temple complex by Mr. Rajib Sharma, Founder and Director, Foundation for History and Heritage Studies, Kamakhya, Guwahati; a workshop on miniature paintings of Assam by Mr. Mridu Borah, a manuscript painter in Assam and founder secretary of the Society of Srikanta Sankaradeva School for Manuscript Paintings; a gallery walk by Shubhasree titled the ‘History of Ancient Assam through Ten Objects’; and an additional lecture called ‘Visual History of Ancient India’ in collaboration with the District Museum, Tezpur and School of Tourism Studies, Department of Business Administration at University of Tezpur to introduce to MBA students, the visual culture and history of India and Guwahati.

Shubhasree Purkayastha received a Fellowship from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative, made possible with support from Tata Trusts.

Researcher Shubhasree Purkayastha conducts a walk titled ‘History of Ancient Assam through Ten Objects’, as part of the outreach programme for a Fellowship in collaboration with the Assam State Museum, Guwahati in October 2017.

Lecture in Bangalore on the sonic properties of historic performance sites

Archaeology of Listening Practices in Theatre, a lecture-demonstration in collaboration with Bangalore International Centre on October 26, 2017 on the sonic properties of historic performance sites Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh and Vadakkamnathan Temple in Kerala was conducted by senior sound technician Umashankar Mantravadi in conversation with eminent playwright and film director Girish Karnad at the Bangalore International Centre.

Umashankar Mantravadi, under the Arts Practice programme at India Foundation for the Arts, and the grant showcase received support from Titan Company Limited.

A lecture-demonstration by sound technician Umashankar Mantravadi on the sonic properties of historic performance sites in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala at Bangalore International Centre in October 2017

Workshop on Bengali print culture in West Bengal

Editor and publisher Susnato Chowdhury held a two-phase workshop in October 2017 in parts of West Bengal enquiring into the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines. This project aimed to understand these practices in the current context of digital designing and desktop publishing. The workshop brought together eminent practitioners from Bangladesh and West Bengal and young editors and founders of little magazines to study methods of printing, software, fonts, designing, binding and bookmaking; analyse earlier work; and create new examples.

Susnato Chowdhury received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to read an interview with Susnato Chowdhury—published in both Bengali and English!

Photographs and installations of Jatra in West Bengal

Photographs and installations of Jatra (a popular local theatre form in Bengal) and Jatra actors by Soumya Sankar Bose were showcased between October and December 2017 at various locations in West Bengal—the city of Durgapur and the towns of Ghatal and Belda. Born to an extended Jatra family, photographer Soumya in his work, evokes the association of Jatra actors with their favourite Jatra characters, and their everyday lives. On October 29 and 30, 2017 in Durgapur, these works were displayed at the Durgapur Nattyo Goshthi’s rehearsal with 30 Jatra artists in attendance. A bus stand at Ghatal was a venue on December 16, 2017 for a discussion with Jatra artistes Kanhaibabu and director Pronobeshbabu. These images were also projected onto a screen at night. And in Belda, between December 20 and 22, 2017, photo installations mounted on cycle rickshaws travelled around the town for three days.

Soumya Sankar Bose received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Photo installations of Jatra theatre by photographer Soumya Sankar Bose mounted on cycle rickshaws travel across the town of Belda in West Bengal for three days in December 2017

Site-specific installations in Bhopal

Old Routes, New Journeys II by visual anthropologist Abeer Gupta and Making a Home by visual artist Rathin Barman—two site-specific installations—were showcased in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal between November 01 and 15, 2017—with the opening on October 31, 2017. While Abeer looked at material culture from Ladakh, Rathin focused on houses in North East India and memories of the same.

Abeer Gupta and Rathin Barman received the Fellowships from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative, made possible with support from Tata Trusts.

Scholar Abeer Gupta, on his installation titled Old Routes, New Journeys II which looks at material culture in Ladakh, as part of his Fellowship in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal between October and November 2017

Two shows of a performance in Mumbai

Two shows of Three Hearings On The Existence of Snakes In The Human Bloodstream, directed by theatre practitioner Shena Gamat and performed by Barefoot! Theatre, were staged at The Mumbai Assembly on November 12, 2017 in collaboration with Tamaasha Theatre and The Mumbai Assembly. An adaptation of the Canadian science fiction writer James Alan Gardner's eponymous short story (1997), this piece engages with divisiveness and the creation of 'otherness' in the human race, in a parallel universe.

This production received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice Programme. It is part of the Searching Cultures Series—a year-long collaboration between IFA and Tamaasha Theatre, presenting a selection of IFA grantee projects in Mumbai through 2017-2018.

Two shows of Three Hearings On The Existence of Snakes In The Human Bloodstream, directed by theatre practitioner Shena Gamat and performed by Barefoot! Theatre, in collaboration with Tamaasha Theatre and The Mumbai Assembly, were staged at The Mumbai Assembly in November 2017

Puppetry workshop for school children in Karnataka

Assistant teacher Siddappa Biradar held his final workshop for eighth and ninth grade students at the Government High School, Chibbalageri, Uttara Kannada district, to help them understand the process of making and performing with puppets using recycled materials, on November 13, 2017.

Puppetry workshop for students designed by assistant teacher Siddappa Biradar at the Government High School, Chibbalageri, Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka in November 2017

Grant showcase in Haryana

Voices and Silences, a grant showcase by artist and researcher Bhagwati Prasad and actor and researcher Anuradha Mangatram, in collaboration with Des Haryana Magazine was organised at the Savitribai-Jyotiba Phule Centre in Kurukshetra, Haryana on November 27, 2017. Bhagwati presented on his work-in-progress Auzaron ki Chuppi aur Kolahal (‘The Silence and Clamour of Tools’), a graphic narrative on the untold stories of migrant labourers and their tools. Anuradha discussed her ongoing research on the progressive transformation of Raagni in Haryana—through its expression by women and Dalits. An IFA Open House was also conducted by our Programme Executive for Arts Research Tanveer Ajsi.

Bhagwati received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Anuradha received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme, made possible with support from Sir Ratan Tata Trusts (SRTT).

Exhibition and conference on music in Kolkata

Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) with Lakshmi Subramanian as Principal Investigator organised ‘The Scholar and the Seni Ustads: Exploring and Exhibiting the Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury Collection’—a multimedia exhibition from December 06 to 20, 2017, and a conference between December 07 and 09, 2017 at Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, Kolkata.

These programmes were organised around the recently acquired and digitised collection of papers belonging to Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury (1903-1975), the late music scholar and musician of Gauripur in Assam. The exhibition captured the depth and diversity of the collection and framed the history of Hindustani music and its reception in Bengal in the 19th and 20th centuries—integrating texts (books, journals, hand-written notebooks, notations and compositions), images (portraits, musical events, locations) and recordings (radio recordings of Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury and his contemporaries).

Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Visitors at the multimedia exhibition on the collection of Hindustani music belonging to Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury (1903-1975), the late music scholar and musician of Gauripur in Assam, organised by the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) in Kolkata in December 2017

Film screenings in Kolkata

Three films—Casting Music by Ashok Maridas on the Savita Samaj and the legacy of the musical instrument Nadaswaram in Karnataka, Gali by Samreen Farooqui and Shabani Hassanwalia on the subculture of B-boying and Breaking in Delhi and Up Down and Sideways by Iswar Srikumar and Anushka Meenakshi on polyphonic music and the songs of labour that accompany paddy cultivation in the village of Phek in Nagaland—were screened at the 4TH Little Cinema International Festival for Experimental Films and New Media Art organised by TENT (Theatre for Experiments in New Technologies) between December 08 and 10, 2017 in Kolkata. On December 09, 2017, our Programme Executive for Arts Practice Shubham Roy Choudhury moderated a discussion with Ashok and on December 10, with Shabani and Anushka respectively.

Ashok Maridas received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

Samreen Farooqui and Shabani Hassanwalia received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research and Documentation programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

Iswar Srikumar and Anushka Meenakshi received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research and Documentation programme.

Multimedia artwork in Bangalore

Afrah Shafiq’s Sultana’s Reality, a multimedia artwork on the early relationship between books and women in 19th century India was showcased at ‘Bengaluru Fantastic’, a Tech-Arts Festival from December 15 to 17, 2017 at Rangoli Metro Arts Center, Bangalore. Afrah studied the archives of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) for her artwork.

Afrah Shafiq received a Fellowship from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative, made possible with support from Voltas Limited.

Photography exhibition in Guwahati

Looking At the Tree Again, an exhibition of photographs of the Konyak Nagas by Zubeni Lotha was held at, and in collaboration with, the Assam State Museum, Guwahati from December 19 to 24, 2017, and extended to December 28, 2017. Zubeni’s photographs reinterpret and critique the Austrian ethnologist Christoph Fürer-Haimendorf's images of the Konyak Nagas taken in 1936, and explore ways in which the daily life of the tribe can be portrayed and understood today.

Zubeni Lotha received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

Images on display at Looking At the Tree Again, an exhibition of the Konyak Nagas by photographer Zubeni Lotha at the Assam State Museum, Guwahati in December 2017

Photography exhibition in Poompuhar

Men of Pukar, 2017, a home-grown exhibition of photographs by Abul Kalam Azad, drawing on the landscape and inhabitants of Poompuhar or Pukar in Tamil Nadu, as described in the ancient Sangam-era epic Silappadikaram (‘Story of the Anklet’), was held at a Chettiar mansion in Poompuhar between December 28, 2017 and January 1, 2018.

Abul Kalam Azad received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Panel discussion on book-making in Kolkata

‘A Book is Born: The Art of Making a Book’, a panel on creating books was organised in association with the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2018, featuring The Foolish Fly presented by Madhubanti Roy Chowdhury and Dukhushyam Chitrakar, Hazra Chitrakar and Sandhya Chitrakar, Patua artists from Nayagram, West Bengal; Witness / Kashmir 1986-2016 / Nine Photographers presented by Sanjay Kak and Itu Chaudhuri and Rehearsing Freedom: The Story of a Theatre in Palestine presented by Sudhanva Deshpande and Shernaz Dastur, was moderated by our Executive Director Arundhati Ghosh at St Paul’s Cathedral, Kolkata on January 13, 2018.

‘Witness / Kashmir 1986-2016 / Nine Photographers’ was part supported by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, under their Culture in Defiance programme, and India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme.

Members of our staff travelled far and wide to participate in discussions on the arts and philanthropy.

Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, was invited to be part of the Young Cultural Innovators initiative, a programme of the Salzburg Global Seminar as a resource person to speak about institutional storytelling in the arts and culture in Salzburg, Austria from October 14 to 19, 2017. She held a workshop titled ‘Storytelling in the Age of Noise’ over six days with a group of 30 young cultural innovators from across the globe to help them understand the process and challenges of sharing their stories with the world. Many of our experiences at IFA were shared and participants were inspired by our open, courageous and empathetic philosophy and processes.

Menaka Rodriguez, Head of Resource Mobilisation and Outreach, participated in a new International Arts Leaders Programme instituted by the Australia Council for the Arts in November 2017. The programme is a joint initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and is designed to empower leaders in the arts and cultural industries of countries across the Indo-Pacific region.

Menaka Rodriguez, Head of Resource Mobilisation and Outreach at IFA with other participants at a new International Arts Leaders Programme instituted by the Australia Council for the Arts in November 2017

Sumana Chandrashekar, Senior Programme Executive for Arts Practice participated in ‘Studies in Performing Art Traditions and Embodiments’, a session on merging theory and practice and bringing new perspectives on interdisciplinary work in performance, organised by the Forum on Contemporary Theory (FCT) in Baroda on November 10 and 11, 2017.

Sumana Chandrashekar, Senior Programme Executive for Arts Practice with other participants at ‘Studies in Performing Art Traditions and Embodiments’, a session on merging theory and practice, organised by the Forum on Contemporary Theory (FCT) in Baroda in November 2017

Shubham Roy Choudhury, Programme Executive for Arts Practice was in conversation with filmmaker Rahul Roy about the latter’s film The Factory at Vikalp, a festival at the Xavier School of Communications in Bhubaneshwar on November 18, 2017.

Arundhati Ghosh was invited to participate as a speaker in a session related to participatory grantmaking at the ‘Participatory Governance in Culture: Exploring Practices, Theories and Policies’, organised by Kultura Nova Foundation, in partnership with Rijeka 2020 LLC and in collaboration with European Cultural Foundation as part of the ‘Approaches to Participatory Governance of Cultural Institutions’ project supported by UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity in Rijeka, Croatia from November 22 to 24, 2017. Arundhati presented on the particular grantmaking model of IFA, nature of peer relationships, budget size, funding priorities, benefits, challenges, and the process of decision-making.

Arundhati was invited to the ‘History for Peace’ conference organised by the Peaceworks programme of the Seagull Foundation for the Arts in collaboration with Vidyashilp Academy, Bangalore on December 06, 2017. She delivered the keynote address on the second day of the conference and presented a paper titled ‘Gaps, Silences and Erasures: How the Arts provoke History’ for an audience comprising teachers and teaching resource persons.

Menaka Rodriguez, as part of the Krishnakriti Festival 2018, moderated a panel discussion on ‘Cultural Financing’ with Bose Krishnamachari, artist, curator and Founder of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and Aman Nayar of the Times Group at T-Hub on January 05, 2018 in Hyderabad.

Catalyst—Arts, An Inspiration for Excellence

Catalyst is an initiative that brings to corporate houses, a wide range of accomplished artists from the worlds of theatre, literature, visual and performing arts, to share their creative journeys and pursuit of excellence.

This initiative is designed to engage new and varied audiences in the corporate sector with ideas and processes of creativity and excellence, through thoughtful exposure to the richness and dimensions of the arts in India. Catalyst also includes a version that can be customised to offer arts workshops along with talks.

Catalyst is a 12-month long engagement, with one session each by eight accomplished maestros including Nandita Das, Raghu Rai, Malavika Sarukkai, Aditi Mangaldas, B N Goswamy, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sanjna Kapoor, Romi Khosla, Arundhati Nag, Jitish Kallat, Atul Dodiya, Rahul Ram, Varun Grover, Benjamin Gilani, Ranjit Hoskote and Astad Deboo.

In this period, we had actor Benjamin Gilani and dancer and choreographer Astad Deboo share their experiences in the arts on October 27 and November 24, 2017 respectively at Biocon Limited in Bangalore.

Choreographer Astad Deboo shares his experiences in the arts for an audience at Biocon Limited, Bangalore, as part of Catalyst—Arts, An Inspiration for Excellence in November 2017

“The fundamental idea driving this programme is that business can learn a lot by exploring the inspiration for excellence outside of itself. It also makes the notion of excellence quite palpable by recognising that it is people who drive excellence and if they are exposed to an eclectic set of thoughts, they will be energised. Arts have the unique ability to observe, interpret, explain, connect and work with discipline and passion, all of which are essential attributes of any successful enterprise.”
Vinita Bali
Business Leader and Champion for Catalyst—Arts, An Inspiration for Excellence

For more details on Catalyst or if you would like to bring this programme to your company, write to Joyce Gonsalves at joyce@indiaifa.org

Arts Services

The Arts Services initiative at India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) enables corporates and organisations to support specific arts projects and experiences that we see value in, and which are close to their hearts. This initiative is not part of our grant programmes, but arises out of our impulse to connect supporters with artists in collaborative projects.

Photography project with Royal Enfield

Under this initiative, we connected the Royal Enfield team at Eicher Motors Limited with the photographer Ronny Sen from Kolkata. Ronny was commissioned for a project titled ‘The Highway Star’, where he embarked upon a journey to visually construct the idea of the Indian Highways from the perspective of a ‘cruiser’. Exploring different stretches of highways across the country on a Royal Enfield motorbike, Ronny brought the machine, the landscape, the people, and the rider together for a photo series. For this project, he travelled along the South, West and East coasts, ending with Sikkim in the North East.

Pinhole Camera workshop with Titan Company Limited

We organised a three-day pinhole camera workshop for the designers of Titan Company Limited at their campus in Bangalore from November 28 to 30, 2017. This workshop, which was conducted by P Madhavan, photographer and co-founder of Goa Centre for Alternative Photography (Goa-CAP), was to engage the design team in a creative activity beyond their everyday work. Participants were first introduced to the basics of a pinhole camera and how it works, and then made their own cameras out of a matchbox and other available materials in a hands-on process. They took pictures till their film roll was over and were encouraged to design their own cameras using empty boxes that were available. They were also taught to use photo-paper and develop photos in the darkroom that was set up.

A three-day pinhole camera workshop for the designers of Titan Company Limited at their campus in Bangalore in November 2017 conducted by photographer P Madhavan, as part of IFA Arts Services

“One of the most interesting and engaging workshops I’ve ever attended. It was a great combination of art and science. The real-time feedback in developing pictures in the dark added enormously to the overall pleasure of the experience.”
Somprabh Singh
Business Head Wearables & P.A.D, Titan Company Limited

We will be happy to work with you on diverse Arts Services, which include conceptualisation, design and management of arts courses and workshops for different audiences. For more details on the Arts Services provided by IFA please write to menaka@indiaifa.org

Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre (SMART)

IFA continued its involvement in the SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre) programme, as a managing partner with Junoon, under the aegis of India Theatre Forum (ITF) through 2017. The first of its kind programme in the country, SMART has received critical acclaim from the theatre community and created much enthusiasm and excitement in the field.

After two editions of the SMART course, last year saw the implementation of a series of one-day engagements in different parts of the country as SMART on Wheels (SOW). These engagements pull together theatre groups and institutions from different regions to discuss major challenges faced, learn of innovative solutions to common problems, and introduce arts management in theatre.

During this period, SOW took place in Bareilly and Mumbai in October and December 2017 respectively.

In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, SOW was organised in partnership with Windermere Theatre and Ranga Vinayak Rang Mandali; with sessions at Windermere Theatre Black Box on October 05, 2017. The team comprised SMART core team members Arundhati Ghosh of IFA and theatre practitioner Ashish Mehta of Aasakta Kalamanch, Pune, along with SMART mentor Menaka Rodriguez of IFA. Twenty-one participants comprising young and emerging actors, directors and individual theatre makers—of which, only three were women—attended from Bareilly, Saharanpur and Badaun. They shared key concerns in theatre making and administration. Pravin Shekhar, a SMART 2015 alumnus, and of Backstage theatre company, Allahabad shared his experiences of being a participant in the SMART programme and how that has helped him beyond the programme.

In Mumbai, Maharashtra, SOW partnered with Tamaasha Theatre, Mumbai as the host for a session at Studio Tamaasha on December 22, 2017, with SMART core members Swati Apte and Sunil Shanbag conducting the session. Savitri Medhatul of Kali Billi Productions and a SMART 2016 alumnus, shared her experience of participating in the SMART programme and how it has guided her beyond the programme.

SMART on Wheels (SOW) participants in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh in October 2017, in partnership with Windermere Theatre and Ranga Vinayak Rang Mandali

To learn more about SMART, please write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org

MaathuKathe/Conversations

We had five MaathuKathe/Conversations sessions in this period! MaathuKathe (‘Conversations’ in Kannada) are monthly sessions where we open our office to the public and invite artists to perform, screen their films, read from their work or talk about their projects and creative processes. These sessions are marked by invigorating discussions on the arts, culture and society!

In October, in association with the Palestine Solidarity Committee in India and the Indian Writers’ Forum, we had Palestinian activist and writer Maren Mantovani and freelance journalist and activist Shiv Sundar share their experiences and modalities of resistance—looking at connections between India and Palestine.

November saw three sessions—a talk by Professor of Communications and Cultural Economy Justin O’Connor on music and the city of Manchester in the 1970s; entrepreneur K Vaitheeswaran and communications specialist Melissa Arulappan spoke about notions of ‘failure’ in our everyday lives; and a screening of Because We Did Not Choose, a film by and discussion with filmmaker Wanphrang K Diengdoh on the participation of indigenous labour from North East India in the First World War and its consequences.

In December, we had a lively talk by poet, writer and Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue on his profound experiences of ‘Writing and Resistance.’

For more details on MaathuKathe/Conversations, sign up for our emails here, follow us on facebook or Twitter for regular updates, or simply visit www.indiaifa.org/events

CLOCKWISE): MaathuKathe/Conversations with Justin O’Connor on music and the city of Manchester in the 1970s; K Vaitheeswaran and Melissa Arulappan on ‘failure’; poster for a discussion by Maren Mantovani and Shiv Sundar on resistance in Palestine and India; and Wanphrang K Diengdoh on his film Because We Did Not Choose

Upcoming Events

Save the date!

Join us for an exciting evening of presentations by photographers Abul Kalam Azad and Soumya Sankar Bose on Monday, February 19, 2018 at 07:30 PM at The Park, Bangalore. Abul Kalam Azad created a body of photographic works in black and white, drawing on descriptions of the landscape and its inhabitants in Poompuhar or Pukar in Tamil Nadu, in the ancient Tamil epic Silappadikaram (“Story of the Anklet”) by the prince-turned-poet Illango Adigal. Soumya Sankar Bose captured the journey of the local 16th century theatre form of united Bengal, Jatra and its actors in West Bengal, through black and white photography.

These projects received support from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

For more details, write to menaka@indiaifa.org

For updates on our events, sign up for our emails here, follow us on facebook or Twitter, or visit www.indiaifa.org/events

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Arts Practice
Request for Proposals from practitioners
[Open All Year]
For more information, write to the Programme Executives at sumana@indiaifa.org
or shubham@indiaifa.org

Friends of IFA
Experience the Joy of Exploration. Become a Friend of IFA with an annual donation of just Rs 5,000/-
Have you seen our new vibrant Friends of IFA brochure? Start the New Year by becoming a Friend of IFA and journey with us through the many worlds of the arts and culture! As a Friend of IFA, you along with 400+ Friends of IFA, will experience the arts and culture through uniquely curated events, engage in discussions and debates, and enjoy exclusive sessions with artists and scholars—our grantees! Sign up today!

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Limited Edition Calendar 2018-2019
Start the New Year with the IFA Limited Edition Calendar and bring the arts to your everyday!

Explore a selection of diverse and captivating work supported by IFA across the programmes—Arts Research, Arts Practice, Arts Education and Archival and Museum Fellowships—in our unique 14-month desk calendar for 2018-2019. Spend the year flipping through our projects—ranging from the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines; an interactive game featuring literary and historical characters; the many cultural lives of Urdu to a Tamasha performance in Maharashtra! Our calendar will see you through early 2019 and allow you to choose the image and project that captures your interest—with any month of the year.

Get your copy for Rs 450/- (inclusive of domestic courier charges) online or write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org before February 15, 2018.

Explore a selection of diverse and captivating work in our Limited Edition Calendar for 2018-2019!

ArtConnect
We also have other interesting publications to offer, including back issues of ArtConnect, a magazine on the arts and culture, and postcards showcasing our grantees' work:

Between 2008 and 2013, IFA published 13 issues of ArtConnect which comprise essays, accounts, interviews and reviews on a fascinating array of subjects—female impersonators in Company Theatre in Kannada; Marathi Little Magazines; the forgotten lives and songs of the tawa’if in Benaras; violence in Kannada cinema; gender and the Indian documentary; the visual culture of early Urdu magazines to interviews with actor and theatre director M K Raina and other practitioners on SAHMAT (Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust); and with India’s first woman filmmaker Fatma Begum. Featuring lively, compelling writing and artwork across a host of disciplines and genres, the magazine is arranged and presented in an elegant format. Please note that each issue is priced at Rs 100/- except for Volume 7, which is priced at Rs 150/-

You can avail of special anniversary discounts on Limited Edition collections. All the proceeds from the sale of publications go back into grantmaking.

IFA Postcards
If you like the work we do, this set of ten IFA postcards becomes a memento. Gift it to your friends and share, and support the arts. These postcards, which feature a selection of exciting IFA projects, can be ordered at a nominal and suggested donation of Rs 200/- Your donation amount goes back into grantmaking. Order a set now!

To know more, write to contactus@indiaifa.org

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IFA: বাংলা লিটল ম্যাগাজিনের প্রকাশনা ও মুদ্রণজগতে আপনার প্রাথমিক অভিজ্ঞতা এবং পরবর্তী যাত্রা সম্পর্কে আমাদের কিছু কথা বলতে পারেন?

IFA: Can you tell us about your early experiences and later journey into the publishing and printing world of little magazines in Bengali?

সুস্নাত: লিটল ম্যাগাজিন করা শুরু স্কুলজীবনের একেবারে শেষ পর্যায়ে। ১৯৯৯। তখন নাম ছিল ‘বোধ’। পরে নাম বদলে হয় ‘বোধশব্দ’। সত্যি বলতে কী, কাঁচা বয়স বা অনভিজ্ঞতা, সব মিলিয়ে সেইসব কাজপত্তর খুব-একটা পাতে দেওয়ার যোগ্য ছিল না। তবে তুমুল উত্তেজনা একটা ছিল ঠিকই। সেটা আজও আছে; কতকটা একইরকম। কেবল উত্তেজনাটা তখন অনেকটা বাইরে থাকত, এখন ভেতরে বিজকুড়ি কাটে বেশি। আমার বিশ্বাস, স্রেফ এই উত্তেজনাটুকুই বাংলার সকল লিটল ম্যাগাজিন সম্পাদকের প্রধানতম পুঁজি।

২০০৮ থেকে মূলত কবিতাকেন্দ্রিক, কিন্তু বিষয়ভিত্তিক কাজই করে আসছে ‘বোধশব্দ’। কোথাও একটা ফোকাস্‌ড হওয়া জরুরি মনে হয়েছিল। যে কাজ কেউ করছে না, আদৌ করা যায় কি না তা নিয়েই হয়তো সংশয় রয়েছে, অথচ করা উচিত – সে কাজই করতে চেয়েছি। বিষয়গত দিক থেকে একটা এক্সপেরিমেন্টের রাস্তা বেছে নিয়েছিলাম। হয়তো সেই বিষয়টা লোকাল, কিন্তু তাকে ধরার ভঙ্গিটা যদি আন্তর্জাতিক হয়; এইরকম ভাবনা ছিল আর কি! কারণ, বিষয় বৈচিত্র্যে আজকের বাংলা লিটল ম্যাগাজিন ভয়ঙ্কর পিছিয়ে আছে বলেই মনে হয়। গতানুগতিকতার বাইরে, গত বছরের মৃত কবিদের শ্রদ্ধার্ঘ্য নিবেদনকে অতিক্রম করে সে ইদানীং বেরোতে পারছে না। আবার আলটপকা অভিনব কোনো-একটা বিষয় বাছলেই তো হল না, তার প্রাসঙ্গিকতা বা প্রয়োজনীয়তাও যাচাই করে দেখা দরকার। তাকে থ্রি-সিক্সটি-ডিগ্রি অবয়ব দেওয়াও দরকার। আমরা সবাই বিশ্বাস না করি, অন্তত মুখে তো বলি – কুড়িটা প্রবন্ধের কমপাইলেশন আর যাই হোক, লিটল ম্যাগাজিন নয়। আড়াইশো পাতা প্রুফ দেখাও নিশ্চয়ই সম্পাদনা নয়। আবার লিটল ম্যাগাজিন মানে তো দৈনিকে রবিবারের ফিচারপাতাও নয়। স্বীকার করতে দ্বিধা নেই, ঠিকঠাক একটি লিটল ম্যাগাজিন নির্মাণ বা যথাযথ একজন সম্পাদক হয়ে ওঠার সেই কঠিন ক্লাসে পিছনের বেঞ্চিতে জায়গা পেয়েছি মাত্র, ‘বোধশব্দ’-র প্রতি পক্ষপাতদুষ্ট কিছু ক্রেতা বা পাঠকের থেকে গ্রেসমার্ক না পেলে পাশ নম্বর তোলা সত্যিই আজও মুশকিল হয়!

Susnato: I started a little magazine during the last phase of my school life in 1999. The magazine was called Bodh, and was later renamed Bodhshabdo. Truth be told, due to our youth and inexperience, those early publications were not particularly palatable. But I was feverishly excited, nonetheless. I still retain parts of that excitement, or something resembling that. It’s just that back then I used to wear the excitement on my sleeve, and now, it bubbles within. I believe, however, that it is this excitement that is the principle capital of all Bengali little magazine editors.

Since 2008, Bodhshabdo has been publishing largely poetry-centric, but issue-based works. Somewhere there was a need to be focussed. I wanted to work on subjects that others ignored, or, were confused if there was a scope for work, but needs to be done. I chose to experiment with subjects. The subject may be local, but the approach could be international—that was the idea! As far as the variety of subject-matter is concerned, Bengali little magazines are lagging behind horribly. They are unable to venture beyond the beaten path of paying tributes to poets who died last year. Yet, one cannot just choose something unique but absolutely random, but examine its relevance and need thoroughly. It deserves a 360-degree, holistic appreciation. All of us may not believe in this idea, but we can atleast proclaim that a random collection of twenty essays is not a little magazine, just as merely checking 250 pages of proof will not make someone an editor. A little magazine is not a Sunday feature page in a daily newspaper either. I won’t hesitate to admit that I am only a back-bencher in this complicated classroom of creating perfect little magazines or of becoming a rigorous editor. Without some grace-marks from a handful of subscribers and readers who are rather partial to Bodhshabdo, it would have been difficult to succeed even today!

Editor and publisher Susnato Chowdhury held a two-phase workshop in West Bengal enquiring into the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines in October 2017

IFA: কয়েক দশক ধরে পাঠক যখন শুধুই বড় প্রকাশনা সংস্থার তৈরি মূলধারার পত্রিকার কাজ দেখে তখন আপনার অভিজ্ঞতায় তাদের মধ্যে কী পরিবর্তন দেখতে পান?

IFA: What change have you seen happen to readers when they are fed mainstream content over the decades in magazines published by big media houses?

সুস্নাত: নাগাড়ে চড়া আলো চোখে এসে পড়লে আপনাকে অন্ধ করে দিতে পারে। কিন্তু অন্ধকার, যত নিকষই হোক, তা করবে না। ব্যাপারটা অনেকটা এইরকম। বাণিজ্যিক পত্রিকা ভাবখানা এমন দেখায়, যেন সে অনেক কিছু দিচ্ছে। এবং যা দিচ্ছে, সেটাই শ্রেষ্ঠ। এটা তার দোষ নয়; সে মুনাফা চায়, তাকে এই লাইনে চলতেই হবে। অজান্তে মুশকিলটা হয়ে যায় সেই পাঠকের, যে দুর্ভাগ্যক্রমে ওই ‘বিগ হাউস’-এর বাইরে আর কোনো কাজ চাক্ষুষ করার সুযোগ পায়নি। সে যা পেয়েছে, তাকেই উৎকৃষ্টতম বলে জেনেছে, এবং আলোকচ্ছটায় অন্ধ হয়ে গিয়েছে অচিরেই। তখন সে আর-একটা ‘দাহপত্র’ কি ‘তাঁতঘর’, ‘১৭৭৮ গ্রন্থচর্চা’ কি ‘অযান্ত্রিক’, ‘বৃষ্টিদিন’ কি ‘শুধু বিঘে দুই’ নামের পত্রিকাগুলিকে কোনো দিক থেকেই ঠাওরে উঠতে পারবে না। কেননা চোখ বুজে থাকলে কিংবা অমাবস্যার আকাশের দিকে তাকালে যে আলো-আঁধারির আঁকিবুকি অনুভূত হয়, চড়া আলোর বিপ্রতীপে দাঁড়িয়ে সেই ডার্কনেসের নামই লিটল ম্যাগাজিন। একটা অডাসিটি, অযৌক্তিক স্পর্ধা এবং সেটাকে কালি-কাগজে নামানোর প্রকরণ খোঁজার জন্য অত্যন্ত সিনসিয়ার একাগ্র নাছোড় মাথা-খোঁড়াখুঁড়ি। এই আপাত বেহিসেবি ব্যাপারটাকে ধরতে চাওয়া – এটা তো বড়ো পুঁজি বিনিয়োগ করা পত্রিকায় সম্ভব নয়। বড্ড বেশি ঝুঁকি নেওয়া হয়ে যাবে তাদের পক্ষে। আবার এটাও ঠিক, লিটল ম্যাগাজিনে সেটা করে তোলা মানে যদি অপেশাদারিত্বের রমণীয় স্বাধীনতা নেওয়া হয়ে দাঁড়ায়, তাহলে আরেক সর্বনাশ। কাজেই দিনের শেষে, মানে ওই সন্ধ্যে নামার মুখে, সেই হতভাগ্য পাঠক ‘লিটল ম্যাগাজিন’ বলতে হয়তো বুঝবে অকিঞ্চিৎকর যেসব পত্রিকা সস্তায় পাওয়া যায়! বইমেলায় এসে হাতে সময় পেলে সে হয়তো কতকটা চিড়িয়াখানা ঘোরার মতো এক চক্কর মেরেও যাবে লিটল ম্যাগাজিন প্যাভেলিয়নে!

Susnato: If your eyes are continuously exposed to very bright light, it will eventually render you blind. Yet, darkness, no matter how deep, will never do harm. It’s somewhat like that. Mainstream magazines give the impression that they are providing a lot of content, and of the very best quality, at that. This is not their fault; they have to toe this line because they want to make profits. The problem is for the unaware reader who has unfortunately never seen or experienced anything beyond the content provided by these ‘big houses’. Whatever she/he has received, she/he will consider it to be of the finest quality, as she/he has been blinded by the grandeur of it. Now, it will be impossible for the reader to approach magazines such as Dahapatra or Tnatghar, 1778 Granthacharcha or Ajantrik, Brishtidin or Shudhu Bighe Dui from any angle. You see, if you keep your eyes closed, or stare at the sky on a moonless night, you can see a subtle play of light and darkness: and standing on the opposite end of bright, shiny light, this beautiful darkness is called a ‘little magazine’. It’s an example of audacity and illogical courage and a sincere, dogged effort to find the means to translate the same into printed words. This apparently illogical act is not possible for magazines that carry the burden of huge investments—for them it’d be too much of a risk. Yet, if little magazines start indulging in the romanticism of unprofessional freedom, it would spell doom. So at the end of the day, by ‘little magazines’ most hapless readers are given to understand that they are those negligible periodicals that are available at throwaway prices! In fact, most of these readers may even visit the little magazine pavilion at book fairs, with the curiosity of a visitor in the zoo.

The workshop aims to understand editing and design practices in the current context of digital designing and desktop publishing

IFA: লেখালিখি, প্রকাশনা এবং সজ্জাবিন্যাসের ক্ষেত্রে আপনার কাছে মনে রাখার মতো অনুপ্রেরণা বা সহযোগিতা কোনগুলি?

IFA: What have been some of your inspirations or noteworthy collaborations in the world(s) of writing, publishing and designing?

সুস্নাত: লেখালিখির প্রসঙ্গে আলাদা করে বলা মুশকিল। উপন্যাস থেকে চুটকি, প্রবন্ধ থেকে ফেসবুক পোস্ট – এই উত্তরাধুনিক সময়ে সব কিছুই চুষে নেওয়া জরুরি মনে হয়। বরং প্রকাশনা ও সজ্জাবিন্যাসের ক্ষেত্রে অনুপ্রেরণার কথা বলা যেতে পারে। ২০০৩ সালে প্রকাশ পেয়েছিল ‘বোধশব্দ’-র প্রথম বই – কবি ও অনুবাদক রঞ্জন বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের ‘চন্দ্ররেখার সনেট’। রঞ্জনদার সঙ্গে শিক্ষানবিশের মতো এই বইটি তৈরি করার গোটা প্রক্রিয়াটি আমার চোখ খুলে দেয়! দায়িত্ব নিয়ে বলছি, প্রোডাকশনের নিরিখে, বাংলা মুদ্রিত গ্রন্থের প্রায় আড়াইশো বছরের ইতিহাসে পেপারব্যাক কাব্যগ্রন্থ হিসেবে এটি প্রথম সারিতে থাকবে। যে বাঙালি গ্রন্থরসিক আজও বইটি দেখেননি, সেটি তাঁর ও ‘বোধশব্দ’ – দু-তরফেরই দুর্ভাগ্য।

লিটল ম্যাগাজিন থেকে অনুপ্রেরণার কথা যদি বলতে হয়, তাহলে প্রথমেই আসবেন মণীন্দ্র গুপ্ত। তাঁর সম্পাদিত ‘পরমা’ পত্রিকা। তিনিই আমায় প্রথম দেখিয়েছিলেন দিলীপকুমার গুপ্ত ওরফে ডিকে সম্পাদিত ‘সারস্বত’ পত্রিকার সংখ্যাগুলি। কী অসম্ভব রুচিশীল আন্তর্জাতিক মানের কাজ! সুভো ঠাকুরের ‘সুন্দরম’, নির্মাল্য আচার্যের ‘এক্ষণ’-এর কথা তো বলতে হয়ই। কৃষ্ণগোপাল মল্লিকের ‘গল্পকবিতা’ কি জ্যোতির্ময় দত্তের ‘কলকাতা’। বাংলাদেশের ‘মীজানুর রহমানের ত্রৈমাসিক পত্রিকা’। কত নাম করব! এঁদের সামনে হাঁটু গেড়ে বসে ছাত্রের মতো প্রণাম জানাই আজও। সমস্যা হল, পত্রিকাগুলি হাতে নিয়ে দেখতে হয়, অনুভব করতে হয়, সাক্ষাৎকারের এসব কম্পোজড শব্দ-বাক্য পড়ে এঁদের মাহাত্ম্য বিন্দুমাত্র বোঝা সম্ভব নয়।

এখানে আর কয়েকজনের কথা বলব, যাঁদের চিন্তাভাবনা ও ব্যক্তিগত সংগ্রহ আমাকে এ-ব্যাপারে প্রাণিত করেছে। সন্দীপ দত্ত ও বরুণ চট্টোপাধ্যায়। তাঁরা নানা বিষয়ে আমার দৃষ্টি প্রসারিত করেছেন ও করছেন। আর, সৌম্যেন পাল ও অভিজিৎ গোস্বামী – শুধু লিটল ম্যাগাজিন দেখা ও পড়ার জন্যই এই দুই ব্যতিক্রমী মানুষের সংগ্রহের কাছে হত্যে দিয়ে পড়ে থাকা যায়!

Susnato: It’s a little difficult to separately name a few when it comes to writing. From novels to skits, essays to Facebook posts—it seems important to absorb everything in these postmodern times. One could, however, talk about inspirations in publishing and designing. For instance in 2003, the first book was published by Bodhshabdo—Chandrarekhar Sonnet by poet and translator Ranjan Bandyopadhyay. While working as an apprentice to Ranjanda in creating this book, I had a revelation about the entire process! I can say this with conviction, in the nearly 250-year-long history of print culture in Bengal—as a collection of poems in paperback—this will be on the front row for quality of production. Bengali bibliophiles who are yet to see this publication are really unfortunate, as is the case with Bodhshabdo.

When it comes to my inspirations in the world of little magazines, the first person I should name is Manindra Gupta, the editor of the periodical Parama. He is the one who first showed me volumes of Saraswat, edited by Dilipkumar Gupta or D K. Such immaculate, aesthetically pleasing work of international standards! The same goes for Subha Thakur’s Sundaram and Nirlamya Acharya’s Ekkhon, Krishnagopal Mullick’s Galpakabita or Jyotirmay Datta’s Kolkata. Mijanur Rahmaner Troimashik Patrika from Bangladesh is yet another example. There are so many! I kneel in front of them, and pay my respect—just like a student would. The problem is that one needs to touch and feel these magazines, and read them. These pre-composed words from this interview won’t do justice to their greatness.

Here I shall mention a few others, whose thought and personal collections have inspired me: Sandip Dutta and Barun Chattopadhyay. They have helped expand my vision and continue to do so. Soumen Pal and Abhijit Goswami are two other people whose vast collection of little magazines one can browse for days on end.

The workshop brought together eminent practitioners from Bangladesh and West Bengal and young editors and founders of little magazines

IFA: আইএফএ-র সঙ্গে এই প্রকল্পটির সম্পর্কে এ পর্যন্ত কী বলতে পারেন – দুই পর্যায়ে কর্মশালাটির আয়োজন করার অভিজ্ঞতা কেমন? অংশগ্রহণকারীদের প্রতিক্রিয়া এবং তাদের সঙ্গে আলাপ-আলোচনা কীরকম হল?

IFA: Can you tell us about your project with IFA thus far—your experiences of conducting the two-phase workshop? And the responses from and interactions with participants?

সুস্নাত: দুই দফায় কর্মশালাটি যেমন হবে ভেবেছিলাম, তার তুলনায় কয়েক গুণ ভালো হয়েছে! যাঁরা অংশগ্রহণ করেছেন ও যাঁরা মেন্টর হিসেবে উপস্থিত ছিলেন – তাঁদের আগ্রহ ও পরিশ্রমে কোনো খাদ ছিল না। সুদূর মুম্বই থেকে শান্তনু দত্ত বা চট্টগ্রাম থেকে মনিরুল মনির সানন্দে এসে কর্মশালায় কাজ করিয়েছেন, কথা বলেছেন। দ্বিতীয় দফায় প্রায় প্রতিদিন গোটা সময়ের জন্য হাজির ছিলেন কৃষ্ণেন্দু চাকী। বারো দিনের একদিনও কামাই না করে কর্মশালায় অংশ নিয়েছেন দুর্গাপুরের সোমনাথ রায়, বোলপুরের রাহুল ঘোষ, হাওড়ার বিশ্বজিৎ দাস, তারকেশ্বরের অনির্বাণ মণ্ডল ও উত্তরপাড়ার আকাশ গঙ্গোপাধ্যায়। এ ছাড়া দর্শক হিসেবেও যেসব গুণীজনের উপস্থিতি ছিল সক্রিয়, তাঁদেরও কৃতজ্ঞতা জানাতে হয়। আমার দিক থেকে প্রাথমিকভাবে কর্মশালা আয়োজনের টেনশন ও ঝক্কি একটা ছিলই, কিন্তু শেষমেশ অভিজ্ঞতা চমৎকার!

অংশগ্রহণকারীদের কথাবার্তা ও কাজকর্ম থেকে মনে করছি, এই কর্মশালার একটা সুদূরপ্রসারী প্রভাব তাঁদের মধ্যে থাকবেই। এক্ষুনি হয়তো এর গোটাটা ধরা পড়বে না। কর্মশালার পর মাস দুয়েক কেটে গিয়েছে। সামনে লিটল ম্যাগাজিন মেলা, বইমেলা – তাঁরা অনেকেই এর মধ্যে নিজ ক্ষেত্রে বেশ কিছু নতুন কাজ করে ফেলেছেন। আমার ব্যক্তিগত বিচারে মনে হচ্ছে, সবই যে খুব উৎকৃষ্ট পর্যায়ে উতরেছে, তা নয়। কিন্তু তাঁদের কাজের একটা বাঁকবদল বেশ স্পষ্ট। ক্রমে তা আরও নিখুঁতের দিকে ধাবমান হবে, চলতি ধারার মধ্যে থেকে অন্যরকম চেষ্টা যে চলবে, তা নিয়ে আমি আশাবাদী। অন্তত নিজেরা ছটফট করবে। নিজেদের করা কাজ ফিরে দেখবে, নেড়েচেড়ে, চিরে দেখবে। নিজেকে সন্দেহ করবে – রাস্তা খুঁজবে।

Susnato: This two-phase workshop turned out to be much better than I had initially hoped for! Those who participated and the mentors who contributed to the proceedings—graciously provided their full attention and hard labour. From distant places such as Mumbai or Chittagong, people like Santanu Dutta and Manirul Manir eagerly came for the workshop, spoke to participants, and helped them in their work. In the second phase, Krishnendu Chaki was present on almost every day, for the entire duration of the workshop. Somenath Roy from Durgapur, Rahul Ghosh from Bolepur, Biswajit Das from Howrah, Anirban Mondal from Tarakeshwar and Akash Gangopadhyay from Uttarpara attended all twelve days of the workshop. Apart from them, even as visitors, numerous noteworthy people actively participated. They deserve our gratitude. Personally, I was rather strained and tensed about the entire event. The final experience, one must admit, was excellent!

From what I have heard from the participants, and the work they have produced, I think that the workshop will have a long-lasting effect on them. It may not be apparent right now. Four months have passed since the workshop. The annual Little Magazine Fair just took place and the Kolkata International Book Fair is ongoing—many of the participants of the workshop have already brought out some new material. In my personal opinion, not all of it is of the highest quality. Yet, there is a remarkable shift in style and approach, which is quite significant. This has given me hope that the participants will, eventually, aspire to become more flawless and try to produce work that makes them stand apart. At least they will be eager to do so: they will revisit their past work, review it, and dissect it. They will re-examine their own work, and try to find a new way.

Metal types and a block from a printing press as part of the workshop conducted by Susnato

IFA: সম্পাদনা ও সজ্জাবিন্যাসের ক্ষেত্রে পশ্চিমবঙ্গ ও বাংলাদেশের বাংলা লিটল ম্যাগাজিনের মধ্যে গত কয়েক দশকে কোনও মিল বা পার্থক্য দেখেছেন কি?

IFA: Have you noticed any similarities or differences in designing and editing of Bengali little magazines over the last few decades in West Bengal and Bangladesh?

সুস্নাত: বাংলাদেশের পত্রপত্রিকা, সাম্প্রতিকই হোক বা পুরোনো, আমার দিক থেকে সেই দেখাটা অনেকটাই নির্বাচিত। এবং মূলত ঢাকা ও চট্টগ্রামকেন্দ্রিক। কাজেই সেখানে আমার একটা সীমাবদ্ধতা রয়েছে। তুলনায় পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বা ভারতের বাংলা লিটল ম্যাগাজিন দেখেছি বা পড়েছি অনেক বেশি। সামগ্রিকভাবে দেখলে, কনটেন্টের দিক থেকে বা সম্পাদনার মানের দিক থেকেও আমি পশ্চিমবঙ্গের পত্রপত্রিকাগুলিকেই কিছুটা এগিয়ে রাখব। কিন্তু গত দু-এক দশকের প্রবণতা দেখে আমার মনে হয়েছে, লিটল ম্যাগাজিনের সজ্জাবিন্যাসের ক্ষেত্রে বা বইপত্রের নান্দনিক দিক থেকে বাংলাদেশ অনেকটা এগিয়ে গিয়েছে। এই ব্যাপারে তাঁরা আমাদের থেকে অনেক সিরিয়াস, অনেক নিরীক্ষাপ্রবণ, হয়তো তুলনামূলকভাবে বেশি পুঁজি জড়িত থাকার সুফলও এটা হতে পারে।

Susnato: I have merely selective knowledge of magazines from Bangladesh, be they old or recent. Moreover, most of what I have seen is from either Dhaka or Chittagong. So, it’s fair to say that my knowledge is rather limited. Comparatively, I have read or seen far more Bengali little magazines published from West Bengal than other parts of India. If I were to comment on content as a whole, or the quality of editing, I would rather place the magazines published from West Bengal slightly ahead of the rest of the pack. Yet, I must admit that in the last couple of decades or so, the little magazines published from Bangladesh have progressed significantly, in terms of designing or other aesthetic aspects. These are far more serious, more experimental than ours; this may be the result of the availability of comparatively more funds as well.

Participants in the workshop studied methods of printing, software, fonts, designing, binding and book-making, analysed earlier work; and created new examples

IFA: এই প্রকল্পটির শেষে প্রকাশনা ও প্রদর্শনীর মাধ্যমে আপনার অবদান বা অর্জন কী হবে বলে মনে করেন?

IFA: At the end of this project, what do you think will be your contribution, or achievement from the publication and exhibition?

সুস্নাত: অবদান বলব না। অর্জনই বলব। আসলে, গত অক্টোবরে আমরা সবাই মিলে যা করলাম, এই ধরনের লিটল ম্যাগাজিনের মুদ্রণ বিষয়ক কর্মশালা অন্তত বাংলা বাজারে ‘রেয়ারেস্ট অব রেয়ার’ ঘটনা। এবং আজকের দিনে দাঁড়িয়ে অত্যন্ত জরুরি ব্যাপার বলে মনে হয়। আমি নিজে ওই ক-দিনে অনেক কিছু শিখেছি। গোটা কর্মশালার নির্বাচিত একটা রূপই আগামী প্রদর্শনী ও প্রকাশিতব্য বইটিতে তুলে ধরতে চাইছি। যাতে আরও অনেক আগ্রহী মানুষের সামনে সেই দরজাটা খুলে যায়। একটা কর্মশালা বা প্রদর্শনী দিয়ে নিশ্চয়ই ভোল বদলে দেওয়া যাবে না – অন্তত চাকাটা গড়ানো শুরু হোক। কারণ মুদ্রণ নিয়ে আমাদের সচেতনতা যেকোনো কারণেই হোক গত বিশ-পঁচিশ বছরে বেশ তলানিতে এসে ঠেকেছে। ছাপা বা হরফ নিয়ে যেটুকু শুনতে পাই বা দেখতে পাই, তার বেশিটাই শৌখিনতার বদভ্যেস, কাজের কাজ নেই বললেই চলে। রুচিশীল প্রোডাকশন প্রসঙ্গে অধিকাংশ সম্পাদক ও প্রকাশক আজ খুবই আত্মতুষ্ট বলে মনে হয়। জানি না তার যথাযথ কোনো কারণ আছে কিনা। আমার ক্ষেত্রে এই আত্মতুষ্টির অভাবটুকুই গোটা কর্মকাণ্ডে অর্জন। নান্দনিক নির্মাণের প্রশ্নে আমার নিজের কাজগুলোতেই কী বিচ্ছিরি সব খামতি রয়ে গিয়েছে, তার খানিক আন্দাজ পেয়েছি। অন্তত কিছু সম্পাদক ও প্রকাশকের মধ্যেও রুচিশীল নির্মাণ সংক্রান্ত এই আত্মপ্রশ্নের প্রবণতাটুকু যদি জাগিয়ে তোলা যায়, তাহলেই আমাদের আগামী প্রদর্শনী ও প্রকাশিতব্য বইটি সার্থক হবে।

Susnato: I wouldn’t call these contributions; I’d rather consider these as achievements. Actually, what we collaboratively did last October, a workshop on the printing of little magazines, is a ‘rarest of rare’ event, at least in West Bengal. And it seems extremely important, in today’s time. I, myself, have learnt a great deal in those few days. In the forthcoming book and exhibition, I want to present a snippet of the workshop, so that it opens doors to more people who are interested in this. While it is perfectly understandable that one exhibition or workshop will not change anything, one can expect the ball to start rolling. Our understanding of printing has hit rock-bottom in the last 20-25 years for whatever reasons. The little that I get to hear or see about printing or typography comes out of ritual self-indulgence; there is hardly any serious work available. When it comes to aesthetically-pleasing production qualities, most publishers and editors seem very complacent these days. I do not know if there is any particular reason for that. For me, the lack of this complacency is my biggest achievement from this whole process. I now have greater clarity on the embarrassing mistakes I have made, as far as the aesthetic aspects of the volumes I have edited are concerned. If I could at least instigate this tendency of introspection among a few editors and publishers about their aesthetic choices, I would consider our forthcoming exhibition and book to have served their purpose.

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India Foundation for the Arts makes grants to artists, scholars and institutions throughout the year. For these exciting projects to take shape, we have to constantly raise funds. We would like to thank our donors who have supported us and made many projects possible in the past few months. We would especially like to acknowledge the support of the Pirojsha Godrej Foundation, for this period.

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