Grants & Projects

Ronidkumar Chingangbam


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will study the sociopolitical and cultural history of Manipur between the 1960s and 1970s through the work of a group of poets known as the ‘Angry Poets of Manipur’. The project will attempt to understand poverty, unemployment and corruption during this period through their writing and through detailed interviews with them. The outcome of this project will be a set of audiovisual songs based on the poetry and interviews. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a set of audiovisual songs and documentation of the interviews from the field. Project funds will pay for contract fees, equipment hire, books and stationery, and travel.

Anuj Malhotra


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will create an interactive map of the alternative history of film as told by a location scout in Bombay in the 1970s. By situating itself along historical and present labour routes in the city, it will attempt to organise and record the myriad subcultures of the cinema as they exist in the city. The outcome of this project will be a virtual interactive map. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a copy of the map, a link to the virtual map online and audiovisual documentation from the field. Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees, production, books and library and printing and stationery.

Savitha Suresh Babu


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will investigate the ways in which youth from marginalised caste groups navigate the contemporary Kannada theatre space, by examining the conflicts they grapple with to claim their cultural legacies. The project will explore the layered cultural hegemonies of Kannada theatre, the possibilities of imagining counter-cultural aesthetics, and how gender affects these negotiations. The outcomes of this project will be a theatre production, a workshop, an essay in Kannada and English and an online oral archive of interviews from the field. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audiovisual documentation of the workshop and theatre production, an essay, and a link to the online archive. Project funds will pay for professional fees, production and travel and living.

Manjunatha A


Project Period: One year and three months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that engages eighth grade students of the Government High School in Baganakatte, Shivamogga district in an in-depth study of stone inscriptions in Shivamogga. They will develop a short theatre script based on the local stories found on these inscriptions by connecting them to their Kannada language curriculum. The outcome of the project will be a performance in the presence of school staff and villagers. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will include photographs and video documentation of the performance and the entire project. Project funds will pay for honorarium, material, workshop, professional fees, performance, documentation and travel.

Byregowda M


Project Period: One year and three months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that engages students from fifth and sixth grade of the Government Higher Primary School in Avverahalli, Ramanagara district to explore the flora and fauna of the seven hills around Ramanagara. They will do this through a series of hiking expeditions and engagements with visual arts, theatre and storytelling, which connect to their geography, science and language curricula. Curriculum-based outdoor learning pedagogy will provide firsthand experiences in a natural learning environment. The outcomes of this project will be a performance and an exhibition for school staff and community members, and a publication containing the children’s writings. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will include the publication, photographs and video documentation of the entire project. Project funds will pay for honorarium, travel, exhibition and performance, professional fees, workshop and printing.

Hemachandran Karah


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will study the non-dominant Tamil narrative traditions that are replete with instances of disfigurements, associated with two deities, Sudalai Madan and Madurai Veeran. It will examine aesthetic features of embodiment and shape contained in these narratives, while documenting the visual, oral, ritual and performative accounts in accessible formats. A core objective of this project is to study disability access cultures in relation to the performance and reception of these narrative traditions. The outcomes of this project will be manuscript for a book, pedagogical videos, and a haptic exhibition. The Principal Investigator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the manuscript for the book, pedagogical videos, and audiovisual documentation from the exhibition. Project funds will pay for professional fee, honorarium, travel and living, and printing and stationery.

Varoon P Anand


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will investigate the existing practices, patterns and problems in the performing arts in the context of safety and through the lens of individual practitioners working with formal or quasi-formal theatre groups, collectives and institutions in India. It will focus on the aspects of physical, mental and legal safety and well being of actors, directors, facilitators and designers and their audiences. The outcomes of this project will be a publicly accessible resource library containing safety kits, checklists, video tutorials, sample contracts and a digitally accessible forum for anonymous grievance redressal. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be links to the publicly accessible library and digitally accessible forum, checklists, video tutorials and sample contracts. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, internet and library subscriptions and equipment rental.

Veecheet Vigya Dhakal


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will trace the interplay between imagination and realities surrounding the river Teesta and the Teesta highway, as expressed through music. The songs and stories of the river represent the alternative histories of the people who work along this highway, and capture a landscape battered by development. This project will explore how people cope with their transformed lives and how musical and storytelling practices have evolved to reflect these shifts. The outcomes of this project will be songs produced in collaboration with local musicians, performances in community spaces and video diaries capturing the rhythm of life along the highway. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be music recordings, stories from walks, visual diaries and audiovisual documentation of the process. Project funds will pay for contract fees, production cost, and travel.

Rupsa Ray


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will explore various methods of worship across different Sufi traditions in West Bengal. It will inquire into the religious and political conditions in which Sufi Dargahs and Majars in the region have flourished over time. The outcome of this project will be a manuscript for a book. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the manuscript for the book and audiovisual documentation from the field. Project funds will pay for travel and living, contract fees and stationery.

Nawal Ali Watali


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will explore the political and cultural history of the Shina and Dard communities in Gurez, situating them within the larger sociopolitical history of Jammu and Kashmir via collective memories and identities. The outcomes of this project will be a photo book and an exhibition. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the photo book and audiovisual documentation from the field. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, photo book and exhibition, printing, books and library subscription and equipment purchase.

Devika Sundar


Project Period: One year and six months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will examine the complex and elusive quality of women-specific pain and subjective patient experience vis-à-vis standardised diagnostic testing and normative clinical procedures. It will inquire how the female body is studied, written, mapped and visualised in allopathy, ayurveda and homoeopathy. The outcomes of this project will be an artist book, a series of mixed media and multi-sensorial artworks and a virtual journal documenting the project journey. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a copy of the artist book, visual documentation of the artworks and a link to the virtual journal. Project funds will pay for production, contract fees, travel and living, and art materials.

Parameshwaraiah Soppimata


Project Period: One year and three months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that engages sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Model High Primary School in Maalavi village in Vijayanagara district, in Nammade Bank Nammade Duddu (Our Bank Our Money)— a study of the banking system in India. Children will learn about the history, structures, systems and malpractices of banks by running their own bank and linking their learning to their mathematics curriculum. The outcomes of the project will be a performance in the presence of school staff and villagers and a publication. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will include the publication, along with photographs and video documentation of the performance and the entire project. Project funds will pay for honorarium, workshop, travel, professional fees, publication, documentation and performance.

This Project was amicably cancelled based on reasons mutually agreed upon by the Project Coordinator and IFA due to unavoidable circumstances.

Somappa Kudarihal


Project Period: One year and three months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that engages twenty-eight students from the Government Lower Primary School in Lakshmi Camp Kuntoji, Koppala district with the Helava community which archives family genealogies across north Karnataka in order to understand their traditional knowledge. Through this project students will record their own family histories and enrich their study of the social science, mathematics and language curricula. The outcomes of the project will be a performance in the presence of school staff and a publication containing the children’s writings. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be photographs, the publication and video documentation of the entire project. Project funds will pay for honorarium, stationery and materials, printing, workshop, professional fees, and travel.

Anmol Tikoo


Project Period: One year and three months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Arts Projects (Research/Practice) that will explore and engage with Bangalore as a centre for mental health and well-being. By documenting conversations, stories and personal histories of caregivers, mental health experts and users of the city’s mental health system, the project attempts to investigate a little-known aspect of the city’s history and offer a new methodology for engaging with a subject as complex as mental health. The outcomes of this project will comprise two sets of audio series, a group discussion, a public panel discussion and site-specific dispersion of artistically curated audio series via QR codes. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio recordings of all the interviews, still and video recordings of the panel discussion and still documentation of the site-specific QR codes. Project funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, resource persons’ fees, travel, equipment hire, venue hire, food and printing and materials.  

Mohammed Affan Pasha


Project Period: One year and three months

For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Arts Projects (Research/Practice), that explores and engages with Dakhni expressions in Bangalore’s popular culture through rap and hiphop music. Titled Apnich Bol, Dakhnich Bol, the project seeks to celebrate and foreground Bangalore’s deep-rooted Dakhni culture which has been overshadowed by the city’s mainstream discourse. The outcomes of the project will include a nine-track music album, three music videos, six to ten curated performances and a bonus track, with the possibility of a behind-the-scenes film. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the complete album along with the bonus track, the music videos and photographs from the local performances. Project funds will pay for professional fees, equipment hire, honorarium, travel and food, studio hire, performances and material costs.

This Project was Terminated by IFA and the Project Coordinator is ineligible to apply to IFA in the future.

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