Prathwin K

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will engage eighth grade students of Sri KSS Government High School in Hakladi village, Udupi district with the project titled Hesarada Pattana Basruru (The Famous Basrur Town). In this project students will explore the pre-historical traces and inscriptions in the city of Basrur through a series of lecture sessions and field visits, connecting it to their curriculum in social science, languages, and environmental science. Prathwin K will be the Coordinator for this project. 

Prathwin K is a light designer and a theatre practitioner from Udupi district. He has a Diploma in Theatre Arts from Ninasam, and a Diploma in Light Design from State Resource Centre, Kerala. He has been working with various theatre groups across Karnataka and other states. Prathwin also works as a light designer in collaborative projects with Koodiyattam and other traditional dancers. He has conducted a few theatre workshops for children. Given his experience he is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.      

Basrur is considered as a gateway to enter Tulunadu – the Tulu region of Coastal Karnataka. Basrur was famous for education, art and culture, and a centre for trade and commerce. Evidence shows that the town has had a rich cultural history and was enriched with quality entertainment activities and even housed a movie theatre during the ‘black and white’ era of Indian cinema. However, there has been no support for development in the area in recent years and Basrur has since lost its significance.

Through this project, Prathwin along with eighth grade students from Sri KSS Government High School will explore the cultural and artistic significance of the city, through the study of pre-historical traces and inscriptions in the area, and theatre activities. This project will invite historians, scholars and other resource persons to engage in discussions with the students not just on the beautiful and historic sites and stories of the city, but also around local conflicts, struggles, and negotiations among various stakeholders of the city. These conversations will aim to understand the city by locating it within the Udupi district and its history. 

This project has plans for a series of field visits where students will explore historic sites and inscriptions to document the socio-economic and cultural incidents in and around Udupi. They will also visit the stone inscriptions museum in Sri Sharada College in Basrur and learn about the languages and scripts from experts. Students will be engaged with writing and sharing exercises after every session.

Apart from the field visits, students will participate in workshops and lecture sessions to reflect on their learnings while juxtaposing their found stories about the city with lessons from their language, social science, and environmental science curriculum. Finally they will create a theatre performance, which will be followed by conversations with teachers, resource persons, and villagers. Prathwin along with his students is planning to create a few models of stone inscriptions which will be installed in the school premise.  

The outcome of the project will be an installation and a performance in the presence of school staff and villagers. The deliverables to IFA with the final report will include still and video documentation of the process, and performance. 

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Education programme in the manner in which it attempts to help students connect their school curriculum to the stories from the regions they inhabit and communities they live with.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.