Kala Academy

The Kala Academy established the Faculty of Theatre Art in 1987 to promote and advance the cause of theatre art in Goa, known for rich theatre talent. This Faculty has a three-year comprehensive course in dramatics.

This IFA grant will enable the Kala Academy’s School of Drama to open a ‘Theatre and Schools’ cell. This cell will be headed by a full-time professional drawn from the School of Drama faculty, and assisted by a person selected from past alumni. The head is the alumnus of the NSD and had earlier taught theatre (with the guidance of noted director and theatre composer, Shri B.V. Karanth) in the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi.

The cell will initially work with the theatre teachers appointed by the government in October to service three school complexes in rural Goa, and build up a strong working relationship with other subject teachers in the schools and the parent community.

The cell will also develop its own curriculum and methodology to include a focus on pedagogical practices in theatre for schools. It has also been encouraged to plan for a single computer and internet facility. This will enable them to access a wide range of methods and perspectives on teaching and evaluating theatre. The cell will also build a support network for theatre/arts in evaluation.

This grant will also enable the cell and teachers to bring in outside expertise to interact with both the research team and the schools they service. Field visits intended to be undertaken to selected parts of the country during school vacations, will expose the cell and teachers to similar work, even as it enables them to share their own thinking with colleagues.

This grant then envisages the seeding of a process within the School of Drama at the Kala Academy, which will be an important example of the possibilities of partnering state institutions in IFA’s efforts in the field of arts education.