Request for Proposals: IFA-Bihar Museum Creative and Scholarly Projects | Deadline: February 16, 2023 (CLOSED)

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA)
in collaboration with
Bihar Museum
invites applications for
an IFA-Bihar Museum Creative Project
and
an IFA-Bihar Museum Scholarly Project
under the Archives and Museums programme which IFA will implement

Application Deadline: Thursday, February 16, 2023
Click here to read the call in Hindi

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) in collaboration with Bihar Museum invites applications for an IFA-Bihar Museum Creative Project and an IFA-Bihar Museum Scholarly Project, under its Archives and Museums programme which IFA will implement.

The Archives and Museums programme of IFA has been initiated with a two-fold objective: to provide arts practitioners and researchers an opportunity to generate new, critical, and creative approaches for public engagement with archives and museum collections; and to energise these spaces as platforms for dialogue and discourse. For more information, click here

About the Bihar Museum:

Inaugurated in 2015, the Bihar Museum in Patna is a unique institution in the country that has attempted to reimagine museums in 21st century India. Built from the collections of the historical Patna museum in the same city, the central focus of Bihar Museum is the people from the region of Bihar. With its incredible collection of artefacts from the region, the museum aims to make history accessible to its community and others. The Bihar Museum galleries have two basic components – the history galleries and the art gallery, which represent artistic heritage from ancient times, thematically as works of art. The museum has dedicated areas on the tribal arts, crafts and performing arts of the various regions of Bihar. The museum envisions that together with world-class permanent and temporary exhibits, and reimagined ways of curation, it will have a lasting educational impact on the children of Bihar and other visitors from across the world.

For more information on the museum please visit https://biharmuseum.org/

About the Collections at Bihar Museum:

Bihar Museum is essentially a human history museum, showcasing the history of the region by traversing from the prehistoric to the contemporary times through its curated collections. The museum’s collection comprises art objects (stone and bronze sculptures, miniature paintings and thangkas), prehistoric objects, anthropological artefacts and social history objects. The museum also serves as the official repository of pre-1800 archaeological finds within the state. The museum’s collection of artefacts and artworks on exhibit tell the story of ancient Pataliputra and Bihar from earliest times to the 18th century.

For the Creative and Scholarly Projects, the Museum will open up the collection from its Regional Art Gallery. A relatively new gallery of the Bihar Museum, it showcases the art and artists of the state. From the most celebrated Madhubani paintings to the lesser explored forms of art from the region, the gallery presents to the audience a close interaction with the unique artistic traditions. From the embroidered textile tradition of Suzni to the woven tradition of Bawan Buti, traditional toys made of wood and clay, paper mache, the artwork displayed in the gallery commissioned for the museum are representative of the exceptional skills. Inspired by traditional and mythological stories, these artworks represent the plurality of the culture, attempting to record and educate the museum goers about the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the region.

About the IFA-Bihar Museum Creative and Scholarly Projects:

The Creative Project offers the Project Coordinator the opportunity for curatorial and artistic engagement with the collection of the Regional Gallery, reimagine the collections in innovative ways, preferably focusing on documenting the artisans and evolution of the artform through short videos, animation films, podcasts, and other multimedia, and present the outcomes by means of public programmes such as talks, workshops, exhibitions etc., both online and offline.

For the Scholarly Project, the Project Coordinator will need to research and critically engage with collection from the Regional Gallery and generate scholarly outcomes on the collection and the artists, that will support the knowledge bank of the institution with tangible outcomes such as a descriptive catalogue, monograph, essays, and present their research through public programmes both online and offline. 

Both projects are envisioned for a period of one year.

Project Coordinators will be required to visit, study and research the collections at the Bihar Museum in Patna. Project Coordinators will have access to the specific materials mentioned above, and supporting resources at the museum over the project period. For more information about the collection and research resources that are available at the museum, please contact Moumita Ghosh, Curator, Regional Gallery, at moumitagrc23@gmail.com

Please note that IFA will be implementing both projects.

Applicant Profile:

  • We seek applications from curators, artists, researchers, writers, performers as well other creative practitioners; and from scholars with background in research and a keen interest in working with archival and museum collections.
  • For the Creative Project, we encourage applications that can artistically engage with the entire collection. However, this is not mandatory and applicants may choose to focus on any specific artforms from the collection as well.
  • We also encourage applications that demonstrate abilities to think through interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches and methodologies for their outcomes.
  • Those who are Indian nationals are eligible to apply. To know more about our eligibility criteria, please click here. 

Application Guidelines: 

Your application must include: 
  • A proposal briefly describing a project (an exhibition, or outlines of creative outcomes that one can imagine, or research questions if it is a Scholarly project) that could be developed from the visual and textual material mentioned above. The description should include the vision, approach and possible outcomes. Proposals that work with materials overlapping the different collections from the gallery are encouraged.
  • A brief note on other public programmes that could be developed from the material.
  • A detailed budget.
  • Your curriculum vitae with a brief description of a project you have been involved with as a curator, arts practitioner, or researcher. This description should comprise the vision, approach, processes, and outcomes that have resulted from that project. Please send us links and not attachments. 

Project Budget:

  • The project cost should not exceed Rs 2,00,000/-
  • You may budget for an honorarium of Rs 12,000/- per month subject to a limit of Rs 1,44,000/- for the entire duration of the project. Please note that the total amount is inclusive of the honorarium.
  • Our funds will cover only project-related costs and activities and will not pay for infrastructure costs or equipment purchase. 
  • Please ensure that each budget category pertains to a specific item of project-related expenditure.

Please note that IFA will implement this project with you directly as project coordinator. 

Key Dates:
  • The deadline for receiving applications is Thursday, February 16, 2023
  • Interviews with shortlisted candidates are expected to take place in March, 2023
  • The Project will commence in March 2023 for a period of one year.

Email your applications or any queries to Ritwika Misra at ritwika@indiaifa.org with the subject line: Application for IFA-Bihar Museum Project

Image: Terracotta Sculpture by Lala Pandit, Bihar Museum, 2017