For the making of a short film that explores the impact on education and shifts in the lives and work of teachers, who are compelled to use digital technology and the internet to teach during the pandemic. A series of interviews with teachers whose lives have been disrupted will be conducted in and around Jaipur. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the film. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, equipment hire and local conveyance.
For a foundation-administered project, supporting an initiative in Rajasthan, which will bring together the families of Mir musicians and their patrons scattered across the Bikaner region, in an attempt to reinvigorate their musical tradition. A core team of senior as well as young artists along with patrons will undertake a yatra across the ten far flung Mir strongholds in the Bikaner region; towards facilitating musical interchanges, community interactions and mapping of musical opportunities within cultural festivals and events.
For training camps, meetings and a concluding music conference to address issues of livelihood among the Mir musicians of Rajasthan and reinvigorate their music traditions. The training of a group of young musicians will be strengthened and local centres for performance will be created and energised. Traditional patrons and the music community will be encouraged to take joint responsibility for keeping the tradition vibrant.
For preparatory research and workshops with the rammat artists towards the creation of a performance script based on the acclaimed Hindi poem, Rashmirathi. Theatre actors will study different forms of rammat performances and undertake a thorough analysis of the poem. The eventual vachika abhinaya performance will feature orchestrated speech, a chorus, recitation of the peom in the rammat syle, and musical compositions created with rammat instruments.
For research towards a book and an exhibition on the impact of the Rajasthan government’s policy on and patronage of public art projects in Jaipur. The book will examine the reasons for the surge in state-commissioned public art works in the last ten years and how these works reflect a larger political and cultural ideology. The effect of each new government’s changing policy on the content, form and location of public art projects in the city will also be studied. The exhibition will include photographs and a map of public art projects in Jaipur.
For research into the role of family tradition in the Indian miniature painting in the post-colonial period. The researcher will examine the royal collection of the Mewar court in the City Palace Museum in Udaipur, which has paintings from the seventeenth century to the present, and analyse the impact that changing patterns of patronage, the closure of the karkhana (guild) and the demands of the market have had on the families that have been painting miniatures for several generations. The project will result in an exhibition and a series of essays.
For an innovative stage adaptation of Dharmvir Bharati’s modern Hindi novella, Suraj ka Satvaan Ghoda. Creating stage space using human bodies and experimenting with choreography and chorus, this play will weave a single narrative from the novella’s fragmented stories about seven characters. The psyche and perspective of each character will be explored through movements and soundscapes drawn from indigenous dance and musical forms.
For training the fundamentals of folk singing and instruments, particularly the Maand, to fifteen youngsters belonging to the musician community of Jamsar village in Rajasthan. Performances by thirty senior musicians of the region will be recorded and used as a resource in the teaching sessions. Senior musicians will also conduct workshops with the students on the nuances of the music quarter.
This Grant was Terminated by IFA and the Grantee is ineligible to apply to IFA in the future.
For a workshop-conference that brings together about 80 folk musicians of western Rajasthan to examine the changes in their music, repertoire and instruments, and discuss questions around the material welfare and dignity of their communities, and articulate their concerns, observations and insights. The findings of the discussions will be put together as a document, which will be circulated among government departments and non-government agencies.
For the recording, archiving and transmission of the repertoire of master musicians of the Manganiar tradition of Rajasthan.The new recordings will be held at two locations and made easily available to the musicians, while training camps for Manganiar children and young musicians will feed the repertoire back to the community.
