Request for Proposals: IFA-Bastion Bungalow Creative Project | Deadline Extended: February 20, 2023 (CLOSED)

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA)
in collaboration with the
Bastion Bungalow, Fort Kochi
invites applications for
One IFA-Bastion Bungalow Creative Project 
under its Archives and Museums programme which IFA will implement

Deadline Extended to Monday, February 20, 2023

Click here to read the call in Malayalam

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) in collaboration with the Bastion Bungalow in Fort Kochi invites applications for an IFA-Bastion Bungalow Creative 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 with 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 Bastion Bungalow:

A historical monument in Fort Kochi, Kerala, Bastion Bungalow epitomises the varied poly colonial histories that inform Kochi’s past. Fort Kochi’s (Cochin) colonial history began with the Portuguese constructing the Fort Manuel or Manuel kotta in 1503 CE, which was the first European fort established in India. After 1663 CE, when the Dutch defeated the Portuguese, they refortified large sections of the fort which came to be known as the Stromberg Bastion. In 1795 CE, the British demolished the fortification and a bungalow was later built where the Stromberg Bastion originally existed. Used as a residential building during the British period, Bastion Bungalow was declared a protected monument by the State Department of Archaeology in 1999 and transformed into a district heritage museum, while still continuing to be an integral element of Fort Kochi’s built heritage.

About the Collections/Galleries at the Bastion Bungalow:

Unlike museums that focus solely on assemblages of objects, the heritage museum of Bastion Bungalow aims to present to the audiences a walk-through experience across the history of Kochi, with the aid of curated displays, interpretation and technology. Spread over about 10 galleries, the museum broadly covers a long history of the region such as: commercial and sea trade routes of ancient Kerala; ancient ports of Kerala, with references about them like Muziris Papyrus Scrolls, Ganeza Collections etc.; trade and commercial relations with foreigners like Assyrians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Jews, Chinese, Arabs, European powers; ancient maps including the Tabula Peutingeriana; the political structure of mediaeval Kerala; trade and colonisation in the region; Portuguese-Dutch-English history of Kochi; modern Kochi port; old scenes of Kochi; Dutch kitchen and old kitchen utensils; and visual materials representing early 20th century Bastion Bungalow, changing maps of Fort Kochi, different communities of Kochi, old time paintings, and details about flora and fauna of the region from the 17th-century botanical treatise Hortus Malabaricus.

About IFA-Bastion Bungalow Creative Project:

The Creative Project offers the Project Coordinator opportunities for curatorial and artistic engagement with the museum, reimagining the curatorial narrative in innovative ways with specific focus on creating programmes and outcomes for greater public outreach and engagement for the museum such as podcasts, films, workshops, exhibitions etc. which IFA will implement.

The project is envisioned for a period of one year.

The Project Coordinator will be required to visit, study and research the collections at the physical space of the Bastion Bungalow in Fort Kochi. The Project Coordinator will have access to the specific materials mentioned above, over the project period. For more information about the museum and the resources available for research, please contact Anoop C, Documentation Assistant, Ernakulam District Heritage Museum at dhmbbfortkochi@gmail.com

Please note that IFA will be implementing the project.

Applicant Profile:

  • We seek applications from curators, artists, researchers, writers, performers as well other creative practitioners with background in research and a keen interest in working with archival and museum collections.
  • We encourage applications that can artistically engage with the museum, its scope and collection and imagine outcomes especially focussing on public engagement.
  • 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) 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 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 Monday, February 20, 2023.
  • Interviews with shortlisted candidates are expected to take place in April, 2023.
  • The Project will commence in April 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-Bastion Bungalow Creative Project

Images: From the collections at Bastion Bungalow, Fort Kochi