For support towards a series of exercises in the visual arts – drawing, painting and design – and storytelling, to sensitise the students to their environment. This project will be undertaken with forty students, from the sixth and seventh grades of the Government Model Primary School, in Hesaraghatta, Bangalore.
For a fellowship that enables research into the archives of Hemango Biswas with particular focus on the music, communication and collaboration between the two icons of the Assam IPTA movement, Hemango Biswas and Bhupen Hazarika between the 1940s and part of the1960s. The research will focus on the period during the linguistic riots in Assam in 1960, and unearth the important contribution that these two musicians made in confronting the conflict. The outcomes will be a monograph, and a CD/DVD recording of three important songs with genre-specific instruments and other political songs by Biswas and Hazarika.
For support to aurally map two archaeological sites - Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh and Guruvayoor Temple, Kerala – by recording their ambisonic properties, as a pilot project for a much larger exercise in India. The attempt is to both challenge the dominant visual understanding of history of these sites, as well as study the effects of industrialisation on listening practices. The larger exercise will include recordings for five more sites to be archived on a web platform, enabling users to recreate the listening experience of those sites with any recorded sound. While the outcome of this project is a film on the process of this pilot project, an audio installation accompanied by lecture-demonstrations is hoped for at the end of the larger exercise.
For a research-based experience of exploring history for a higher primary school, by conducting one such study of a local chieftain by the name of Shivappa Nayaka in Shivamogga district, Karnataka.
For the building of a pedagogic process for students between the eight and tenth grade, through the principles and application of design practice, using materials from textbooks, vibrant art forms in the locality, and the natural environment where the school is located. This project seeks to instill the ability to think through problems, and seek solutions using the discipline of design.
For a grant for integrating 'Talk Story', a storytelling process, by which students and teachers, as learners from the first to the seventh grade, will incorporate their personal life experiences with the content of study in classrooms. This will enable them to grasp the meaning and relevance of the curriculum to their everyday lives.
For the creation of a supportive environment for the eighth and ninth grade Urdu speaking local students, to develop positive self-identity through studying their own histories, and cultures through the literary arts, music and visual arts. The non local students will also be encouraged to participate, in order to appreciate the culture within which the school functions.
For a grant to extend his earlier project, where students across grades in the school will work towards a folk theatre performance. While the students will learn various art forms from local artists and communities they live with, this project will bring together the entire school – the teachers, parents and school administration – to strengthen the relationship between the school experience and community lives.
For support to organise a series of arts and afterschool programmes, as extended engagements for students, between the fourth and ninth grade, who have migrated from other states. Using Yakshagana, poetry, dance, theatre and forms of visual arts, the project seeks to encourage self-directed learning while dealing with displacement.
For designing a series of workshops for the sixth grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Gandhinagar, on appreciating the forms of poetry known as Chutuku, Kathana and Ashaya.
For working with the audio-archives at the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology of the American Institute of Indian Studies (ARCE), Gurgaon. The ARCE is an extraordinary audiovisual archive that houses more than 25,000 hours of recordings, and includes all contexts of music production, such as recorded Indian music, dance, and performance of all kinds, from classical music traditions to regional traditions from all over India, popular music from film music, to Jazz in India. Shubhasree’s research engages with ‘work music’ practices in India, which is scattered across genres like agricultural songs, boatman’s songs, grinding songs, and more, to construct a framework into which these genres can be categorised, and explored.
For working with the audio-archives at the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology of the American Institute of Indian Studies (ARCE), Gurgaon. The ARCE is an extraordinary audiovisual archive that houses more than 25,000 hours of recordings, and includes all contexts of music production, such as recorded Indian music, dance, and performance of all kinds, from classical music traditions to regional traditions from all over India, popular music from film music, to Jazz in India. Priya Sen a filmmaker and researcher, will investigate the narratives, and conversations around oceanic routes, especially, the music of the Siddhis in Gujarat, and the music of the indentured populations from East India and UP, who migrated to Mauritius, Fiji and Trinidad.
For a grant supporting the creation of multiple artistic interpretations of Nabarun Bhattacharya’s novel Lubdhak. A graphic novel which will serve as a script for a feature length stop motion animation film later, will be created in the process. An electronic version of the graphic novel and a prototype of a short film for the animation will also be made. Grant funds will cover travel and food costs, material, props and lighting costs, professional fees, studio rental, documentation and an accountant’s fee.
For research to develop a modern, metaphoric interpretation of classical Tamil poetry and artistic depiction of the desert landscape of Palai in Sangam literature. In a cinematic form, the exploration will foreground the context of Tamil workers who have migrated to the Middle East.
For the creation of a performance themed around narratives of the hair. Titled ‘A Brief History of Your Hair’, the performance draws upon personal, historical, political and gender narratives of the hair and uses humour, playfulness and fantasy to unpack questions of identity, androgyny, gendered beauty and the way these ideas relate to each other across cultures. The performance is expected to premiere in March 2016. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, performance costs and production costs.
