For the creation of a contemporary soundtrack for a silent India film. The soundtrack will be performed live alongside the film at a gallery or an old cinema theatre in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. While attracting a newer and wider audience for the film, the soundtrack will respect the original ‘silent’ pacing and mood of the film in order to preserve the feel of the pre-talkies era.
For a one-day symposium on 'Theatre Pedagogy for Children' and a ‘Teacher Training Initiative’, both intended to spark a long-term engagement of teachers with education through theatre. Ranga Shankara will organise these two-day activities under the umbrella of its first ever theatre festival for children. Some of the teachers from Kali-Kalisu workshops will also participate in the one-day training.
For a residency programme which nurtures collaboration and exchange among emerging Indian artists. Four artists from diverse cultural and artistic backgrounds will spend three months at the BAR1 studios in Bangalore, developing individual pieces of art work and interacting with fellow artists. The artists’ work in progress will be exhibited at the end of the residency.
For a three-month residency programme for emerging Indian artists from an extended field of arts practice, towards nurturing collaborations and collective exchange. Six artists from diverse cultural and artistic backgrounds will spend between six weeks and three months at the BAR1 studios in Bangalore, developing individual pieces of art work and interacting with fellow artists. A public event showcasing the artists’ work in progress will be held at the end of the residency.
For training teachers in using the visual arts to enhance the quality of elementary education in several districts of Karnataka. This project will upscale the Art-in-Education component of the earlier District Quality Education Programme in Chamrajnagar district and simultaneously extend it to select blocks in several other districts.
For preparatory research and documentation towards a dance production titled Dance and the City. Four dancers will share their personal experiences of Bangalore with one another, record interviews with other city residents, and undertake photo and video documentation. This material will be used to generate narratives and movement ideas that will form the basis of the proposed production.
For research into the oral narrative tradition of Manteswamy, a sixteenth century saint of Karnataka, and its performance by the Neelagaras, the traditional singers of the Manteswamy epic. The study will excavate the historical origins of the tradition, scrutinise its representation as a Dalit tradition, and examine its contemporary performance contexts.
For a series of intensive short-term culture workshops for undergraduate students and other youngsters of the same age group. The objective is to fill a serious vacuum in the formal general education system, which lacks a mechanism to help youngsters appreciate the most significant art works and aesthetic traditions in their immediate environment and open their minds to the rich world of intellectual inquiry.
For the development of a theatre production titled The Wedding Party which simulates an urban middle-class wedding in order to explore issues of gender, class and sexuality. The audience will be ‘invitees’ to the wedding, positioned to both observe and participate in the proceedings. The ‘fourth wall’ of theatre will be broken by ‘performing’ the play in a non-theatre space like a marriage hall, complete with all the accoutrements of a typical urban wedding.
For research and field work to compile Sindhi oral narratives in the border region of western Rajasthan and Kutch. In particular, the various forms of the premakhyans (love narratives), which are the most popular of the various Sindhi oral narratives, will be contextualised and investigated. The research will lead to a series of articles or a short monograph.
