Staying Connected #19 | Of Sounds, Performance and Community | October 28, 2021
We hope you are keeping well under the present circumstances. The Staying Connected series helps us to keep in touch with you, our community of friends, and take you on a journey through the worlds of arts and culture. This series brings the varied work of the artists and scholars we support, along with information about our upcoming events you may want to attend.
Would you like to experience an auditory bus ride across Bangalore,
complete with horns, traffic, and chit-chat?
In ‘201 Bus Project’, Rukmini Swaminathan creates soundscapes in Bangalore with intertwined sounds of traffic, songs and snatches of conversations to evoke the eerie stillness that descended upon us during the COVID-19 outbreak. Click here to listen to these audio adventures and to learn more about the project.
Rukmini received a grant from IFA in 2020-2021 under the Project 560 programme for Arts Projects (Research/Practice) in Bangalore.
What has been the visible impact of theatre grants by IFA
and what do they reveal about the larger state of theatre in India?
We are delighted to share with you Interior and Landscape (April 2021),
written by theatre practitioner Neel Chaudhuri.
This is a report on the impact of 62 theatre-related grants made by IFA across programmes between 2005-06 and 2014-15. The question of impact is crucial for us in order to enhance the way we function and to renew our commitment to the field of arts and culture. Neel was commissioned to examine an information map prepared by IFA, based on six parameters which looked at each project's impact on the grantee, the immediate context, and on the larger field, along with its social, political, cultural or economic influence, reach and recognition.
How can public art be transformed through a collaborative approach?
How does indigenous community knowledge reshape education as we know it?
What is meant by artistic autonomy in present times?
We bring you the recordings of three sessions that deal with these questions in diverse ways, organised as part of Project Showcase @ IFA, a series of online presentations to showcase, discuss, and engage audiences with the diverse projects we support across programmes.
Bangalore Connect: Series of Artistic Engagements in Namma Bengaluru
Click here to watch conversations with Suresh Jayaram, Archana Hande, Amitabh Kumar, Anitha N, Bharathesh GD, Ashok Vish and Sandeep TK about their artistic journeys as a part of Bangalore Connect, which was a series of art events hosted by the Visual Art Collective (VAC) with over 150 cultural practitioners to celebrate the ongoing legacy of the city of Bangalore.
Visual Art Collective (VAC) received a grant from IFA in 2019-2020 under the Project 560 programme for a Year-long Curated Series of Artistic Engagements in Bangalore.
Click here to view presentations in Kannada by Lakshmi Bhat and Pushpa Bhat, teachers at Chandana English Medium School, run by The Malenadu Educational and Rural Development Society, about a project that brought together the Halakki community and the school to enhance arts education for students by employing artists, local arts and cultural practices, and community knowledge systems.
Future States
Click here to view the discussion between Abhishek Hazra, Akansha Rastogi and Kiran Jonnalagadda, on questions of artistic sovereignty in the context of threats to digital privacy in the age of surveillance statecraft, based on Abhishek’s speculative fiction film, The Aesthetics of Nandan Flat-Formalism.
Abhishek Hazra received a grant from IFA in 2020-2021, under the special initiative 25x25 that marked 25 years of grantmaking at IFA and 25 years of Internet in India. 25x25 was made possible with support from lead donor Kshirsagar-Apte Foundation, and philanthropy partners Titan Company Limited, and Priya Paul and Sethu Vaidyanathan.
New Projects
We are delighted to announce that two new projects will be implemented
under our Archives and Museums Programme, in collaboration
with the Museum of Christian Art (MoCA), Goa.
Images: © Museum of Christian Art, Goa
Anirudh Venkata Kanisetti aims to develop one of the country’s first dedicated museum podcasts that will narrate the history of Goa through select objects from MoCA, tentatively titled Altars of Time: A History of Goa through its Christian Art. Click here to read more about the project.
Mario D’Souza’s research project will use select objects from MoCA to trace larger global histories of iconographic and material affinities, which were a consequence of cross-cultural transmission of ideas and objects between Europe, Asia and the Indian Ocean littoral. Click here to read more about the project.
Open Calls
Are you an artist, scholar, cultural practitioner
hoping to apply for support from IFA?
We are currently accepting proposals under various programmes!
- Tap into Bangalore’s varied voices, spaces, histories, memories, aspirations, and expressions! Apply for Project 560 programme in Bangalore, under the Arts Projects (Research/Practice) category by November 19, 2021 and for Neighbourhood Engagements by November 30, 2021.
- The Arts Education programme invites applications from artists and teachers in Karnataka who would like to enrich learning environments through the arts, until December 10, 2021.
The Arts Practice programme accepts proposals where artists expand their present range of practices in new directions. You can apply under the categories of Workshops, Residencies, Seminars, and Arts Platforms throughout the year.
The arts show us how to imagine a better world,
to nourish ourselves and to support each other in dire times.
The Arts Keep Us Going, Keep the Arts Going
Become a Friend of IFA
If the past year has taught us anything, it is that uncertainty seems to be the only truth to life. And hope, the only antidote to it. Artists are our hopemakers, who continue to experiment, create and offer us an anchor in these difficult times.
As IFA continues to support artists across our programmes, we need every bit of support to sustain our work and to keep the arts alive in our community. When YOU are with us, we are able to do much more and make a difference in so many ways.
We invite you to become a Friend of IFA, and join us in our collective journey in supporting artistic interventions and cultural explorations across the country.