Request for Proposals: IFA x Vintage Hub | Deadline: December 17, 2025

IFA, in collaboration with the Vintage Hub, Jorhat, Assam invites applications for IFA-Vintage Hub Creative and Scholarly projects, under our Archives and Museums programme. The programme has a twofold 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. Read about earlier projects under this programme.

Click here to read the call in Assamese.

About Vintage Hub

Located in the heart of Jorhat, Assam, Vintage Hub is a vibrant cultural place that brings together a variety of spaces: an archive, a gallery, a bookstore, cafe and publishing house. Vintage Hub's primary mission is to conserve and disseminate resources related to the history of Jorhat and Assam, offering open access to both researchers and the general public.

About the Collection

Vintage Hub has a diverse collection of archival materials and objects pertaining to Jorhat, in an attempt to gather the many histories of the city which rests with its people. The name Jorhat derives from a pair of hats or markets that once stood side by side. These two markets, Chokihat and Macharhat, no longer exist, yet the idea of their joining carries forward: a meeting point of routes, ideas, and cultures. Historically, Jorhat was a key stopover for journeys into the surrounding hills—for British expeditionary forces, Baptist missionaries, and countless others. It thus grew into an important watering place, and more significantly, into the last capital of the Ahom kingdom. Parallel to this, Jorhat also emerged as the heart of Assam’s tea industry. 

Currently, Vintage Hub holds photographic records from 1885, books on the city and its people, rare artefacts and heirlooms, historical maps, and more materials contributed by people from all walks of life. It also has an archive of audio-visual materials that serve as an important record of the city’s history.

About the Scope of the Creative and Scholarly Projects

More than just sites and backdrops to history, cities are also spaces where collective lived histories are questioned, contested, and at times erased and silenced. In recent years, with cities being renamed, and institutions and neighbourhoods being razed to the ground in an attempt to rewrite history, we invite researchers, archivists, curators, designers to explore, gather and reveal the fragments of lived experiences of people of Jorhat as a living record through documents, letters, images, built heritage and personal memorabilia.

The entire collection and resources at Vintage Hub will be available for these projects. We welcome applications interested in engaging with materials at the Vintage Hub space, and also various archives, oral histories and community narratives from Jorhat and disseminate and transform academic research into interactive and approachable material. 

We are looking for projects that demonstrate an ability to think through interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches and methodologies for their outcomes. Applicants with knowledge of Assamese, who are keen to produce work in bilingual fashion, are encouraged to apply.

For the Creative Projects, we encourage proposals that

  • demonstrate innovative curatorial and artistic intervention to create a visually engaging publication out of the archival collection interspersed with oral history findings, weaving together narratives of the city’s past through rare photographs, personal letters, official documents, artefacts, and traces of its built heritage.
  • propose and curate a public exhibition that foregrounds the larger historical shifts that shaped Jorhat and highlights stories, voices, and objects that carry collective memory.
  • are interested in generating greater popular awareness about the collection through creation of finding-aid, online repository, interactive stories, guided walkthroughs, walking tours and disseminate possible outcomes through offline and online public programming.

For the Scholarly Projects, we encourage proposals that

  • initiate oral history programmes or audio-visual documentation of narratives capturing anecdotes and lived experiences of  lesser-known and under-explored aspects of the city.
  • present the research through public outcomes like podcast, audio-guides, audio-visual recordings, digital mapping, and other online and/or offline modes.

Project Coordinators will need to research and critically engage with the collections at the physical space of Vintage Hub in Jorhat, Assam and the city itself through active fieldwork. Project Coordinators will have access to the specific materials mentioned above, over the duration of the project. For more information about the collections and materials available for research, please contact Avinibesh Sharma and Anubroto Sharma at vintageassam@gmail.com

Duration of the Project: Up to 15 months

Budget

  • The project cost should not exceed Rs 3,00,000/-
  • You can request for an honorarium not exceeding 35% of the proposed budget for the entire duration of the project. The total amount is inclusive of the honorarium.

Funds will cover only project-related costs and activities, and will not pay for infrastructure costs or equipment purchase.

Who Can Apply?

We seek applications from curators, researchers, designers, artists, art-educators,  writers, as well as other creative practitioners, and scholars with a background in research and a keen interest in working with museum/archival collections.

Eligibility

  • Only Indian nationals can apply. This does not include PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) and OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) Card Holders.
  • Applicants must have a PAN card and one of the following for proof of identity and citizenship – Indian Passport or Aadhar Card or Voter’s ID in India.
  • Only individuals can apply. Organisations of any kind cannot apply.
  • If there are collaborators in the projects, they must also be Indian nationals.
  • Persons who have a past history of financial delinquency with IFA are not eligible.
  • Persons who have failed to deposit at IFA agreed deliverables from an earlier IFA grant are not eligible.
  • Persons who have previously received a letter from IFA disallowing them from applying in the future for any reason are not eligible.
  • Persons currently working on a project implemented by IFA are not eligible to apply. 
  • More than one individual can apply if they have a joint account. If they do not, then only one among them should apply with the others as collaborators.

Submission Guidelines

You can write your proposal in any Indian language, including English. 

Send us the following in a single email:

  • A proposal briefly describing the project (as described in the call with outlines of creative outcomes that one can imagine, or research questions if it is a Scholarly project) that could be developed from the visual and textual materials mentioned above. The description should include the vision, approach and possible outcomes.
  • A brief note on public programmes that can be developed based on the proposed outcomes. 
  • Detailed timeline for the project.
  • Detailed budget.
  • Your CV 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, processes, and outcomes from that project. Please send us a document with links and not attachments.

Email your applications or any queries to Ritwika Misra at ritwika@indiaifa.org with the subject line: Application for IFA - Vintage Hub Project

Key Dates:

  • Deadline for receiving applications: December 17, 2025
  • Interviews with shortlisted candidates: January 2026
  • The project will commence by February 2026 for a period of 15 months.

IFA will implement this project with you directly as Project Coordinator.

Please note that IFA is committed to creating a safe environment that supports, respects, and protects everyone, including children. The applicant must be aligned with this and must uphold it at all times.

The Archives and Museums programme is supported by Tata Trusts.