Request for Proposals: Archives and Museums programme | IFA x The Marg Foundation | Deadline: August 07, 2024

IFA, in collaboration with The Marg Foundation, Mumbai invites applications for IFA-Marg Scholarly and Creative 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.

Deadline: August 07, 2024 

Click here to read the call in Marathi and Hindi.

About The Marg Foundation: 

Established in 1946 by novelist Mulk Raj Anand, Marg is India’s oldest continuously published art magazine. At a time when India was forging a new identity for itself, Marg sought to enrich the exercise by documenting the varied cultural traditions of India and presenting new ways of thinking about the future of independent India. To celebrate 75 years of Marg, a series of readers on temple architecture, textiles, dance, pre-modern painting and modernism, with seminal essays from the archive was published. 

Today, Marg continues to document the lesser-known histories of India and create inroads towards a critical understanding of the plurality of Indian and South Asian cultural practices. The Marg Foundation, a non-profit organisation, also publishes illustrated art books that are internationally acclaimed for their high standards of production and excellent editorial content.

About the Collection:

All Marg publications will be available for these projects. While Marg has delved into a variety of topics over the years, the archive is particularly rich in its exploration of: 

Architecture | Textiles | Dance and Performance Studies | Modernism in India | Painting traditions

About the Scope of IFA-Marg Scholarly and Creative Projects:

Artists, practitioners and graduate students of art, architecture and design, often encounter Marg in their colleges or through their work. To make Marg accessible to younger audiences and to people broadly interested in the arts, we invite applications that can engage with and transform its academic research into interactive and approachable material. 

We suggest that the projects focus on the themes mentioned above; however, projects can explore other facets of Indian and South Asian art covered in Marg as well. 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 Hindi and Marathi, who are keen to produce work in these Indian languages, are encouraged to apply.

For the Scholarly Project, we encourage proposals that:

  • create research-based material on Indian and South Asian art and culture for younger audiences (undergraduate and below) based on the archive.
  • study the archive as a repository of research on Indian art and culture, and its place in the larger discourse on the subject. 
  • present the research through public programmes both online and offline. 

For the Creative Project, we seek proposals which:

  • demonstrate innovative curatorial and artistic intervention to reimagine this collection.
  • generate possible outcomes through video games, performances, photo essays, interactive stories, films, illustrated catalogues, audio-visual documentation of the process of various styles, techniques and sites of production, etc.
  • propose and implement digital-born projects and multimedia outcomes.

Duration of the Project: Up to 15 months

Project Coordinators will need to research and critically engage with the collections at the physical space of the archives of The Marg Foundation in Mumbai. 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 Jyotsna Nambiar, General Manager at jyotsna.nambiar@marg-art.org or Maanasi Baa, Content Marketing Manager at maanasi.baa@marg-art.org

Applicant Profile:

  • We seek applications from curators, artists, art-educators, researchers, writers, performers as well as other creative practitioners, and scholars with a background in research and a keen interest in working with archival and museum collections.
  • Only Indian nationals are eligible to apply. To know more about our eligibility criteria, click here.

​Budget:

  • The project cost should not exceed Rs 3,00,000/-
  • You can request for an honorarium not exceeding 30% 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.

Submission Guidelines:

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 other public programmes that could be developed from the material.
  • 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.
  • You can write your proposal in any Indian language, including English.

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

Key Dates:

  • The deadline for receiving applications is August 07, 2024.
  • Interviews with shortlisted candidates are expected to take place in August 2024.
  • The project will commence by September 2024 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.

Images: From the collections at The Marg Foundation, Mumbai