Request for Proposals: IFA-SL Bhatia History of Medicine Museum, Library & Archives Creative Projects | Deadline: March 04, 2022 (CLOSED)

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA)
in collaboration with
SL Bhatia History of Medicine Museum, Library & Archives
invites applications for
Two Creative Projects
under its Archives and Museums programme which IFA will implement

Application Deadline: Friday, March 04, 2022

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) in collaboration with SL Bhatia History of Medicine Museum, Library & Archives, Bangalore invites applications for two Creative Projects under its Archives and Museums programme which IFA will implement.

The Archives and Museums programme of IFA has been initiated with a two-fold objective: to provide arts practitioners and researchers an opportunity to generate new, critical, and creative approaches for public engagement with archive and museum collections; and to energise these spaces as platforms for dialogue and discourse. For more information, click here.

About SL Bhatia History of Medicine Museum, Library & Archives:

The SL Bhatia History of Medicine Museum, a one of its kind museum, opened in 1974 and is housed in the 1st floor of the Museum Block in St John’s Research Institute, Bangalore. It brings alive the significant phases of the journey of medicine through its exhibits, which include medical instruments, models, photographs and second edition prints of paintings by Robert Thom depicting important episodes and personalities connected with the history of medicine. Behind every exhibit lies a compelling story.

The museum is named after Major General Sohan Lal Bhatia (1891-1982), the first Emeritus Professor of the Department of the History of Medicine in St Johns Medical College. Dr Bhatia helped to establish the museum in 1974 and it still remains one of the largest and most comprehensive museums of its kind in the country.

The History of Medicine and Humanities Library and Archives has a large and rare collection of medical books from circa 1790-to the present. They cover a range of subjects including the Indian traditional system of medicine. The books provide glimpses of the remarkable progress made by medicine in the past 300 years.

The primary goal of the museum is to reach out to students in schools and colleges in the hope of enriching their learning.

To know more about the museum, visit: https://sjri.res.in/health/resources. For more information about the museum, library and archives, please contact Radhika Hegde at radhika.h@sjri.res.in.

About the Creative Projects:

The Creative Projects offer Project Coordinators the opportunity to engage with and research the museum, library and archives over a period of a year, and create public programmes such as artworks, exhibitions, talks, performances, workshops, outreach programmes for students in schools and colleges, etc. both online and offline, over the project period, which IFA will implement.

Applicant Profile:

We seek applications from curators, artists, researchers from the medical field and elsewhere, writers, performers and other creative practitioners with a strong interest in research and working with museum and archival collections. We also encourage applicants to think through interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches and methods for their public programmes.

Practitioners who are Indian nationals are eligible to apply. To know more about our eligibility criteria, please click here. Applicants from in and around Bangalore will be given preference as the Project Coordinators will need to spend a considerable amount of time at the museum and archive during the project period.

Application Guidelines:
Your application must include:

  • A proposal briefly describing a project that could be developed from the archival material. The description should include the vision, approach and possible outcomes.
  • A brief note on public programmes that could be developed from the material.
  • A detailed budget.
  • Your curriculum vitae with a brief description of a project you have been involved with as an arts practitioner or researcher. This description should comprise the vision, approach, processes, and outcomes that have resulted from that project. Please send us links and not attachments.

Project Budget:

  • The project costs should not exceed Rs 2,00,000/-.
  • You may budget for an honorarium of Rs 12,000/- per month subject to a limit of Rs 1,44,000/- for the entire duration of the project. Please note that the total amount is inclusive of the honorarium.
  • Our funds will cover only project-related costs and activities and will not pay for infrastructure costs or equipment purchase.
  • Please ensure that each budget category pertains to a specific item of project-related expenditure.

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

Key Dates:
  • The deadline for receiving applications is Friday, March 04, 2022.
  • Interviews with shortlisted candidates are expected to take place in mid-March 2022.
  • The project will commence at the end of March 2022 for a period of one year.

Please note, considering the current situation, we only accept applications via email. Email your application or any queries to Suman Gopinath at suman@indiaifa.org.

The Archives and Museums programme is part-supported by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi.