Grant & Projects

Bikram Ghosh


Grant Period: Five months

For the creation of a play based on Russian playwright Yevgeny Schwarz’s The Dragon, in multiple spoken Hindi languages. The play examines notions of human agency, gender, power, narrative, love and collective action in the context of self-determination and the individual’s relationship with the world. It is designed as a lightweight, durable and cost-effective mobile spectacle aimed at Hindi-speaking audiences. The outcome will be a performance.  The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be a translated script, a PDF document of the rehearsal process, publicity material, a media dossier and video recording of the performance. Grant funds will pay for costs towards professional fees, lights, music, costumes and material, equipment hire, refreshments, travel, documentation and an accountant’s fee.

Prakasha Moodithaya


Grant Period: Ten months

For a series of arts-based experiential learning modules at the Government Higher Primary School, in Papemajalu village in Dakshina Kannada district. In this project, mathematics will be taught by using theatre techniques and the popular regional form of Yakshagana-Talamaddale. Theatre scripts and riddles will be built around concepts and themes in mathematics. The outcome will be a stage performance in the presence of teachers and community members. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will include photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards professional fees, material, performance, resource persons’ fees, refreshment, documentation, travel, printing, and an accountant’s fee.

Annappa H Ontimaalagi


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a series of arts-based experiential learning modules at the Government Higher Primary School in Aaladahalli village in Shivamogga district. The project will involve students across classes in various visual and theatrical activities centred on the lakes in and around the region. The students will also map these lakes. The outcome will be a series of performances and a group discussion titled Beladingalalli Kereyangaladi (Activities around the lake on a full moon night).  The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will include photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, professional fees, documentation, exhibition and performance, material, preparation, and an accountant’s fee.

Yuvaraja HP


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a wide-ranging engagement with students of the Government Kannada Boys Modern School in Kunigal taluk near Tumakuru district to develop a theatre script by exploring the history of their 88-year-old school which brought education to the region. The students will collate stories about the school from alumni, teachers and community members, and also be introduced to the folk dance form Kolata which they will explore through texts in their syllabus. The outcome will be a performance. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, performance, professional fees, documentation, travel, printing, workshop, and an accountant’s fee.

This Grant was Terminated by IFA and the Grantee is ineligible to apply to IFA in the future.

Syed Sadiq S (Riyaz Sihimoge)


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a wide-ranging engagement with eighth grade students of the Government Higher Primary School near Kuvempunagar in Mysuru district to learn playback theatre and its applications through texts in their syllabus. Students will be exposed to this interactive and improvisational form of theatre that will enable them to build arguments and dialogues around various themes and ideas. The outcome will be a series of performances. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, workshop, professional fees, performance, documentation, travel, and an accountant’s fee.

Santhosh DD


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a wide-ranging engagement with fourth to seventh grade students of the Government Higher Primary School in Dindaguru village in Hassan district with a local folk art form  Somana Kunitha – a ritualistic masked dance, prevalent in this region. The students will train in this form through workshops and apply it in the texts in their curriculum. The outcome will be a performance in the presence of school staff and community members. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, performance, professional, workshop, travel, documentation and an accountant’s fee.

Prashanth Kumar


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a wide-ranging engagement with eighth grade students of the Government High School (PUC Section) at Akkihebbalu village in Mandya district to learn the concepts and applications of intimate theatre to develop metamorphic stories based on texts from their curriculum. The outcome will be a performance and interactive sessions with students and community members.  The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, professional fees, travel, performance, workshop, documentation and an accountant’s fee.

Madhukar ML


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a series of arts-based, exploratory learning modules at the Government Higher Primary School in Gumballi village in Chamarajanagar district, where the students, teachers and the local community become co-learners. The project will bring together three schools of a cluster and engage with students of the eighth grade with two art forms – theatre and puppetry. There will be an attempt to understand the dialogic relationship between these art forms and bring that sensibility into classroom learning through their curriculum. The outcome will be a series of performances.  The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be still and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, material, workshop, professional fees, performance, refreshments, documentation, travel, and an accountant’s fee.

Kavya C


Grant Period: One year and six months

For a series of activities related to creative physical movements with fourth and fifth grade students of the Government Lower Primary School in Muddapura Karenahalli village, Bangalore district. This project aims to develop imaginative and innovative skills among students through the exploration of movements and its applications in their language and science curriculum. The outcome will be a series of performances. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be photographs and video documentation of the project. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, performance, documentation, professional fees, workshop, printing, travel, and an accountant’s fee.

Smit Dharia


Grant Period: One year

For working with the Saptak Archives in Ahmedabad, which has over 20,000 recordings of exponents from various gharanas, traditions, and styles within Hindustani Music, both vocal and instrumental. This fellowship supports research that will make accessible and available the forgotten recordings of celebrated exponents of Hindustani Music through audio/video podcasts. Each podcast will be about 40 minutes long and engage the work of a particular artist, theme, gharana, etc chosen from the recordings at the archives. These podcasts will be of interest to both the initiated as well as the new listener. The other outcome of the fellowship will be ‘listening sessions’ that will be open to the public held at the archives. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the podcasts, audio recordings of listening sessions if possible, process images, texts and publication if any.

Radhika Joshi Ray


Grant Period: One year

For working with the Saptak Archives in Ahmedabad, which has over 20,000 recordings of exponents from various gharanas, traditions, and styles within Hindustani Music, both vocal and instrumental.  This fellowship supports research towards documenting the journey of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, one of the ‘newer’ gharanas of Hindustani Music founded by Ustad Alladiya Khan. Despite being a recently developed style of singing, there is no written record of the lyrics or notation of these musical pieces. The outcome will be a compilation of ragas including the notations, lyrics and technical details of raga-swaroop that are a specialty of this gharana, presented as a book, CD or website. And an exhibition on the emergence of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana; audio-visual presentations on the life and music of select musicians; guided listening sessions on ragas and compositions of this gharana; and a live concert by the Fellow herself displaying the gayaki of the gharana. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be a book, CD or website, together with images of the exhibition and audio-visual sessions, audio recordings of 'listening sessions' if possible and process images if any.

Nilina Deb Lal


Grant Period: One year

For working with the cultural history archive at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) which contains a wide variety of visual materials across genres from 19th and 20th century Bengal that includes books, journals, popular paintings, prints, posters, hoardings, advertisements, and commercial art productions.The archive has also recently acquired the digitised records of the Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT) which records the urban and municipal history of 20th century Calcutta. This fellowship supports research that will focus specifically on the legacy of the Calcutta Improvement Trust, studying the growth of the city of Kolkata in the years preceding the formation of the Trust, as well as the alterations in the years that came after. The outcomes will be an exhibition, seminar, publication and other neighbourhood engagements in different parts of the city. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be images of the exhibition, process images, audio recordings and texts, if any.

Diksha Dhar


Grant Period: One year

For working with the cultural history archive at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) which contains a wide variety of visual materials across genres from 19th and 20th century Bengal that includes books, journals, popular paintings, prints, posters, hoardings, advertisements, and commercial art productions. This fellowship supports research that will explore the relationship between the city of Kolkata and its citizens, and the many different registers through which the city is experienced. The project will locate Kolkata as a site of both colonial encounter and colonial modernity, and investigate the many mechanisms through which an ‘authentic’ experience of the city is constructed, distributed and negotiated in the everyday. The outcomes will include an exhibition, and other public events around the archive. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be process images, audio recordings, texts and a publication, if any.

Barun Chattopadhyay


Grant Period: One year and six months

For the creation of an experimental prose-narrative in Bangla, in collaboration with a visual artist. The project tentatively titled Harilo Shaareer Kachhe Pajama Mohima (‘The Glory of The Pajama Loses to the Sari’) attempts to explore the travails of Bengal’s first women doctors in the early 19th century. It will study the complex dynamics between these women and the various stakeholders of the medical system at the time – practitioners of traditional medicine, male doctors of modern medicine, and lower caste midwives. The fictional work based on historical narratives will combine text with visual material from personal collections, libraries, and archives to form a framework for a book. The project will culminate in this book.The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the manuscript of the book and published copies of the same, and photographic and digital documentation of artworks created for the book. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, material, local travel, professional fees, and an accountant’s fee.

Kavish Seth


Grant Period: One year

For the creation of a musical instrument named ‘Noori’. Exploring new dimensions in instrument design, materiality, and sound, this project aims to create an instrument which is both fretted and non-fretted, string and percussive, with monophonic, polyphonic and microtonal possibilities. The outcome will be two iterations of the instrument, interactive sessions of the work-in-progress, and performances. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be video and audio documentation of the instrument making process and the performances. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, materials,  travel, professional fees, documentation and an accountant’s fee.  

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