Annualreport2006-2007.Pdf
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“A richly conceived world... The effort, the vision behind and the canvas of …about Ram raises the bar of innovation in puppetry.” The Statesman on Anurupa Roy and Vishal Dar’s puppetry and multi-media performance …about Ram. S Introduction IFA completed a decade of grant-making in 2006 and our Board of Trustees initiated a review of our programmes and operations. Th e recommendations of the review and our own thinking led to the creation of a strategic plan which addresses needs and challenges in the arts that we had not focused on earlier. Th e focus of this plan is three-pronged: to supplement our support for projects in the arts by funding the creation and strengthening of infrastructure for the arts; to go beyond grant- making and engage directly with diff erent com- munities through seminars, festivals and publi- cations; and to strengthen our communication and public relations in order to draw greater attention to the work we support. Under the fi rst category we have identifi ed two crucial needs: (1) to strengthen curatorial discourse and practice in the visual arts and cinema, and (2) to expand facilities for rehear- sal, training and performance for theatre and allied arts. A quarterly e-newsletter (the fi rst White Time (fi breglass on thermocol and plastic sheet) S D Hariprasad’s sculptures. (See also pp. 3, 5, 6.) 1 2 of which went out in October 2006), an arts magazine, an annual arts festival and a series of conferences on the arts are the highlights of our community engagement programme. And hav- ing recruited a public relations officer in March 2007, we expect to create an effective PR cam- paign and build relationships with the media in the coming year. Alongside, our fundraising has also acquired a new thrust. Our expanding programmes require us to increase our endowment consider- ably. This stood at approximately Rs 9.75 crore (US$2.32 million) before we received a gener- ous grant of Rs 9 crore (US$2 million) from the Ford Foundation in 2006-7. We will launch a corpus fund campaign in 2007-08 and our goal is to raise a further Rs 16 crore (US$4 million) over a period of four years. While IFA has received ad hoc donations from trustees, ex-trustees and well wishers, we have not had a strategic focus on individuals. We will soon be embarking on a campaign called ‘Friends of IFA’ to encourage individuals in India and abroad to make modest annual donations towards IFA’s ongoing work. All in all, the past year was spent rethinking IFA’s programmes, fundraising strategies, governance and operating systems. The Point (fibreglass) coming year will be exciting and challenging as we go about putting into action the new ideas to which we have committed ourselves. Driving these changes, however, will be the very ideals underlying our grant-making over the last decade—the championing and single-minded support of the arts. Anmol Vellani, Executive Director November 2007 IFA_AR_Pages.indd 3 1/10/2008 11:15:21 AM EXTENDING ARTS PRACTICE Power Chair (plywood, fi breglass and old sponge) 34 During the year, programme staff the social history of science pedagogy engaged emerging artists across the in Bengal. Ultimately this programme country in extensive discussions on the seeks to nurture artists who choose to notion of extending arts practice. As a deconstruct their own practice so as to result, the parameters of the programme initiate debate around contemporary were further clarifi ed and sharpened. aesthetic principles. Th e primary concern of this programme In keeping with IFA’s overarching is with what can broadly be character- emphasis on dissemination, this pro- ised as ‘alternative arts practice’. We hope gramme will give attention to ensuring that the cumulative eff ect of supporting that grant outcomes are visible and ac- artists who are keen to question their cessible in the public domain. Grantees own practice and challenge conventional will be supported to conduct workshops boundaries of artistic form and content, and publish books based on their work, will give meaning to the concept of the and to organise exhibitions and screen- ‘alternative’ in art. At the same time, we ings. We also hope to make grants next have been conscious not to celebrate year in music, literature and design— artistic radicalism for its own sake but areas which have not received adequate instead to facilitate practices that off er support under this programme. audiences new ways of experiencing art. To encourage the constant evolution of Grants made to Kamal Swaroop, the programme, we plan to have regular Bharath Murthy, Shumona Goel and review meetings with arts practitioners Abhishek Hazra, to name a few, are and curators across the country. Th rough variously recontextualising Dadasaheb these meetings, we hope to map develop- Phalke for fi lm and art students, ments, trends and concerns in various arts researching Indian comic book history, disciplines and thereby crystallise a more exploring issues of reverse migration informed grant-making process in the through fi lm installation, and develop- coming years. ing image-text graphic narratives on Flower Within (marble, aluminum and paint) EXTENDING ARTS PRACTICE: GRANTS 1. Kamal Swaroop, Mumbai Rs 6,05,000 over ten months For interdisciplinary workshops involving students of creative writing, fi lm and graphic design towards generating short narratives, a screenplay and a storyboard on the life of pioneering fi lmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke. Th ese separate outcomes may be independently published and disseminated, while the fi nal storyboard is expected to form the basis of a feature fi lm on Phalke. 2. S D Hariprasad, Vishakapatnam Rs 6,00,000 over two years For experimentation in new media like glass, plastic, acrylic and stainless steel. Th e importance of space, weight and colour in the making of sculpture will be explored, as well as sculptural possibilities in specifi c media, like widely available, pre-processed plastic forms. Training in the coldworking technique of direct sculpting and cold processing of glass and in the use of computer software and technology to create sculptures will be shared with students and peers through demonstrations and workshops. 3. R V Ramani, Chennai Rs 6,00,000 over one year For the production of a fi lm on Koothu-p-pattarai (KPP), a pioneering theatre group in Tamil Nadu. Video recordings of KPP’s activities over the last 15 years will be compiled, interpreted and edited to capture the evolution of a very particular syntax of experimental theatre, the tensions within the group and the changes it has witnessed. Fresh footage will also be shot to illustrate KPP’s present character and highlight viewpoints critical of the group’s artistic vision and accomplishments. 56 4. Abhishek Hazra, Bangalore Rs 5,53,000 over two years For research into the origin and development of science pedagogy in Bengali. Covering popular science articles in Bengali, ‘science jokes’ heard on college campuses, topics selected for doctoral dissertations and the presence of Russian textbooks in syllabi, the study will result in the crea- tion of three or four artist’s books, a series of short text-and-image narratives, and a website. 5. Bharath Murthy, Coimbatore Rs 3,02,400 over nine months For research into comic book culture in India towards developing a script/storyboard for a video or comic book. Th e relationship between the mediums of fi lm, painting and comic books will be explored through a combination of research, video documentation and the making of an art work. 6. Kamal Swaroop, Mumbai Rs 5,88,000 over ten months For the reconstruction of images, texts and video documentation generated during earlier IFA-funded workshops on Dadasaheb Phalke. Five short experimental fi lms, a two-hour documentary fi lm, and a multi-media website will be the outcomes of this project. 7. Shumona Goel, Mumbai Rs 5,26,455 over one year For the development of Family Tree, a fi lm installation for public space. Family Tree will explore the psychological consequences of migration, especially loneliness, melancholy and the emo- tional turbulence caused by life and work in alien surroundings. Th e installation will attempt to deform the concept of the family tree in order to consider twenty-fi rst century family lives, which are dynamic and constantly in motion. The Holy Gate (marble and paint) ARTS RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION Th e highlight of the year was a review IFA decided to start by focusing on of our support for arts research and Bengali alone, and the fi rst set of grants documentation over the previous dec- under this initiative was made in the last ade. Th e review committee felt that the quarter of the year. (See grant descriptions best way forward would be to sharpen below.) It was also recommended that we the programme’s focus and fund projects focus on strengthening online libraries, that fi ll identifi ed, important gaps in archives and networks in arts teaching the fi eld. Th is recommendation is being institutions. As a fi rst step, IFA plans to implemented through strategic interven- support an international conference on tions and a theme-based, competitive archiving. Th e conference is expected to process announced through a Request yield insights into the specifi c archiving for Proposals (RFP). needs of arts teaching institutions and help IFA envisage a role for itself in this Strategic grant-making, it was felt, fi eld. should look to strengthen archiving, networking, writing and research in the Under the RFP process, we have nar- regional languages. In view of budgetary rowed our focus to (1) research into constraints and relevant staff capacity, the construction of artistic traditions, 7 8 including the more recent traditions We received 145 proposals addressing the relating to contemporary practice, and two themes in response to the RFP sent (2) new methodologies for studying out in October 2006.