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ARThink South Asia 2015
ARThinkSouthAsia is a management, policy, and research programme in the arts and culture sector. Initiated in 2010, the programme is dedicated to founding and supporting a cadre of arts managers committed to the cause of capacity building in the South Asian region, encompassing Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
About this edition
Fifteen Fellows from Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Vadodara in India, Tehran in Iran, Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Kathmandu in Nepal, and Dhaka in Bangladesh came together for the sixth edition of ARThinkSouthAsia. In accordance with the fellowship’s imaginative vision that is geared towards capacity-building, these cultural practitioners were trained by experts in the essential managerial skills of fundraising, digital marketing, human resources, and strategic planning. Since the Fellows came from a diverse range of socio-cultural contexts, their interactions resulted in an enriching exchange of ideas, creative practices, and unique perspectives on administration in the arts and culture sector. Some of the professional oeuvres in which the 2015-16 Fellows have flourished are: arts entrepreneurship in the domain of global music production; research in dance history and the establishment of platforms for the traditional performing arts such as the Antara Artists Collective Trust based in Bengaluru; communications, programme management, and public relations for the art collective Off Studio in Tehran; advocacy and innovations at the intersections of art and environmental studies, enabled through the Vadodara-based organisation Green the Blue Trust; the development of an initiative like Pondy ART that aims to highlight India’s structural socio-economic challenges through large-scale photography exhibitions; independent film-making and its alliances with social culture enterprises; the management of pedagogic programmes such as the Siddhartha Arts Foundation’s Education Initiative; directing the operations of the organisation Artsforward that designs strategic encounters between creative practitioners and businesses in order to bolster support for the arts; ideation and production of interdisciplinary festivals and initiatives such as Colomboscope along with other creative interventions in peace-building efforts in Sri Lanka through the Development Strategies Group; spearheading the Kolkata-based collective Think Arts and the Lahore-based non-profit The Little Art, both of which are committed to the belief that arts education is crucial to the emotional and psychological development of children and young adults; the establishment of Space 118 that provides studios and residencies as per requirements to artists in an effort to support arts infrastructure in India; curation and management for the pioneering photography festival Chhobi Mela and engagement with the educational programmes at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute; administration and management for the Tehran-based Kooshk Residency and independent arts institute Rybon Art Center; independent research and curatorial initiatives attempting to visibilise the narratives of the Silawat community in Pakistan, etc.
To read the biographies of the ARThinkSouthAsia 2015-16 Fellows and Faculty, please visit this site.
This event is part of ARThinkSouthAsia
