Request for Proposals: Archives and Museums Programme (India)

It will provide the institution, as well as scholars and practitioners, the opportunity to generate new, critical and creative approaches to engage the public, based on materials in selected archives and museums.

The focus is on both institutions and individuals, encouraging them to become co-producers of knowledge and expertise. It prioritises processes as well as outcomes, so as to ensure that capacity building at these selected Archives and Museums will take place alongside knowledge production and artistic creation.

Scholarly Project

• They encourage proposals that can research and critically engage with the collection, create content that will support the knowledge bank of the institution with tangible outcomes such as revised museum labels and texts, monographs, essays, descriptive catalogue or finding aid etc. and present their research through public programmes both online and offline.

Creative Project

• They seek proposals which demonstrate innovative curatorial and artistic intervention to reimagine the collection with focus on creating a digital presence of the museum, recording oral history based on the museum objects and the collector, audio-visual documentation, creating programmes and outcomes for greater public outreach and engagement for the museum such as podcasts, films, workshops, exhibitions etc.
• They encourage projects that demonstrate an ability to think through interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches and methodologies for their outcomes. Applications can artistically engage with the entire collection. However, this is not mandatory and projects may focus on any one key aspect of the museum as well.

Project Budget

• The project cost should not exceed Rs 2,00,000.
• You can request for an honorarium not exceeding 35% 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.
• Duration: The project will commence in September 2023 for a period of one year.

Eligibility Criteria

• India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) implements projects under its various programmes. The criteria for eligibility to apply under these programmes are as follows:
  • They seek applications from curators, artists, researchers, writers, performers as well other creative practitioners, and from scholars with background in research and keen interest in working with archival and museum collections.
  • Applicants with knowledge of Khasi are encouraged to apply, since the familiarity with the language will be essential to conduct research.
  • Since Ever-Living is an object based physical museum in Shillong, applications from in and around Meghalaya will be given preference as the Project Coordinators will have to spend a considerable amount of time at the archives during the project period.
  • Only Indian nationals are eligible to apply.
  • IFA specifically encourages projects in Indian languages, including English, so as to contribute to the discourse in various language contexts.
  • Only individuals can apply. Organisations of any kind cannot apply (except for non-profit schools, who can only apply under the Arts-Integrated Projects in Schools category of the Arts Education programme).
  • If there are collaborators in the projects, they must also be Indian nationals.
  • Persons who have a past history of financial delinquency with IFA are not eligible.
  • More than one individual can apply if they have a joint account. If they do not, then only one among them should apply with the others as collaborators.

For more information, visit IFA.