RFPs: Developing Eco-system to Incubate Creative Entrepreneurship at Rural Craft and Cultural Hubs (India)

The phase – II of RCCH project aims at providing robust, innovative, and inclusive support to new practitioners to strategically upgrade and further develop their own practices, scale up their creative enterprises and promote their living heritage through cultural heritage sensitive and well-informed marketing tools (including digital) and strategies apart from providing need-based support for existing beneficiaries of previous phase of the project.

Purpose

• The purpose of this request for proposal is to invite Sealed Proposals for professional services to be provided to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Focus Areas

• The agency is expected to curate festivals/events for the performing and folk artists covering the below living heritage specified under the project of RCCH:
  • Oral tradition
  • Folk dance
  • Folk song and dance
  • Folk theatre

Objectives

• This assignment aims to implement targeted interventions for the safeguarding, revitalization, and promotion of folk and traditional performing arts within the RCCH-II project in alignment with the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and objectives include:
  • Identify and implement safeguarding measures to sustain and rejuvenate of the folk performing art traditions and allied skills.
  • Build capacities of bearers and practitioners to enhance technical, aesthetic, and contextual aspects of performance while ensuring inter-generational transmission.
  • Curate performances and shows that align with contemporary audience lifestyles while preserving the originality of traditions and facilitate the participation of performing and folk artists in various festivals and events.
  • Facilitate formation and strengthening of performance collectives (such as mandalis, gharanas, akharas) to improve socio-economic resilience and self-governance among practitioner groups.
  • Raise awareness and expand outreach for the targeted performing art traditions and their practitioners, to increase visibility and livelihood opportunities.
  • Implement comprehensive measures to promote dignity, diversity, and sustainability of bearer communities, ensuring gender-inclusive approaches.

Scope

• Livelihood and Skill Transmission: Empower artists through training and transmission of traditional skills with a focus on innovation and inclusivity:
  • Conduct workshops, trainings (Transmission of Heritage, narratives, aesthetic)
  • Empower women practitioners and enable youth engagement through heritage transmission
  • Facilitate professionalization of artists and diversification of skills
  • Strengthening of community-led enterprises and collectives (such as mandalis, gharanas, akharas)
• Curation and Cultural Festivals: Curate performances and community showcases rooted in cultural authenticity and artistic excellence:
  • Curate thematic performances and community showcases aligned with local traditions
  • Organize village-level festivals and melas in partnership with local institutions and schemes
  • Innovate in stagecraft, costume aesthetics, and storytelling approaches
  • Support documentation and digital archiving of curated content
• Market Access and scheme Linkages: Enhance the visibility, marketability, and sustainability of traditional performance-based livelihoods:
  • Facilitate participation in events, partnerships, and institutional linkages
  • Promote market-ready packages for cultural tourism, cultural institutions, fair and festivals
  • Explore digital platforms for showcasing and marketing traditional and folk performances
  • Ensure sustained employment opportunities through scheme and institutional integration

Expected Outcomes

• The expected outcome of this assignment includes:
  • Safeguarding and promotion of assigned living heritage elements over a period.
  • Improved income and livelihood opportunities for 1,000 artist/partitioners in targeted performing, folk art traditions and allied skills.
  • Enhanced through increasing their cultural and commercial appeal, facilitate market promotion and establishing linkages.
  • Strengthening of community-led enterprises and collectives (such as mandalis, gharanas, akharas), promoting continuity across targeted ICH and professionalisation.
  • Increased visibility and digital presence of traditions through multimedia storytelling and social platforms.
  • Empowering women, who represent a significant portion of performing, folk artists, and support the transmission of heritage skills to the youth.

Eligibility Criteria

• Bidders should not be associated, or have been associated in the past, directly or indirectly, with a firm or any of its affiliates which have been engaged by UNESCO to provide consulting services for the preparation of the Terms of Reference, and other documents to be used for the procurement of services to be purchased under this Request for Proposal.
• This bid is open to all national and international suppliers who are legally constituted, can provide the requested services.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Bidders are ineligible if at the time of submission of the offer:
  • The bidder is on the exclusion list published on the global portal for suppliers of the United Nations Organization, due to fraudulent activities.
  • The name of the bidder appears on the Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List which includes all individuals and entities subject to sanctions measures imposed by the Security Council.
  • The bidder is excluded by the World Bank Group.

Application Requirements

• The Proposals prepared by the Offeror and all correspondence and documents relating to the Proposal exchanged by the Offeror and UNESCO shall be written in English.
• The Proposal shall comprise the following components:
  • Proposal submission form;
  • Operational and technical part of the Proposal, including documentation to demonstrate that the Offeror meets all requirements;
  • Price schedule, completed in accordance with clauses 10 &11.

For more information, visit UNESCO.