Supporting Innovation and Preservation: Serendipity Arts Unveils Diverse Grants for 2023
Serendipity Arts, a non-profit organization for the development of arts and culture in India and the South Asian region, has launched its annual grants. The grants this year are an inclusive set of offerings that aim to benefit artists and creative professionals from various practices like music, dance, culinary arts, journalism in the arts, and new media.
The Serendipity Arts grants announced this year are:
• Virtual Grant
• Indian Classical Arts Mentorship Grant
• Production Grant for Independent Music
• Arts Journalism Grant
• The Food Matters Grant
• Dwindling Traditions Grant
The Virtual Grant, back for a second edition, will be inviting applications for digital projects across all disciplines responding to the interweb as a site. The grant will be awarded to one collective, group, duo, or collaboration to develop a project adapted to the digital space with funding up to INR 1 lakh. Projects have to be interdisciplinary in nature, inviting collaborative projects, and will be hosted on the Serendipity Arts website/domain. The application deadline for this grant is the 15th of May 2023.
The Serendipity Arts Classical Arts Mentorship Grant has been designed to offer financial support to practitioners in the field of Indian classical music and dance who wish to train under a mentor for a period of six months. The grant amount will be up to INR 1 lakh. The goal of the grant is to facilitate the enhancement of the applicant’s practice either through further pursuance of their discipline or through the acquisition of allied art practices and skills within the Indian classical music/dance traditions. The application deadline for this grant is the 15th of May 2023.
The Serendipity Arts Production Grant for Independent Musicians is for all independent music creators across different genres to support the process of creating, recording, producing, and releasing and/or presenting new music. The grant will be awarded to bands, duos, groups, or individual independent musicians with a grant of up to INR 1 lakh. The application deadline for this grant is the 15th of May 2023.
In keeping with the foundation’s mandate of facilitating writing initiatives in the arts, a new grant called the Serendipity Arts Journalism Grant has been initiated this year. This grant seeks to provide support worth 1 lakh to an early- or mid-career journalist/reporter in an effort to develop a body of reportage around creative communities/practices in India’s contemporary art world. Situated as we are within a creative ecosystem that leans towards critical and curatorial writing, this grant hopes to address a seeming lacuna in opportunities for accessible arts journalism, to drive greater interest and public stake in the arts. The awardee will be chosen from a pool of candidates nominated by the jury.
The Food Matters Grant supports projects that aim to contribute to the discourse around food and create a knowledge network to promote inquiry into food practices in India and South Asia. Through this grant, we hope to create a space for the exchange of ideas around food habits, traditions, and futures. Seeking to support innovative projects by individuals or collectives, the grant amount will be up to INR 1 lakh. The grant invites proposals with tangible outcomes that examine and explore food practices specifically with regard to their contemporary relevance in India and South Asia. Practitioners, researchers, professionals, and enthusiasts from across disciplines are welcome to apply with a new or ongoing project. The application deadline for this grant is the 15th of May 2023.
There are a multitude of art and craft forms, folk traditions, and festivals that have been steadily declining for many decades and are now almost on the verge of disappearing completely. The Dwindling Traditions Grant is a Video Documentation Grant which seeks to support the documentation of these dwindling traditions in an effort to develop and digitize an archive of said art forms, festivals, and traditions. The grantees will be awarded a sum of up to INR 2,50,000 to make a documentary film. The application deadline for this grant is the 15th of May 2023.
Speaking about the grants, Ms. Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Foundation & Festival, said, “We have been giving out grants since the inception of the foundation in various phases and under different names. This year we have made the offerings more relevant and contemporary, in recognition of the areas that need support and attention.” Adding further, she mentioned, “While some of our digital and new media grants remain constant, we have also introduced grants that support Indian Classical Music and Dance practices, Arts Journalism, culinary arts research, and independent music from India. These new grants will help us cover more ground and extend the necessary support to the right talent.”
More details about the grants, such as eligibility, duration, and submission, have been provided individually on the Serendipity Art website, www.serendipityarts.org, and on the social media handles of Serendipity Arts.
