Welsh artists, arts organisations and festivals are creating six new arts projects with their counterparts in India.
The projects will share funding of £60,000 from the British Council Wales Connections through Culture: India Wales grant scheme, which is supported by Wales Arts International and the Arts Council of Wales.
The fund aims to develop creative skills and capacity for artists and festivals in both India and Wales, as well as creating long-lasting relationships between the two countries.
Swansea’s Glynn Vivian Art Gallery will work with Science Gallery in Bengaluru and the Museum Society of Mumbai, to investigate the industrial links between Wales and India.
Aberystwyth Arts Centre and youth organisation Dream a Dream in Bangalore will work together on a digital art project, which will see young people from Wales and India use art to create a vision for a sustainable and thriving future.
Cardiff theatre producer, Jonny Cotsen and Siddhant Shah of India’s Access for ALL consultancy will develop a manifesto for accessible art, which will develop an all-inclusive arts festival celebrating artists and audiences with disabilities.
Welsh culture magazine Wales Arts Review and Meta Arts production company from Bangalore will work together and pair six artists from Wales and India, who will develop an arts production for young people that will tour key arts festivals and venues in both countries.
Playwright Kaite O’Reilly will work with choreographer Navtej Singh Johar, on a production that will investigate the ideas of the Welsh hiraeth – a deep longing and yearning for home and the land and the Punjabi biraha, the call of the heart in separation.
Welsh artist Marc Rees will work with the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation of Kolkota, in partnership with National Eisteddfod of Wales and Durga Puja festival in Kolkata. They will create a virtual venue with artists from both countries.
Connections through Culture builds on the success of India Wales, the joint funding programme between the British Council and Wales Arts International/Arts Council of Wales, which marked the seventieth anniversary of independence in India.
India Wales supported more than 2000 participants across 13 projects, within theatre, dance, film, literature, music and visual and applied arts and engaged more than 80,000 audience members in Wales and India.
Jenny Scott, director of British Council Wales said:
“The breadth and inventiveness of these new projects are testament to Welsh and Indian creativity, and to the growth in collaboration and strength of the links that have been built since the inception of our India Wales work. We’re looking forward to seeing the development and outcome of all the projects.”
Barbara Wickham OBE, director, British Council India said:
“We are delighted to announce the recipients of the Connections Through Culture grants for India and Wales. Having received some amazing applications, we are excited to see the development of this collection of terrific arts and culture projects come to life.
“The grants aim to build imaginative bridges between India and the United Kingdom and to strengthen the development of culture and the creative economy, especially between artists and arts festivals. As we look toward India’s 75th anniversary of Independence in 2022 these projects will enable artists, arts organisations and festivals across the nations to connect, create and collaborate.’’
The British Council showcases the best of the UK‘s arts and culture overseas. The Connections through Culture grants are part of its ambition to promote mutual and equitable collaboration between artists in India and Wales, and to provide new platforms to promote the culture and creativity of both countries to international audiences.
