Folk Arts Grant 2025
About
The Serendipity Folk Arts Grant offers financial support to practitioners in the field of Folk Traditions within the performing arts. Folk traditions in the performing arts refer to the ways in which communities express their culture, stories, and values through music, dance, theater, and other forms of art. These traditions are passed down through generations, often without being formally written down, and reflect the everyday lives, beliefs, and experiences of people from a specific place or group. Performances typically use simple instruments, traditional costumes, and familiar themes, helping to preserve the history and identity of the community.
The goal of the grant is to enhance the artist’s practice by enabling them to further pursue their discipline, thereby contributing to both their craft and the community. The grant can be used to pursue mentorship under an individual of the artist’s choice, or one of the nominators, to further develop their practice and contribute to the community that upholds the art form.
This edition of the grant is open to folk artists from the North zone of the country, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The artists will be nominated by a jury selected by the Jury in conversation with the SAF team.
Intake
1 Artist
Grant Amount
2,00,000/-
Format
- Jury Members Nominate 3 artists each.
- Out of all the nominations, the Jury in consensus finalize on 1 artist who shall be awarded the grant.
- The Grant should be utilized with 12 months of signing the agreement with the Foundation.
- Grant Amount awarded to the artist will need to be utilized effectively by the artist. The amount can be used for travel, stay, materials, daily expenses and other expenses incurred during the mentorship
Parameters for Nominators
- The grant is focused to support artists who are either practicing a certain folk form over generations or are artists who are learning and continue the practice.
- We encourage the Jury to nominate artists/groups who have been working on their practice and are looking for ways to develop it further.
- Artists who continue to teach and impart the practice of their folk tradition can be considered.
- Artists looking to develop and travel their work further can be considered.
- We encourage the Jury to be inclusive in all aspects of region, religion, gender, caste, race etc.
Documents required post Nomination for final selection
- Performance/Practice Video
- Bio of the artist or group
- Audio/Video/Written document (in English/Hindi) outlining the statement of purpose.
Jury
- Dr. Arshiya Sethi
- Akshay Gandhi
- Anurupa Roy
About Jury
Dr. Arshiya Sethi is a distinguished practitioner and scholar of Indian dance, with over two decades of experience bridging arts, activism, and knowledge creation. She is the founder of the Kri Foundation (2003), an initiative dedicated to linking the practice, management, and scholarship of the arts. As a former dance critic for The Times of India, Arshiya’s insightful contributions to the field of dance have shaped public discourse around traditional and contemporary performance arts.
Arshiya was a prominent presenter for over four decades of the archived National Programme of Music and Dance on the Public Broadcast TV network, Doordarshan, and served as an advisor to DD Bharati, the network’s Art and Culture channel. As the Creative Head at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, she curated groundbreaking programs across genres and played a key role in creating intangible cultural properties such as City Arts Festivals.
Arshiya is also the co-author of the book Non-Gharanedaar: Pt. Mohanrao Kallianpurkar, The Paviour of Kathak (2022) and a co-editor and contributor to Dance Under the Shadow of the Nation (2019), the international publication by the Dance Studies Association. Currently, she is editing an upcoming international academic journal focused on South Asian Dance and its intersections. In addition, she remains a prominent columnist in the cultural domain.
A foremost scholar of Sattriya, a classical dance form from Assam, Arshiya’s research delves into the dynamics surrounding traditional dance and dancers in times of social transformation. Her work has contributed significantly to the preservation, presentation, and progression of Indian dance forms. She is currently mentoring the East Delhi Cultural Centre – Poorva Sanskriti Kendra as Vice President – Creative.
Arshiya’s journey has also included being the first Fulbright Fellow attached to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Her foundation, Kri Foundation, continues to foster a nurturing and progressive link between arts practice, management, and scholarship, in line with its defining line, “linking for the Arts.”
Contribution
Her vast knowledge in the preservation and advancement of traditional dance forms makes her an ideal jury member. Her expertise in Sattriya, along with her academic contributions, will ensure that folk art projects with cultural, historical, and academic significance are recognized and supported. As a curator of meaningful programs and as someone who has fostered public understanding of intangible cultural properties, she will bring a deep understanding of the socio-cultural impact of folk art, ensuring that the grant’s recipient reflects a balance of artistic excellence and cultural relevance.
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