Our grants support long term socially engaged projects led by artists in remote and challenging spaces.​ In keeping with our aim to provide marginalised communities access to the arts, we support ongoing projects led by artists that work with displaced and disadvantaged communities and address socio-economic inequalities. Grantees involve community participants through strategized site specific artistic interventions which aim to build community, increase participants' well-being and confidence, develop their skills, and revitalise their community spaces.
Since 2015 our Grantees have worked with children at brick kilns in Uttar Pradesh, in a women's night shelter in Old Delhi, with tribal women in Jharkhand, with traditional block printers in Gujarat, and with an innovative pine-needle craft form with women in Himachal Pradesh, among others. These spaces are often remote and challenging, and through their long-term artistic processes, these programmes creatively address concerns of gender inequality, unemployment, mental health issues and even a lack of access to basic literacy. Our team has often assisted, and at times mentored and helped grow these programmes so that their impact deepens over time.
During the Covid Lockdown (2020-22), we were thrilled to be able to support five Community Arts Grants across India, through an Open Call. We are very grateful to our Selection-Advisory Panel: Akansha Rastogi, Arundhati Ghosh, Deeksha Nath, Mary Therese Kurkalang and Gulammohammed Sheikh.
​We are grateful to Seema Kohli Studios for their ongoing support for community arts.
‘I am most interested in how the community art grantees are trying to revive traditional crafts and creating opportunities. So many communities in this country have remained unattended. So when any marginalised community is being attended to it fills my heart with hope.’
​
- Gulammohammed Sheikh
Nakul Singh Sawhney
Western Uttar Pradesh
Gulafsha and Seema
Bhalaswa, Delhi
Dipankar Panging
Sivasagar, Assam
Jaimala Iyer and Hitesh Rawat
Kukma Village, Gujarat
Artreach India works with artists to enrich the lives of children, youth and women from marginalised communities in India.
We empower participants through creativity and offer holistic learning experiences in the visual arts.
We support artists working with communities in challenging and remote spaces in India. These socially engaged projects aim at increasing participants’ well-being and confidence, while developing their skills, building community and social cohesion. Our Community Arts grantees have an established relationship with and a deep commitment to the communities they work with.
​
To know more about our Community Arts Projects, partner with us and support them, please email us at: director.artreach@gmail.com