Arts Research (April 2014 onwards)

The Arts Research Programme, re-launched in 2025, recognises the value of different and flexible approaches to research in the arts. Under this programme, we implement projects that explore forms of knowing and thinking that are rooted in creative, scholarly and/ or cultural practice, and bring out diverse perspectives on histories and expressions of artistic practice in India to foster a deeper understanding of the arts through inquiry, interaction, reflection, and experimentation.

We invite proposals from scholars, practitioner researchers, artist-activists, curators, translators, artist educators, authors, philosophers, gamers, or anyone interested in situating themselves at the interface of research-practice and undertaking projects implemented by IFA. 

The proposed projects should have clarity in terms of the research questions, proposed objectives, personal motivation, and the stakeholders involved. We encourage applicants to apply with project ideas with outcomes or processes that could be shared in the public domain. These could be textual, visual, performative, curatorial, pedagogical, spatial, material, documentary, sonic, digital, or any other form of cultural intervention.

IFA is keen to encourage new thinking in the arts, through the arts. Through the Arts Research programme, we hope to develop a nationwide community of artistic research practitioners who connect with each other and evolve into an organic network based on mutual respect, discussion, and exchange.

In 2024, 10 years after the last review process, the Arts Research programme underwent a review by a panel of experts comprising Manu V Devadevan, Sachin Ketkar, A Mangai, and Shuddhabrata Sengupta. In order to develop a broad sense of the current landscape of arts research in India and understand the relevance of this programme, views from the field were presented to the panel. (Please refer to the Voices from the Field Report) The panel made a set of recommendations to IFA, and the current Arts Research programme is an outcome of those recommendations.