ANUVAD ANNUAL RESIDENCIES

Call for Submissions

AAAR Programme at NEIC, Silchar

ANUVAD ANNUAL RESIDENCIES

FOR THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES (2018)

SPONSORED BY THE NORTHEAST INDIA COMPANY, SILCHAR.

The Northeast India Company takes pleasure in announcing the 2018 edition of the Anuvad Annual Residencies for the Arts and the Humanities. The first edition was curated and hosted in Silchar from the 1st of February till the 16th of February 2017 and was attended by candidates from different parts of the world, each of them representing a different and distinct area of the arts and the humanities. Among the candidates last year were Mr. Noah Beck (Australia), Mr. William Sinton (The United States), Md. Shofiqul Ahmed (Bangladesh) and others.

The residencies are structured and curated so as to achieve two particular aims:

1) To facilitate a sharing of the selected candidates’ work and research with the academic community in and around Barak Valley.

2) To build a lasting relationship between the selected candidates and the audience at the workshops or lectures that they will be expected to produce and present at the culmination of the residencies.

This will undoubtedly pave the way, as we see it, for future collaborations and projects undertaken with or even without the direct involvement of The Northeast India Company.

LOCATION: THE NORTHEAST INDIA COMPANY STUDIO AND GALLERY, ELLORA COMPLEX, CLUB ROAD, SILCHAR, ASSAM

DATES: 2ND TILL 18TH JANUARY 2018 (Period of Residency)

10th November 2017 (Last date for submission of proposals)

15th November 2017 (Announcement of selections)

MODE OF SUBMISSION:

BY EMAIL ONLY AT aaarsilchar@gmail.com

CHIEF CURATOR:

ARJUN CHOUDHURI (PhD) (AUS),

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,

GURUCHARAN COLLEGE,

SILCHAR, ASSAM, INDIA

EXTERNAL CURATORS:

BHASWATI CHAKRABORTY GHOSH

LECTURER IN ENGLISH (RETD.)

HIGHFIELD LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

BLACKPOOL, THE UNITED KINGDOM

SHAURI DEV (PhD) (OXON.)

FREELANCE ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER

ERASMUS MUNDUS FELLOW

KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

TITLE OF RESIDENCIES:

Anuvad Annual Residency for Translation Work (One).

This includes translation work across any set of language systems. Inter-genre translation work like text to graphics or similar models will also be considered for the residency award. We will especially consider interlingual and intermedia translation work for the 2018 residency programme.

Anuvad Residencies for the Performing Arts (Two).

Any sort of experimental work including what has been defined as ‘desi-rap’, folk forms, electronic musical production as well as classical forms will be considered for the residency award. Sexual innuendo and/ or portions of the act in question promoting violence or misogyny will be summarily rejected during the screening at the residency.

Anuvad Annual Residency for Film and Photography (One).

Editorial processes and software used for the same must be clearly defined along with the exact configurations of the versions of the latter used or to be used for the project proposed. Film work proposals may not exceed 15 minutes or be less than 10 minutes, and must be accompanied by a detailed script extract.

Expenses for the shooting of the same will not be provided for by the studio. The residents may however discuss necessities with the curator as and when the need arises. Photography work proposals may not extend to more than three sets of photographs featuring not more than twenty frames in each set. A final presentation less than two such sets will not be welcomed or accepted.

STRUCTURE:

The selected residents will be expected to reach Silchar latest by the morning of 2nd of January, 2018 failing which they will no longer be considered eligible for continuation of their residential period at NEIC. The residency period begins on the 2nd of January and will continue for two weeks at Silchar till the 18th of January, 2018.

At the end of this period, the residents will be required to present whatever work they have managed to complete at a review session attended by the board members of the Anuvad Annual Residencies Programme and also by The Northeast India Company’s invited academic experts. A similar but less formal session will be expected of the residents at their arrival. This session will be an occasion for the residents to introduce themselves and the project they intend to undertake during their residency at Silchar.

The residencies will culminate in the third edition of the Anuvad Festival for the Arts and the Humanities. The residents will be expected to present either a workshop, or a set of lectures, or two readings of their work at the festival which will take place from the 16th till the 18th of January, 2018. Residents will also be invited to participate in the festival as auditors for the workshops that will take place during these three days. No registration will be charged from them for this.

ELIGIBILITY:

Minimum qualifications necessary for applying for the residencies are a Bachelors’ degree from any recognised Indian university, or an equivalent in case of foreign nationals. The applicant must be at least 20 years of age at the time of the submission of proposals, and must have at least one published work to their credit in any journal, magazine, webzine or book.

For photographers and film makers, at least one participative (not necessarily independent or solo) public show along with some experience in team work is mandatory. Film makers have to send a video link to at least one full video launched previously online or as printed CD in the market, online or offline. This will be treated as sample work against which their proposal will be judged.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

1. The residents will be lodged within the premises of the NEIC Studio and their upkeep and local hospitality will be taken care of by The Northeast India Company.

2. A dedicated workspace along with internet connections, and printing aid, besides access to local libraries and knowledge resources will be provided as and when necessary to the residents.

3. Travel to and from Silchar to Kolkata/ Guwahati will be sponsored by The Northeast India Company. On production of tickets, the necessary amount will be reimbursed to the resident but only at the completion of the residency period. Economy class air fare, and AC three tier fares will be reimbursed. Surface transport will not be included in this calculation.

4. A modest honorarium will be provided to the residents at par with salaries issued to part time teachers in government colleges as per the norms of the University Grants Commission and the Department of Higher Education, Government of Assam.

5. No expenses, local or otherwise (except for the already committed expenses for lodging and upkeep), will be provided. Local conveyance (long distance) and similar other expenses have to be borne by the residents themselves. A sightseeing tour of local monuments and the Indo Bangladesh border will be arranged on the basis of convenience.

6. In case of research papers or research oriented presentations, a pecha-kucha format will be most welcome (http://www.pechakucha.org/). For written tracts, the latest MLA Style Manual’s (eighth edition) rules of citation, in text or referential, will be essential, and cannot be done away with.

7. For translations and similar source language text oriented work, all permissions are to be obtained by the resident in question. First publication rights in case of a book or a set of translations or similar written tracts will have to be assigned to NEIC by the resident. In case NEIC decides not to publish the book or tract in question, the rights will be the resident’s to use as and how they deem profitable. Mention of the residency in future publications will have to be made by the resident.

8. Certificates of completion will be allotted to the residents only on the fulfilment of terms and conditions mentioned here. Without fulfilment of terms and conditions, the resident will not be eligible for reimbursement as well.

9. The peer board for the residencies reserves the right to determine the standards of the presented work at the end of the residency period and to examine and conclude whether the submitted work has fulfilled the objectives originally set out in the proposal.

10. All decisions taken and communicated to the resident regarding the residency they have been selected for will be final and binding. No plea or request for additional consideration will be entertained.

11. A proposal for the project the applicant for the residencies wishes to complete in these two weeks during their residence in Silchar will have to be sent to the following email ID (aaarsilchar@gmail.com) along with a photograph (not more than six months old), a photo identity document, passport details (in case of foreign nationals), a valid address proof, and a digital copy of the last educational degree obtained by the applicant. Please also attach antecedents of primary texts along with permissions for their usage along with the proposal.

12. The selected resident must not have been part of any residency program for at least six months before Anuvad Annual Residencies. If one has attended a residency before, then it is obligatory for them to furnish us with details about the same as well as its successful completion.

13. No criminal case must be pending against the applicant in any court of law or regulatory body in India or in the applicant’s country of origin during the time of application. A statement about the same must be provided by the applicant during the submission of applications.

14. No more than one residency may be applied for by one candidate at one time. Applicants not considered for the residencies this time are however free to apply again. No restrictions on the same will exist. The same project however will not be entertained more than once.

15. Politically affiliated candidates will not be entertained at the residencies. A statement about this aspect may also be expected of the applicant.

16. A statement about non plagiarism and originality of the proposed project may be submitted along with the proposal submission. Without these mandatory attachments (the ones mentioned previously included), any submission by any applicant will be liable to be deleted from the screening process.

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS FOR SUBMISSIONS:

Please treat this as a checklist during the submission. Items that are NOT mandatory are identified as such in the list:

An updated curriculum vitae with a detailed list of publications along with ISBN/ ISSN numbers of publishing platforms. Awards and previous residencies (if any) must be mentioned.

A recent photograph not older than six months at the time of the translation.

A photo identity document

Passport details in case of foreign nationals.

Statement of purpose, or proposal for project with all details regarding permissions, data collection, processing, requirements for presentation and printing/ material mediums.

Supporting evidence of pre-proposal research (not mandatory)

Permissions from authors of source language texts (mandatory in case of translation of texts still within the customary period of copyright as delineated by the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 (as amended by the Copyright Amendment Act of 2012).

Sample work for photographers (at least four images of maximum 2 mb file size) and film makers (a video link to Vimeo, Youtube or any similar video hosting site. Attached video files will not be considered.

A statement of non plagiarism in the context of the proposed project to be undertaken. This may include a literature survey in case of text oriented projects.

A statement of non affiliation to any political party or organisation with connections to any political machinery.

In case of working professionals, a certificate of no objection from their immediate superior or direct employer along with leave permissions will be necessary.

A statement of confirmation that the applicant will, if selected, abide by all the rules and regulations of the residencies.

ADDENDUM:

ABOUT SILCHAR AND BARAK VALLEY:

Silchar is one of the most significant towns in the Northeast of India, with roads directly accessing other states like Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur. Bangladesh and Myanmar are also directly accessible through its ancillary national highways. The predominant languages spoken here are Bengali, Assamese, Manipuri, Hindi and English. Silchar, being the central town in Barak Valley, can be directly reached by air and train from Guwahati and Kolkata. Road transport is viable from Shillong, Tripura, Siliguri and Jharkhand as well. The climate during January is primarily chilly in the daylight hours, with dense fog and a fall in temperature during the nightly hours. Local cuisines include East Bengali, Assamese and generic North Indian fare. Medical facilities here are in abundance. Silchar in fact is a hub for people seeking medical treatment coming from all over the Northeast. The studio has facilities for immediate first aid and specialised treatment at an attached nursing facility.

The local higher educational institutions include Assam University (Silchar Campus), National Institute of Technology, Silchar Medical College, Gurucharan College and Cachar College. Local places of historical and cultural interest include the ruins of the Dimasa capital once called Khaspur, temples once built and patronised by the Kachari-Dimasa kings (Kachakanti, Nrimata, Adikali, Ranachandi, Siyama and the Shiva temples at Chandragiri, Bhuvaneshwar and Nilmandap). Also of significant interest is Shonbeel, one of Southern Assam’s largest oxbow lakes. The Kakra/Cachua River connects Shonbeel to the Kushiara river and eventually flows into Bangladesh. It was accorded national wetland status after Deepor Beel near Guwahati in the last decade after years of crusading by local scientists and researchers. Similar wetlands include Chatla Haor, also known for being one of the few places where Rhodophyta (red algal blooms) are found in South Asia.

Barak Valley is also well known in physical sciences research circuits all over the world for its unique lakes called ‘anua’. These are sustainable fisheries and much of the economy in the periurban and rural areas of the valley is dependent on these lakes. Rupaibali, Ramnagar, Chandpur and Berabak are among the most significant of these ‘anua’. Tea plantations are another significant attraction in Barak Valley. Many of these tea plantations possess homesteads and settlements that date back to even earlier than the British period in Cachar, much before the Sepoy Mutiny. Dewan Group of tea estates, Chandighat, Urrunabund, Teelka, Doloo, Burnie Braes and Silcoorie are among the oldest of these tea estates, many of them, like Burnie Braes, evidencing Scottish names.

Besides these, there are also settlements that date back to the Kachari rule in this region and which were originally created by Portuguese mercenaries who were in the employ of the local rulers at one point of time or the other. Badarpur, only an hour’s journey away from Silchar, is one such place where this Indo-Portuguese culture still thrives. The Catholic Directory of India lists St. Joseph’s Church of Badarpur as one of the oldest in the country with records evidencing construction of the present stead dating back to the 1880s. But evidence of worship can be cited from even before that. Many Catholic Christian families here have turned Bengali in their use of language and in their cultural mores, but still claim descent from Portuguese families that settled here during the turn of the 17th century. Ruins of bastions and fortresses dating back to the Portuguese mercenary era (during the later Dimasa rule in Cachar, post-Maibong and during the settlement of the Khaspur capital complex) are also extant in Badarpur and other places of the valley, though in thorough disrepair for the lack of authoritative attention.

Silchar along with Karimganj and Hailakandi is one of the centres where the Language Movement of 1961 that gathered momentum against the autocratic linguistic policies of the Bimala Prasad Chaliha led Congress government in Assam. Even now, the event of the public slaughter of the satyagrahis from 1961 at Silchar’s railway station (now commonly referred to as Bhasha Shaheed Station) is commemorated every year during the third week of May with 19th May, the anniversary of the slaughter, being celebrated as International Mother Tongue Day.

Besides these attractions that merit at least a week long stay for the discerning tourist, this region surrounded by the Borail hill range on three sides is a space where the Partition of India exerted its most intensive political influence, apart from the exodus and the relocation of multitudes during 1947, and later in 1971. The Sylhet Referendum and its latent effects have transcended more than three generations and have become part and parcel of the indigenous cultures of Barak Valley. In recent years, much attention is being devoted to intensive social sciences research about the effects and trauma of the Partition on this part of the country with researchers investigating deeply the local mnemonic and historical cultures of both Bengali and other relocated communitarian origins like Khasi, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Naga and Santhal or Baganiya.