Instituted in 1979, the Sanskriti Awards were the
Foundation's first project. These awards were our
contribution to the task of nation-building at its
most fundamental level. They were a token of our
solidarity with the significant cultural and social
work being done in India as well as with creative
and youthful endeavour at its best. The Sanskriti
Awards inspired and honoured many young Indians
striving to attain excellence in their chosen fields,
as well as others who had already demonstrated great
talent in their respective disciplines. The purpose
of the awards was to strengthen the awardees' confidence
in their own capacities and strengths, and to emphasize
that they were not alone and unheeded in their endeavour.
The Sanskriti Awards were given in the fields of
Literature, Journalism, Art, Music-Dance- Theatre,
and Social and Cultural Achievements. They were
among the most coveted awards in India and many
of the recipients have achieved distinction in their
chosen field. Sanskriti’s example has been
followed by many. After consideration of contemporary
needs and socio-cultural development in India, the
Foundation has decided to discontinue its Awards
programme and replace it by a series of targeted
fellowships.
The idea to establish a specialized institute that
would cater to the educational, training and consultancy
needs of Indian cultural organizations was initiated
in 1997 when ShriO.P. Jain, President, Sanskriti
Pratishthan and Prof.S.L.Rao, Chairman, Central
Electricity Regulatory Authority and a member of
the Sanskriti Pratishthan board, initiated the SIM
project.
The rationale of this project was based on the
premise that the introduction of the concepts and
practices of Arts Management are a necessity in
India because many arts and cultural organizations
suffer from the lack of trained professional managers.
The project began with Sanskriti Pratishthan spreading
the idea amongst cultural organizations and stakeholders
like the Dept.of Culture, USIS, British Council
Australia, ICCR and UNESCO.
A report was submitted to the Getty Grant Programme
for the funding of the proposal, which was duly
accepted.
An Agreement was made between Sanskriti Pratishthan
and MDI, Gurgaon to be associated on the development
and delivery of the yearlong postgraduate diploma
in Management of Cultural Organizations.
A pioneering and visionary project of this dimension
was possible only due to the valuable support and
encouragement of the Sanskriti Pratishthan Board,
the SIM Advisory Group, Government of India and
the initial grant from the Getty Grant Programme.
The SIM Board: Prof. S.L. Rao, Dr. A.K. Shiva
Kumar, Prof. B.N. Goswami, Sh. Ashok Vajpai, Smt.
Pushpa Sundar, Sh. Gurucharan Das, Sh. Omkar Goswami,
Sh. O.P. Jain.
Academic Council: Prof. Abad Ahmed, Dr. Devi Singh,
Dr. Anup Singh, Dr. Pritam Singh.
Advisors: Prof. S.L. Rao, Dr .A.K. Shiva Kumar.
Lead Faculty: Dr. Anup Singh.
Academic Core Team: Dr. Anup Singh, Dr. Ajit Prasad,
Dr. Sumi tMustafi.
Programme Director: Dr. Shobita Punja.
Programme Executives: Smt. Seetha Venkataraman,
Ms. Mona Singh.
Sanskriti YatraProgramme emerged from Sanskriti’s
mission to strengthen the cultural roots of the
emerging generation, and sensitize youth towards
culture.
Sanskriti Yatra combines four distinct features.
First is our philosophy that children have creative
urges, which need to be cultivated and which takes
shapes only if they are given an opportunity to
do so.
The second element of the workshop is clear and
effective in its innovative educational philosophy
which drives the programme’s instructional
theory and practice. Our belief holds that learning
should mostly be experiential and should be active,
interactive and fun.
The third element that makes our programme work
is a carefully designed set of learning materials
and pedagogical practices that helps children move
from concrete experiences to understanding as they
gain skills.
The fourth element combines our broad effort of
bringing together practical solutions to reach out
to our target group of children.
The Sanskriti Pratishthan hosted a weeklong collaborative
conference called the Chat Week for the Here and
There (HAT) project which is a structured programme
of International research fellowships for the crafts.
The programme was in collaboration with A Fine Line,
an arts consultancy based in the UK, Arts Council
of England and the British Council.
Through this project they sought to develop:
* A fresh, integrated and more strategic approach
to the crafts residency model.
* Building international networks of designer makers
sharing practice-based research.
* Supporting the development of networks of agencies,
curators and arts organizations engaging with international
contemporary crafts practitioners in the development
of their programmes.
In collaboration with Mohile Parikh Centre for Visual
Arts, Mumbai, and the School of Arts and Aesthetics,
JNU, New Delhi, Sanskriti Pratishthan hosted a series
of lectures by renowned arts scholars. Modelled on
the acclaimed Norton and Tanner Lectures at Harvard
and Stanford Universities, the lecture series provided
Indian audiences an opportunity to interact with experts
in the field, and provide a wider exposure to the
international art world. The lecture series has been
funded by the Getty Foundation, USA.
Sanskriti Pratishthan received a grant to conduct
two interactive workshops in partnership with HDCA
(Human Development and Capability Association) and
Harvard's Global Equity Initiative. The workshops
provide young students and scholars an opportunity
to interact with each other and advance the HDCA
network in India and South Asia. Sanskriti had the
honour and privilege to host the economist and Nobel
Laureate Dr. Amartya Sen as chief guest
