Call for Applications: IFA Arts Research Programme

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About IFA Arts Reasearch Programme

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 enquiry, interaction, reflection, and experimentation.

• Sponsor Organisation: India Foundation of the Arts

Benefits of IFA Arts Reasearch Programme

• You can budget up to Rs 5,00,000/-. You can request an honorarium, not exceeding 35% of the proposed budget. (Please do not budget for institutional overheads, building costs, or infrastructural development. The budget does not allow for equipment purchase either, but if you must buy equipment for the project, it has to be returned to IFA after the project is completed.)

IFA Arts Reasearch Programme Requirements

• Only Indian nationals can apply. This does not include PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) and OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) Card Holders.
• Applicants must have PAN card and one of the following for proof of identity and citizenship – Indian Passport or Aadhar Card or Voter’s ID in India.
• Only individuals can apply. Organisations of any kind cannot apply (except for non-profit schools, who can only apply under the Arts-Integrated Projects in Schools category of the Arts Education programme).
• If there are collaborators in the projects, they must also be Indian nationals.
• Persons who have a past history of financial delinquency with IFA are not eligible.
• Persons who have failed to deposit at IFA agreed deliverables from an earlier IFA grant are not eligible.
• Persons who have previously received a letter from IFA disallowing them from applying in the future for any reason are not eligible.

• Persons currently working on a project implemented by IFA are not eligible to apply. 

• More than one individual can apply if they have a joint account. If they do not, then only one among them should apply with the others as collaborators.

Application Date and Process

• We encourage you to discuss any queries regarding the Request for Proposals and develop project ideas before sending your final proposal by writing to Harshita Bathwal, Programme Officer, Arts Research, at [email protected] before Monday, August 11, 2025, with the Subject Line: Project Proposal for Arts Research. 
• You can write your proposal in any Indian language, including English.
• The proposed project should have clarity in terms of the research questions, proposed objectives, personal motivation, and the stakeholders involved.
• We encourage applicants to develop 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. Projects should aim to be accessible and meaningful to a broad and diverse audience, engaging more than one kind of public.
• Your final proposal, along with your curriculum vitae, and a detailed budget breakdown that explains how funds will be utilised, should be submitted online in a single email not exceeding 25 MB to [email protected] on or before September 10, 2025, 11:59 PM (IST). 

Application Deadline

10 September, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

View details of IFA Arts Reasearch Programme