India/UK Together, a Season of Culture is a year-long celebration of the long-standing relationship between India and UK. Celebrating India's 75th Independence Anniversary, the Season will see a vast programme of creative collaborations, education and cultural exchanges take place online, and in cities across both countries. Working with a number of partners and institutions in the field of Arts, Education and English, the British Council is developing a programme of cultural activities which will bring people together in both countries, raise awareness around key world issues, and strengthen and celebrate the UK and India ' s educational and cultural ties.
Reimagining Festivals - for the Future
This season we come together for the vision of building innovative partnerships in the Arts, Culture and Festival sectors of both countries. We aim at inclusive partnerships among diverse but equal partners, towards new and diverse perspectives of creative expressions, exchange and enterprise.
Waste Land: A journey
In 2022, on the 75th Anniversary of Indian independence, Jana Sanskriti, India and Graeae, UK, will collaborate with theatre-maker Tim Wheeler and aspiring D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent artists to create a theatre performance inspired by TS Eliot’s The Waste Land. The year 2022 is also the centenary of the publication of the poem.
The performance will premiere on the International Day of Disabled People on 3 December, at Girish Bhavan in Badu, as part of the ninth edition of Jana Sanskriti’s bi-annual Forum Theatre Festival, Muktadhara. It will then tour villages in South 24 Parganas both live and digitally, where thousands will witness it.
We believe everyone has the right and ability to make theatre. We believe that true freedom can only happen when people have the space to discover, explore and develop intellectually. This requires a culture of dialogue where everyone is heard and valued.
This is the first time Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) will address questions of disability in India. We hope this project will inspire the creation of a company of disabled and non-disabled artists. We look forward to a sustainable skills exchange between the partners, where participants will become multipliers of the methodology. Jana Sanskriti will share knowledge of TO. Graeae will share aesthetic approaches to access.
We hope to inspire NGOs and civil society organizations working on disability issues to see the developing methodology as valuable to promote the greater inclusion of disabled people.
Sanjoy Ganguly is the founder and artistic director of Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed, which was established in Bengal in 1985. He is the first to introduce Forum Theatre in India, and Jana Sanskriti is today recognized as a chief exponent of TO across the world. Sanjoy Ganguly did his PhD from University of Anglia. Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan and Cambridge University Press have published his essays and books. He received the IBSEN scholarship for the production of the classic ‘A Doll’s House’, and the Macarthur Fellowship in 1997.
Tim is a theatre maker, arts consultant and lecturer with a particular interest in socially engaged practice. His main focus at Worcester is the Integrated Masters programme. He also teaches on the Undergraduate and MA programme. A specialist in theatre and learning disability, and mental health, Tim is co-founder and was artistic director of award winning Mind the Gap for 26 years, creating 18 national touring productions, 10 site-specific specific works, and 100+ educational and training programmes.
Jenny Sealey, MBE, is CEO and Artistic Director of Graeae, the UK’s flagship disability-led theatre company. Under Jenny’s Artistic directorship, Graeae has pioneered a radical dramatic language which explores the ‘aesthetics of access’, creatively embedding tools, such as audio-description and sign language interpretation, in the action of the plays she directs. The result is a more inclusive theatre experience, which engages with radical politics. Her directions include “Reasons to be Cheerful”, “The House of Bernarda Alba”, “Blood Wedding” and “Belonging”, to name but a few.