Anchoring India’s Art Futures
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Tradition, Ideals, Standards and Policies
At CASP, art is not entertainment.
We enable research and conservation of the unique social quality of Indian Arts with a focus on aspects such as:
- Centuries of continuity
- Social experience and knowledge
- Collective ideal
- Role of patron communities
- Continuous re-adaptations
We support pragmatic research under categories:
Paddhati (Modality)
Oral traditions, lineages, genealogies, techniques, codification and pedagogy.
Smriti (Memory)
Archiving, curation, history, criticism.
Drishti (Perspective)
Art as knowledge, social ideals, standards, policies for technology mediation in arts, ownership and stakeholdership of knowhow and material.
Talking with Tradition Edition 2023
CASP is organising a two day immersive focusing on performing arts and intellectual property on 7th and 8th of October 2023. Over the two days, we engage in a dialogue with senior and young performing arts practitioners, eminent IP lawyers, experts in digital technology and AI.
Our Projects
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Reading Circles
In the last three years, we have enabled Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Reading Circles to engage with and understand the writings of Ananda Coomaraswamy who was metaphysician, historian, a philosopher and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. These sessions are hosted at CASP’s office every Tuesday 4 to 5 pm.
Abhilekh – Solapur Arts Registry
In an attempt to revitalise the arts scenario beyond the metropolis, we have designed a unique project to create a current and district-wise registry of traditional art forms which combines the interests of arts researchers, archivists, historians, local artists and rasiks of arts. The idea is to archive and curate the regional legacy in music, dance, theatre, storytelling and ritual arts which can then be used to boost local awareness especially among the youth.
Talking with Tradition Edition 2022
CASP organised Talking with Tradition at TMTC, Pune in 2022. The residential immersive spanning over three days comprised 20+ craft sessions, panels, discussions and performances and was well attended by scholars, musicians, art practitioners and students.
Masterclasses with senior Carnatic vocalist and Guru Smt. R. Vedavalli
CASP has documented masterclasses conducted by senior Carnatic vocalist and Guru Smt. R. Vedavalli for her advanced disciples. This project documents the methods of knowledge transfer from one generation to the other.
Bandish Bank – An open-source repository of over 500 compositions
Supported by Baithak Foundation, this project involved 20+ musicians across India to create an open-source repository of Bandishes in various Ragas of Hindustani Sangeet.
Tune IN appreciation sessions
We conducted a series of six well-curated and interactive sessions to introduce the aesthetic nuances of Carnatic music to listeners and Hindustani musicians. These open for all sessions were attended by listeners, students of music, performers and authors/writers.
Maharajas and the music of Southern India
A lecture demonstration by Chennai based Musician and researcher Dr Sumathi Krishnan illuminated the history of music patronage in southern India.
