Barefoot Curators Fellowship by Conflictorium

Ahmedabad , Offline

Barefoot Curators Fellowship by Conflictorium — a 15-month, practice-led programme.

July, 2026 - October, 2027

The Barefoot Curators Fellowship begins with a question that feels both simple and deeply pressing: Who gets to shape culture, and whose stories are allowed to be seen?

Across India’s smaller towns, villages, and rural landscapes, culture is alive in everyday life: in traditions, labour, language, memory, and community spaces. It is shaped by people’s lived realities of identity, caste, gender, ecology, community, and much more. And yet, much of this richness remains unseen in mainstream art spaces, which are still largely centred in cities and shaped by limited, and often exclusionary perspectives. This fellowship is an attempt to change that.

The fellowship is built with that vision in mind. It aims to support people whose voices need to be heard, across caste, identity, class, gender, conflict, ecology and geography. It focuses on nurturing cultural practitioners outside big cities, recognising that
meaningful cultural work is already happening in these spaces. More than anything, it sees art as a way to ask questions, to reflect, and to engage with ideas of justice and equality grounded in shared constitutional values. It is not about one-off showcases, but about building something lasting - cultural ecosystems that grow from within communities themselves.

By supporting individuals who are already deeply connected to their contexts, the fellowship hopes to enable work that feels honest, responsible, and capable of creating real change.