Following a grand debut last year across three Australian cities and an upcoming Edinburgh Festival Fringe appearance, Brown Women Comedy will soon be heading to India, thanks to a Maitri Cultural Partnerships grant announced this week.
In a collaboration between Australian South Asian Centre (ASAC) and Laugh Club India (LCI), seven female comedians will travel between countries to host a series of comedy shows aimed at bridging divides, enhancing the comedy ecosystem, and providing a voice to women in a field dominated by men.
The grant is one of 14 announced by the Centre of Australia-India Relations for 2023-24. This year’s grants span the fields of literature, performing arts, visual arts, classical dance, contemporary dance, theatre, film, spoken word, contemporary craft, stand-up comedy, music, fashion and gaming.
An approximate $2.6 million have been announced in this year’s Maitri Research and Cultural Partnerships Grants to promote Australia-India ties – with almost $1.2 million allocated for research grants and $1.4 million going towards cultural partnerships.
Maitri Cultural Partnerships Grants 2023-24
- Three different art projects will bring Indigenous communities from Australia and India together for collaborations in literature, visual arts and performing arts.
- 5AngryMen, a plein-air theatre company in Melbourne, will deliver education and training to students at the University of Hyderabad and organise a public performance of 5their flagship show The Bells, in Goa.
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- The Connies, a Victorian collective of tram conductors, performers, educators, ecologists and nature lovers who tour festivals and shows, will collaborate with the Sundarban Tramjatra project to decorate a Kolkata tram to promote environmentalism.
- Sydney Film Festival will tie up with the Dharamshala International Film Festival to enable film makers to participate in each other’s film festivals.
- India’s famed artistic duo Thukral & Tagra will transform Fed Sq in Melbourne into a living canvas exploring Punjabi heritage.
- The innovations festival SXSW will create a six-part India Focus Showcase Program discussing important themes across music, fashion, technology and gaming to promote the exchange of cross-cultural ideas and business opportunities between Australia and India. (It received the largest allocation in the Cultural Partnerships grants, of $250,000).
- The Perth-based Saraswati Mahavidhyalaya, a centre for performing arts and education, have received funding for a two-part Indian classical dance residency program (connecting Indian classical dancers in WA with renowned Odissi dance exponent Bijayini Satpathy).
- Saraswati Mahavidhyalaya will also host The Passport Project, an intercultural collaboration between Undercurrent Theatre Company and The Art Workers.
Maitri Research Grants 2023-24
Of the five research grants announced, the largest allocation of ($283, 280) has gone to the Federation University in Victoria, for a project that will explore the development and application of the blockchain-based GrainSupp tool in India to support grain traceability to ensure quality and compliance in grain supply chains.
The Maitri research grants will explore opportunities between Australia and India in agribusiness, critical technology, energy transition and advanced manufacturing, providing a pathway for commercialisation of Australian research and technical capabilities with India.
Other recipients in this category include:
- Murdoch University (WA) with $270, 000 for a project that will connect Australian energy transition researchers and start-ups with India’s manufacturing hubs.
- Deakin University (VIC) with $260, 613 for a project that will pilot Australian cyber resilience technology for smart farming applications in India.
- UNSW with $217, 904 for a project that will explore new commercial models for Australia-India co-operation in critical technology.
- Swinburne University of Technology (VIC) with $164, 220 for a project that will advance sustainable manufacturing and commercialisation of an innovative Australian additive manufacturing technology (SPEE3D) in India.
Congratulating the recipients of this year’s Maitri grants, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said, “I look forward to seeing how their work helps foster deeper links between Australia and India. We are proud to support these initiatives, because we understand that human connections and people to people links have always been at the heart of the Australia-India relationship.”
Tim Thomas, CEO, Centre for Australia-India Relations said, “The Maitri Cultural Partnerships support innovative collaboration between small and large cultural organisations and will assist Australian businesses to harness the opportunities created by India’s economic transformation.”
Daizy Maan, head of the Australian South Asian Centre, is thrilled with the news of the grant for Brown Women Comedy (which featured on an Indian Link cover earlier this year). The grant comes after many applications to various funding organisations. Maan told Indian Link, “We seek to amplify under-represented South Asian women, and this grant will support our initiative, Australia’s largest comedy show platforming under-represented Indian and South Asian women comedians, at major comedy festivals. It will also support us to feature an impressive lineup of prominent women comedians from Indian and Australia across six cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.”
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The Maitri (meaning friendship in Sanskrit) grants are administered by the Centre for Australia-India Relations CAIR to deepen links with India and allow for closer collaboration between the two countries. Established by the government in 2023, CAIR is a national platform to support and facilitate greater collaboration and engagement with India.
Further details on this year’s successful grant projects (and how you can apply) can be found at https://www.australiaindiacentre.org.au/
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