Attention Activists, Music Students and Music Educators:

Dedicate 1 year of your life to developing music education programs for impoverished children in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and Kolkata, Bengal in India. Each year, Indicorps (www.indicorps.org) selects 15 – 20 bright Fellows to serve on service projects throughout India. This year, Indicorps in partnership with Project Ahimsa (www.projectahimsa.org) will select one Fellow to live and work at the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat supporting grassroots music education programs. The Fellow will be involved with leading music classes, hiring music teachers, donating music instruments, and developing a traveling dance/drama/music show based on Gandhian themes of nonviolence and unity.

Indicorps Fellows are provided with intensive language and cultural preparation, comprehensive reading assignments, periodic retreats, food, housing, a modest financial stipend, moral and emotional support, and a transformational experience based on community service. The Fellowship begins October 2004, following a rigorous two-month orientation to India beginning August 2004. The Fellowship ends August 2005. Fellows must be of Indian origin (Please visit www.indicorps.org for more information).

About Project Ahimsa and the Fellowship:

Project Ahimsa (www.projectahimsa.org), a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, has implemented an arts/music education program in the Gujarat region of India to provide expressive and creative opportunities to children who have been victims of communal riots and the earthquake of 2001. Project Ahimsa is partnering with Manav Sadhna (www.manavsadhna.org), an NGO based at the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to address both of these issues by developing a unique music education program that brings children together to create and perform in a traveling dance/drama/music production addressing the need for non-violence and healing. Real time updates on the progress of Project Ahimsa’s implementations can be viewed at www.deepsun.com/ahimsa. In 2003, Project Ahimsa also implemented grants in Kolkata, Bengal at Disha Foundation, a foundation serving slum children in Monohopukar, as well as Mentaid, a school for mentally handicapped children. The Fellow would, if she or he chooses, have the opportunity to visit and work with both organizations in Kolkata developing their music education efforts.

The Fellow’s main responsibility in supporting these projects will be to move them towards self-sufficiency and scalability. Specifically, the Fellow will be responsible for actively participating as a teacher/co-learner in the process, documenting progress, designing performance opportunities for the children involved, recording the children’s progress, publishing recordings, producing an arts traveling show and book created by the children, and replicating the entire program in other parts of Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The Fellow will be encouraged to examine and learn a musical tradition of north India (tabla, vocal, instrumental and/or dance) themselves, to develop a Sadhana (self-practice and discipline) ultimately empowering their Seva (act of service).

Application Information:
Application deadline is March 27, 2004 and is available at www.indicorps.org (click here for the Application Materials page). Recommendations, essays and interviews are involved. For an on-site perspective of Project Ahimsa initiatives in India, please visit www.deepsun.com/ahimsa

Fellowship Timeframe: October 2004 – August 2005

Primary Contact:
Robin Sukhadia
International Grants Program Director
robin@projectahimsa.org
www.projectahimsa.org