The Karun Thakar Fund is now pleased to offer Project Grants of up to £5000 in support of innovative, impactful projects which foreground fresh perspectives and ground-breaking work in under-represented areas of Asian and African textiles and dress.
The Karun Thakar Fund aims to enrich the fields of Asian and African textiles and dress by supporting original approaches to study and practice. Using the collections of the V&A and Karun Thakar as points of departure, the Fund promotes materials-based, object-led learning and encourages new and meaningful approaches to Asian and African textile and dress studies.
Project proposals are welcome from any emerging and/or early-career researchers, practitioners, and curators, as well as community leaders, grassroot collectives and community-based arts organisations, operating either in the UK or internationally, provided the applicant(s) can establish their project is tangibly linked to Asian or African textiles/dress. The Fund is particularly keen to support those who have not previously received significant funding in support of their work.
Any innovative, short-term event or piece of work with concrete outputs and meaningful impacts is eligible as a project. Example projects may include (but are not limited to):
- Local exhibitions, conferences, workshops, or symposia, especially those mounted in under-served areas, unconventional spaces, or in collaboration with untapped communities
- Digital projects, especially those enabling collection and/or research distribution or access
- Training or material costs towards the creation of new work
- Publication of work, including payment of image licensing fees
- Short-term research travel to regions of study
- Other discrete projects enabling new outcomes in the fields of Asian and African textiles and dress
Applications will be considered over a period of four months, starting from 4 April 2022 and ending on 1 August 2022, in order to provide applicants with sufficient time to develop new project proposals.
For more information on how to apply, please see the Karun Thakar Fund project pages.
