Indian Art and Culture

• INTRODUCTION

  The purpose of the program was to give the US educators an exposure to different aspects of Indian art and cultural heritage such as, land and its people, religion and society, visual and performing arts, etc. The program also focused on other contemporary but important issues in economic development, education, women, grassroots movements and Indo-American relations. The impetus of the seminar was to help the visiting educators to understand the current policies and future prospects of the country.

  The program consisted of two phases, namely, (i) academic and (ii) field visits. The academic program of nearly one week was held in New Delhi and it followed a multi-disciplinary approach involving formal lectures, interviews, and discussions with prominent scholars and public personalities. Thereafter, the field visit phase of about two and a half weeks exposed participants to the geographical and regional diversities of the country. This phase composed of travel to Varanasi, Khajuraho, Agra, Jaipur, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai.

  The seminar was designed to enlighten the participants' knowledge by intermixing academic and cultural experiences. Visits to schools, colleges and museums, and rural areas were interspersed with demonstrations of Indian dance and music. Whenever possible time was allocated to meet the academic interests of individual participants, as long as the activities did not interfere with the group aspect of the program.

  Schedule in India
  Participant Brief CVs
  Curriculum Projects Abstract