Workshops
Puppetry Workshop for school children in Jodhpur
Puppetry is a languishing art and the number of people practicing the art is reducing each year. CCDF identified Puppetry artisans and supported them by arranging workshops for children in 3 schools in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
Responding to the urgent water crisis, CCDF sponsored, a puppet show and workshop at a government school in Chowpasani Housing Board, Jodhpur. The event was attended by 110 students and 12 teachers, imparting knowledge on the need and methods of water conservation in a playful and interactive manner. A skill-sharing workshop was held to teach students how to play puppets.
Puppetry is a popular, but dying art form of Rajasthan. With this effort, the CCDF not only gave a platform to puppeteers to perform but also added new, contemporary stories to their repertoire. This effort opened up new avenues for the puppeteers with more job opportunities, monetary benefits, and better living conditions.
Production of Solar Lamps with waste plastic bottles by school children in Jodhpur
Several small villages in remote areas still have problems with 24 hours of electricity. The Solar lamp project aimed at eco-friendly and sustainable living was taken up by CCDF to teach school children and villagers how to make solar lamps from waste plastic bottles. CCDF has funded several solar light building workshops, organised and conducted by the Inner Wheel Club of Jodhpur. The workshops were held with residents of the refugee colony and students of government schools.
Collectively both the communities produced 250 lights with minimal material and extremely low cost, providing for their homes and becoming self-sufficient. To facilitate this, members of the Inner Wheel Club were trained to build circuits and lights and subsequently held workshops with diverse communities in several cities of India. This ongoing project aims to continue training the trainers and expand their reach.
Chikankari Workshop
Chikankari is a craft which probably started as whitework in the era of Harshvardhana (Dongerkery, cited by Manfredi 2007) in Gangetic land and reached its zenith under the Nawabs of Oudh. The Chikan artisans, heirs of time-honored processes and skills, have the power to promote their art through the objects they create, playing a key role in the communication and preservation through their artifacts.
In 2016-17, the CCDF took up The Chikankari Design course for chikankari artisans based in Lucknow. The research project involved administering design education to skilled chikankari artisans in Lucknow, through a customized training module developed under Project coordinator by PhD scholar Jaspal Kalra, who is an Educator and Design consultant in Fashion & Crafts. The training was delivered by the experienced design and marketing faculty and professionals. The artisans were trained for product development in this programme were supported by a series of exhibitions to develop a sustainable system for their livelihood enhancement.
The pilot study of this project was undertaken from May to September 2015 where fifteen artisans participated in the training programme and have thus been benefitted. The course has been reviewed by experts from the field of craft, design, and social development. These sets of artisans are presently working on orders on their outfits and also working towards participation in exhibitions in various parts of India. Most of these women artisans have started earning 3-5 thousand a month on an average since the completion of course which is at least on an average twice of what they could earn before undertaking the training. The Chikankari Artisans training and market support programme were successfully completed in 2018 wherein over 15 artisans and over 10 tailors were trained with design skills and market linkages were created for their products.