Our Projects

ARTWORKS! SANGAI KHELAUN

At Srijanalaya, we believe that the arts can create spaces for individuals in society to feel physically, psychologically, and socially safe enough to heal. In collaboration with Shikshya Foundation Nepal, we designed ‘ArtWorks! Sangai Khelaun’ as a form of post-earthquake relief in 2015. With the simple goal of bringing joy to the community through the arts, we conduct artist-led workshops, exhibitions, and performances in marginalized and remote communities across Nepal.

ArtWorks! Sangai Khelau brings creative arts activities to children, educators, local people, and parents outside the Kathmandu Valley through storytelling. Through workshops, performances, and artist residencies, professional artists connect with the community and create art together. We inspire and engage schools and communities, exploring the possibilities of arts education in Nepal to improve the quality of education.The design of the program at each location is adapted and made relevant to the local context, looking to expand our notions of what forms of expressive arts are practiced in that place. The sessions begin with performances by artists, followed by daily workshops, and culminate with a performance by the students.

Till date, we have led art workshops with over 625 young people. Their artworks have been exhibited and their poems and plays have been performed to over 1500 people, largely from Gurung, Tamang, Khas, Tharu, and Dalit communities.

Each trip gives us opportunities to reflect, learn, and adapt our techniques to better serve future communities. This process enables us to explore new territories, take risks, think outside the box, and contantly navigate the joys and challenges of working within and beyond established systems. The project has traveled to Shree Dhansira Secondary School in Ghyachchok, Gorkha (ECD to Class 10), Nepal Rastriya Secondary School, Gatlang, Rasuwa (ECD to Class 9), Karnali Arts Center, Gamgadi, Mugu (Class 10+), Pithauli, Nawalparasi (ECD to Class 5), Shree Bal Madhyamik Vidhayalaya – Sulibhanjyang, Bitijor, Sindhuli (Class 6 to 10) and worked with 29 schools of Panchpokhari Thangpal, Sindhupalchowk.

PROJECT DECRIPTIONS

Ghyachchok

Engaging the thoughts and emotions of disaster victims through art workshops and psychosocial intervention

June 12 To June 16, 2015

(Jestha 29 To Asad 1, 2072)

We spent three full days with the Ghyachhok community (excluding travel days). We camped at Shree Dhansira Secondary School grounds and attempted a wholesome approach, engaging teachers as well as community members, taking charge of entire school days where we demonstrated various lessons and activities related to arts education. Since the community was still recovering from the shock of the catastrophe, we were careful with this initial intervention. With the help of a British art therapist, we conducted tentative psychosocial discussions with the teachers. As for the students, we attempted to engage them creatively but also entertain them, realizing that most were still traumatized and struggling to cope.

Our program had five specific workshops – Storytelling & Performance; Mural Making Using Natural Materials; Dream Spaces Using Print Media; Primary School Program & Teacher Workshops and Circus Kathmandu Workshops & Performances – spread over three days. Each workshop was run by an artist or an educator and usually in collaboration between both professionals as well as with a psychosocial counselor. At Ghyachchok, most of the workshops were suitable for older students; the primary students mainly read story books and participated in child-friendly activities.

Gatlang

Incorporating local cultural practices into the curriculum

First Visit: December 5 To December 9, 2015

(Mangsir 19 To Mangsir 23, 2072)

Second Visit: February 29 To March 5, 2016

(Falgun 17 To Falgun 22, 2072)

We went to Gatlang three times: a recce trip followed by a trip devoted to primary school students and another trip devoted to secondary school students. The younger students worked with play dough, blocks and participated in music and art workshops. They also listened to read alouds. During the second trip, students were split into four mixed groups. Each group took turns rotating between four different activities: Spoken Word Poetry, Mural Making, Dance/Theater and Music. The older students also composed and practiced segments from these activities which they performed in front of the wider community on the final day.

Apart from conducting workshops, artists from our team interacted with community members in the afternoons. Consequently, Kathak dancer Subima Shrestha learned steps from Tamang women which she later incorporated into a contemporary dance sequence. Similarly, ethnomusicology students from Kathmandu University explored local instruments and composed tunes that accompanied Shrestha’s choreography. Visual artist Sunita Maharjan and Sanjeep Maharjan participated in a one-month Artist Residency, an extension of the Gatlang Art Works program.

“I had heard the terms ‘project-based learning’ and ‘integrated curriculum’ during trainings offered by the government but I had never seen them implemented. It was only after observing the Found Objects lesson in Class 3 with Sunita Maharjan and Sharareh Bajracharya that I finally understood its importance as well as how to plan and prepare these lessons. I was also impressed to see the students so engaged.” – a teacher at Gatlang

Gamgadi

Passing traditional cultural knowledge to young students

September 6 To October 6, 2016

(Ashwin 22 To Kartik 22, 2073)

Srijanalaya’s Art Works program collaborated with Karnali Arts Center (KAC) in Mugu to produce a regional folk story, Pampha Phool. KAC, founded by local artists, aims to preserve and share the region’s cultural heritage with young students. Unlike previous Art Works initiatives, this program did not focus on earthquake-affected areas or partner with a specific school. However, it remained true to the program’s core objectives: engaging students in creative arts, connecting them to local traditions, and fostering a sense of accomplishment. By involving the wider community, Art Works also aimed to promote arts appreciation in Mugu.

Pithauli

Building the capacity of teachers through multiple visits, discussions and demonstrations

First Visit: December 17 to 21, 2016 (Poush 2 To 6, 2073)

Second Visit: January 17 to 21, 2017 (Magh 4 To 8, 2073)

Third Visit: February 9 To 14, 2017 (Magh 27 To Falgun 3, 2073)

Fourth Visit: April 22 To 25, 2017 (Baisakh 9 To 12, 2074)

Informed by our work in the three previous locations (as well as by Srijanalaya’s ongoing “Arts in Schools” curricular program), our team designed four visits to Pithauli (preceded by an initial recce trip) in order to follow up and build on our lessons and workshops. During our initial visits to Pithauli, we introduced teachers to various art-based lessons, including visual arts, math, and language arts. For example, Sunita Maharjan used leaves from the school grounds to create collages with kindergarten students. This activity helped students recognize patterns, shapes, and colors, while also introducing them to the local plant diversity.

Our third visit featured a collaboration with Actors’ Studio, a Kathmandu-based theater group. Together, we staged a children’s theater production based on a Tharu folktale. This event showcased student artwork from previous visits and aimed to inspire both students and teachers to appreciate and preserve local cultural traditions.

During our fourth visit, we focused on classroom culture and community-building. We conducted workshops with teachers, answered their questions, and provided guidance for future lessons.

Sindhuli

Sindhupalchok (2018-2020)

A three-year Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement with Panchpokhari Thangpal Village Municipality, Srijanalaya has been working with 29 schools in that area. Over the past one and half years, different teacher’s training with different mediums were organized.

Artworks facilitators focused on how instruction can be effective based on a student’s strengths and weaknesses, teachers prepared their own lessons, observed individual students, made specific plans to implement an art education lesson with their students. Teachers and facilitators programs were scheduled to gather and share each other’s experiences about creating and integrating the new lessons prepared by the teachers.