The course will cover:

• History of Kangra miniature paintings
• Famous works of the master Kangra artists
• Basic themes of Kangra paintings
• Fundamentals of Kangra art-colour mixing, brushes, how to make the basic lines, etc
• Key elements that differentiate Kangra art from other art-special paper, colours, thematic styles, etc
• Making Kangra miniature paintings
• Exhibition of Kangra paintings for the duration of the course

The course is being organised in a beautifully located campus, 6 kms from Dharamshala town. The campus offers all modern amenities to the participants including a training hall, cottages and a well equipped dinning hall. The course will be structured in a manner that participants will get ample opportunity to learn the art as well as visit places of interest in and around Dharamshala. Spread over 3 days the course will come as a welcome respite to people looking forward to an escape from the heat during this great Indian summer.

Date: 24th June to 26th June

No. of participants: 15

Venue: Jagori Campus at Sidhbari

Address:

VPO Rakkar Sidhbari
Tehesil Dharmsala, District Kangra
Himachal Pradesh 176057

Facilities Provided:

• Accommodation at Jagori campus in Sidhbari, for 3 days (24th, 25th and 26th) and 3 nights (23rd, 24th and 25th) (residential)
• 2 seater and 3 seater rooms available (residential)
• Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks through the 3 days (for non residential participants only lunch and snacks will be provided)
• Materials and other art resources for the course (provided for residential and non residential participants)

Fee:

Rs 4500/- (Non residential)
Rs 5500/- (Residential)
This fee is not inclusive of transport arrangements

Participants will have an opportunity to meet and interact with the famous Kangra master artist Mr. Vijay Sharma. Mr Vijay Sharma is a distinguished art critic and has written the first-ever Hindi book tracing the history, expansion and other aspects of Kangra paintings, titled ‘Kangra Ki Chitrankan Parampara’. He received the National Award in 1990.

The master artists Mr. Dhani Ram and Mr. Mukesh Kumar will conduct the workshop and take participants through the intricacies of Kangra paintings. Mr Dhani Ram trains the students at the Chitera School of Art, conducting classes at the Kangra Art Museum while Mr Mukesh conducts his advanced classes at the Chamunda Devi temple.

Dr. Gautam Vyathit, is a renowned authority on folk arts and culture. Mr B.K. Agarwal, the President of KAPS, currently the Principal Resident Commissioner of the State of Himachal Pradesh in Delhi will also share his experiences and thoughts on the miniature art forms.

Registration

To register for the course send us an email at paharikala@kangraarts.org with your Name, Address, Contact numbers. The participation will be confirmed only after the receipt of the registration fee.

Payment Process:
Cheque / DD for the fee amount may be made in the name of “Voice of Himachal” and sent to:

Voice of Himachal
49, Civil Lines,
Dharamshala,
Himachal Pradesh-176 215

Online Bank Transfer may also be made to:

Voice of Himachal
Account No: 05241450000128
Bank: HDFC
Branch: The Mall, Shimla
IFSC Code: HDFC0000524

For further details, contact: Mr. Varun Singh
Mobile No. : +91 98055 10111
Email ID: varun.ratan@himvani.com

To support our training programs we have setup a Design – cum – Training center in Rajol, near Kangra airport.  The project is being supported by few like minded individuals and we hope to train close to 20 artisans in the next 2 – 3 months.

We are looking for a Community Mobilizer to help us motivate youngsters who are either unemployed or school dropouts to join our training program. Our preference is towards training women and the physically challenged. The work involves working in rural areas of  Dharamshala, Rait and Nagrota block.

VOH will provide a certificate of appreciation and an honorarium for people associated with this project. To be part of this program send us a mail at volunteer@vohnetwork.org or call and speak to Varun at 98055 10111.

Artisans at Handicrafts Training Center, Rajol

Handicrafts training program in Jatehar Panchayat near Dharamshala

During 15 days of training 25 women mostly from BPL families were provided training in making pine needle based handicrafts. The topics covered under the training were harvesting of pine needles, treatment of needles, weaving of pine needles, tray making, pot making and basket weaving etc.

Women in this region have been traditionally making crafts from grass and wheat straw. Use of pine needles for making handicrafts is a new introduction in this area. Pine needles are being used by artisans in North and South America to make traditional handicrafts.

This program was organized in association with Kangra Mahila Sabha.

The cooperative was established in 1956 with 13 members and 130 Rupees share capital. The cooperative today boast of a turnover of more than 7 Crore Rupees. As of today rural banking is the mainstay of the cooperative and proposed diversification is with an idea of creating livelihood opportunities in this agrigarian belt.

The project is of much importance to VOH as it gives our nascent organisation an opportunity to tread a path of creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for farmers in this region. In this project VOH will help the cooperative in conducting feasibility studies, prepare diversification plans, project reports, business & marketing plans  and hand-holding support for setting up a dairy unit This certainly is a way of catalysing sustainable development in Himachal Pradesh.

Project manager: Varun Singh

Project location: Dadhol, Himachal Pradesh

Thematic area: Livelihoods

Beneficiaries: 10,000+ people which fall in the milk-shed area

A Community Manager therefore enjoys the chance to not only meet lot of members but also shares the responsibility of shaping the future of VOH community. VOH communities are for ideation and working towards giving back to the state as well as seeking professional and personal acquaintances amongst members.

In the past, VOH members have contributed by writing articles about Himachal, organising blood donations camps, donating computers for rural schools and helping other voluntary organisations setup their own websites. This is exciting work and very challenging considering the sheer lack of resources we work with.

We want to add more team members to our existing set of moderators so as to bring in fresh thinking and motivation with zeal to drive VOH to the next level of evolution. We also hope to find motivated individuals who find this work exciting and would like to commit few hours online every week from their current location to manage our online communities. The work will involve:

• Initiating discussions of interest among members
• Sharing latest news about Himachal with members
• Seeking member contributions for VOH supported projects
• Moderate messages to be circulated amongst community members
• Highlighting members who have made positive contributions in the community

If you are interested then kindly send a mail to team {AT} himvani {dot} com

Chaksu Roy from PRS Legislative Research spoke about the need for journalists and members of the civil society organisations to familiarise themselves with legislative processes and the points of engagement for citizens therein.

The working of the Indian Parliament was discussed at length and also the profile of the MP – his roles, responsibilities vis-à-vis expectations of the voters. Participants were made aware how to contribute to the law-making process. The workshop also focused on the work of legislators and legislative bodies and how PRS Legislative Research can be a valuable resource.  The participants share their experiences and ideas of engagement that they would like to pursue with legislators.

PRS Legislative Research is a Delhi-based research organisation that seeks to make the legislative process more informed, participatory and transparent. Voice of Himachal (VOH) is a not-for-profit organisation set up with a purpose of catalysing sustainable development in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

PRS has organised similar workshop in 13 cities across the country, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Itanagar and Cochin. The workshop design

As journalists or social workers, there are various questions that crop up regarding the political process. How can one track the performance of MPs/MLAs? How can one hold them accountable to the promises they make? Most importantly, how can one engage with the legislative process and legislators? These are some of the questions that the PRS workshop, exclusively for journalists and NGOs, seeks to answer.

PRS aims to increase public engagement on issues of national importance through collaborative activities. PRS has been reaching out to the citizen sector and the media to enable greater interaction with the legislative system.

PRS closely tracks the legislative business of Parliament and the Parliamentary activities of individual MPs. The PRS team frequently provides journalists with analysis related to Parliament and legislation.

Date: 17th September 2009

Place: Bachat Bhawan, Shimla

Limited seats: 25 – 30 available

Objectives of the workshop

• The objective of the workshop is to inform participants about the various avenues of engagement with legislators and legislative process.
• It also focuses on the work of legislators and legislative bodies and how PRS Legislative Research can be a valuable resource.
• It provides a forum for participants to share their experiences and share their ideas of engagement that they would like to pursue after the workshop

If you are interested in participating in this workshop then please send a mail to info@himvani.com or speak to Varun at 9805510111.

You can also Tweet about this workshop by sending a message to @himvani

About PRS ( www.prsindia.org )

PRS Legislative Research is an independent research initiative that aims to strengthen the legislative debate by making it better informed, more transparent and participatory. PRS regularly produces easy-to-understand Legislative Briefs on Bills pending in Parliament, which is sent to all 790 Members of Parliament, 700 journalists and over 1000 NGOs. PRS staff has interacted with over 100 MPs and briefed them on both legislative and non-legislative issues being debated in Parliament.

About VOH

Voice of Himachal (VOH) is a non – for – profit organisation setup with a purpose of catalysing sustainable development in the state of Himachal Pradesh. HimVani.com, a VOH publication, is one the most widely read website on Himachal highlighting social and developmental issues in the state. In addition to this VOH through its network partners works extensively with Youth, Women and Farmers in Himachal Pradesh.

To further our work in supporting the voluntary blood donation movement in Himachal, YES and VOH have planned similar camps in other areas of the state.  The next one will be in Solan on 12th September.

We plan to organise more such camps every month and seek volunteers as well as donors who can contribute money for organising such camps. On an average such a camp costs Rs.10,000/-.

You contributions will go a long way in supporting the blood donation movement in the state as well as fulfil the needs of needy patients who find it hard to get blood in times of emergencies.

Please revert back if you want to associate with this cause.

Prof Ahluwalia making his point during the BarCamp

The event was initiated by Voice Of Himachal and sponsored by Srijan, Padmavati Balaji Institute, Instablogs and HPIE. Around 80 participants from all across the state and also places as far off as Bangalore, Delhi and Chandigarh participated in the tech meet during which entrepreneurship in context to social media was the burning topic for discussion.

RangeDe.org presentation

Secretary, information technology, Himachal, BK Aggrawal, was the chief guest on the occasion and he made a detailed presentation about opportunities that abound in the state following the government’s e-governance drive.

Pooja Kashyap from Instablogs made a presentation about advantages of social media networks in business environment, while Anit Maheshwari, CEO Instablogs, anchored an interactive session about the future of media.

Sukhmani Singh, a new media expert, spoke about the advantages of online media while Dhananjay Ahluwalia of Himalayan Mountain Biking expressed views about new media and its advantages for a start-up. Senior journalist Prakash Lohumi expressed views about convergence of media.

Participants at the end of the workshop