My Edinburgh Diary
Parmesh Shahani
30 September 2016
Our Culture Lab has been going places…and the latest has been Edinburgh! I was invited to speak at the Culture Summit at the Scottish Parliament there recently, about our Lab’s model of cross-pollination – how we bring together different stakeholders on a regular basis to engage with each other about the changes taking place in contemporary India. It was a stimulating event attended by Culture Ministers, heads of NGOs and cultural organizations, and corporate patrons of culture, and I felt so proud that our work in Viva Vikhroli was acknowledged and appreciated by many of them.
Continue ReadingThe Rainbow Reunion
Team Culture Lab
16 September 2016
Absolut Colors' celebration of LGBTQ+ talent turned out to be a Culture Lab reunion of sorts, with gallery Project 88 coming alive with creative expositions by queer artistes and allies. Set amidst works on canvas exploring themes of gender and sexuality by the fabulous visual artist Sharmistha Ray alongside Transfixed, a photo exposition delving into androgyny and its many facets, by Indian Memory Project’s inspiring founder Anusha Yadav, the soirée combined the visual and performance arts in an eclectic mix.
Continue ReadingStreet theatre in Mumbai: A historical relational analysis.
Angad Singh
4 September 2016
In this piece, Angad Singh, an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, explores the relationship between street theatre and the city of Mumbai since the 1970s. In tracing the gradual de-politicisation of street theatre, he describes the transition of street theatre from a bastion of Left-wing political activism to a form advocating social awareness across college campuses and a means of commercial engagement and advertising. Touching upon themes including the NGO-ization of street theatre and its intersections with Bollywood, Angad puts forth a strong argument for the inherent democratic and democratizing nature of street theatre to demonstrate its importance to the development and sustenance of the Indian nation state itself.
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MTV, I Got the Job
Shantanu Dwarkanath
31 August 2016
A great learning experience in a breathtakingly beautiful office is what I got after I won the MTV-LinkedIn Get a Job Season 2!
Continue ReadingSearching for love, sex, desire in India
Vishnupriya Das
2 August 2016
I spent a better part of this summer between the cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore mapping the dating app ecosystem in India. During this period, I collaborated with the Godrej India Culture Lab to co-curate an event – India LSD [Love. Sex. Desire] Where Technology Meets the Erotic.
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Godrej hosts key UN consultation with Bollywood star Celina Jaitly
Team Culture Lab
15 June 2016
Last week Godrej was proud to host an important delegation on LGBT rights in partnership with the United Nations. Attendees included Bollywood star and human rights champion Celina Jaitly, LGBT activists from across India, as well as senior leaders from some of India’s leading companies. Parmesh Shahani, head of Godrej India Culture Lab said, “We are very proud that our Godrej is considered to be a thought leader for diversity and inclusion at the workplace, and that India’s leading companies look up to us for guidance. It is an honour to host this event alongside our friends from the UN as we strategize together on how to make our world a more equal place.” Click here to view photographs from the conference.
Continue ReadingTop 10 AMA questions on Communitainment
Team Culture Lab
1 June 2016
We experimented with our first ever Ask Me Anything with Professor David Craig and it was a stupendous success. Questions poured in from the Twitter universe and the professor was up to the task. Check out the top 10 answers:Iamneerajgaba: Is content King & follower numbers, the Bishop? Or, numbers trump content, with fad following. Thx @IndiaCultureLab #communitainmentDavid Craig: Content is King. Distribution is King Kong. Talent is God! With unlimited content and distribution...the real scarcity is talent, although strategic media management and premium advertising are also important drivers in this ecosystem. Content marketing, influencer marketing, native advertising...and sustainable CPMS...VITAL!
Continue ReadingBeing Mr Gay World India 2016
Anwesh Sahoo
1 June 2016
In last two weeks I’ve had the opportunity of meeting Sir Ian McKellen, the President of Berklee College of Music - Roger Brown and influential speakers, researchers, thought leaders from across the world. All this has happened thanks to my internship at Godrej India Culture Lab. But I have had the most amazing journey before I bagged this internship and I share that with you my dear readers.
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