The Frames Photography Grant offers upcoming and established photographers the opportunity to document communities, living spaces, and cultural practices across India and in South Asia. The photo-essays produced through the Frames Photography Grant will be published on Sahapedia’s web portal (www.sahapedia.org) and its associated social media platforms. The Frames Photography Grant has been supported by generous funding from IndusInd Bank.
Starting in 2018, the Frames Photography Grant is offered annually to between 15 and 20 photographers, based on the relevance of their proposed subjects to Sahapedia, their past work experience, and their ability to create compelling visual narratives. The Grant duration is for 5 months, April to August, which allow photographers enough time to plan their field work and to engage in-depth with their subjects. Sahapedia provides each Grantee separate funds for covering travel costs and other expenses during this period.
In this 3rd edition, the Frames Photography Grant will include:
- A monetary award of Rs. 25,000
- All travel expenses paid up to Rs. 25,000
- Publication of the photo-essay on Sahapedia.org and associated social media platforms
- Frames Photography Grant Certificate
All Grantees are mentored by the Sahapedia team, mainly by Photo Editor Ayan Ghosh, and also by Dinesh Khanna, noted photographer and founder of Nazar Foundation and chief visual consultant at Sahapedia.
Timeline
- Call for applications open on 10th January, 2020.
- Date of commencement of Grant is 1st April, 2020.
- Date of submission of all deliverables is by 31st August, 2020.
Eligibility Criteria
The Grant is open only to persons with a valid Indian bank account. Foreign persons may apply if they have a valid Indian bank account and would be available in India during the period of the Grant, for which they will have to submit a copy of their visa and passport.
Applicants must be above 18 years of age as on 1st January, 2020.
Grant recipients in 2019 will not be eligible for the 2020 Grants.
Subjects already documented as part of Frames Photography Grant in 2018 and 2019 will not be considered again. For full list of photo-essays from the previous Grants, please refer to the Frames Photography Grant page - https://www.sahapedia.org/sahapedia-frames.
Application Process
Each applicant must submit a concept note outlining their proposed theme. The concept note may be between 300–500 words and should address the subject that the applicant wants to shoot and explain why the subject is relevant.
Applicants will not be eligible if the work they are proposing has already been exhibited/published earlier or is already in an advanced state of completion. The primary purpose of the Grant is to create a fresh body of work.
Applicants are allowed to submit maximum two proposals, but they must be submitted in two separate forms.
The application must be accompanied by a portfolio of existing/published work either in the form of a pdf document or an online link.
Deliverables
At the end of the Grant period or on completion of fieldwork, the Grantees are expected to provide the following three deliverables:
- The first deliverable will be an introductory text (in a word file of at least 1000–2000 words) which provides an overview of the photo-essay, explaining the context of the subject matter and how they went about documenting it.
- The second deliverable will be a set of high resolution images (at least 50) shot in RAW format and/or its corresponding JPG file.
- The third deliverable will be a corresponding set of descriptive captions for each of the 50 images in a separate word file. Non-submission of captions will be treated as incomplete work.
The above mentioned deliverables must be submitted for a review to Sahapedia. Sahapedia retains the right to reject a submission if the deliverables are incomplete or lack quality.
Funds and Payments
The total Grant amount is either Rs. 40,000 or Rs. 50,000 depending on the following:
- For those Grantees who need to travel a considerable distance from their current domicile, Sahapedia will release a sum of Rs. 25,000 to cover expenses incurred during the documentation period for which the photographer must submit a budget plan.
- For those Grantees who will work in their current domicile, or within a reasonably close distance, Sahapedia will release a sum of Rs. 15,000 to cover expenses incurred during the documentation period for which the photographer must submit a budget plan.
The travel compensation fund will be released only after signing of agreement between Sahapedia and the Grantee, establishing a legal relationship between the parties.
In addition to the above travel compensation, the remuneration amount for each Grantee would be Rs. 25,000. This will be paid in two instalments:
- The first instalment of Rs. 10,000 will be released on the time of submission of deliverables, after the content has been duly reviewed.
- The second instalment of Rs. 15,000 will be released at the time when the editing process is finished, content is reviewed, and we have received final approval and consent from the photographer, including the signed Copyright License Agreement.
Tax deducted at source will be applicable on the full amount, i.e. Rs. 50,000 or Rs. 40,000, as per the Income Tax Act.
Copyright
For information on copyright and other legal matters, kindly refer to Annexure I.
Subject domains
Applicants are free to suggest their own subjects. For information on potential subjects and geographic regions where Sahapedia is looking for content, refer to Annexure II.
Selection criteria
For information on parameters on which the Grants may be selected, refer to Annexure III.
Publishing process
To have understanding on how the Grants are edited and published, refer to Annexure IV.
Cancellation of Grant
Both, Sahapedia and the Grantee, have right to terminate the Grant at any point of time. For more information on circumstances under which the Grant will stand cancelled refer to
Annexure V.
FAQ
For any personal queries regarding the Grant, please write to frames.grant@sahapedia.org