In collaboration with The Kishkinda Trust, we proposed to create a community-led archive in Hampi-Anegundi around the content of UNESCO declared heritage sites as well as the surrounding neighbourhoods. The intention was to create a space for participation and ownership of the local community members in preserving and promoting their local historical and cultural narratives.

TKT has been supporting research and scholarship in the region for over twenty years now. Works done by organisations and individuals in a variety of fields converging at heritage conservation and management are well kept in their archive. Firstly, we facilitated two apprenticeship programs across 2018-19 to build the basic framework and infrastructure for managing the archives, physically and digitally. We even involved a few members from the community to support the work of the apprentices.

Following that program, we also conducted a fifteen day long workshop on ethnographic studies and narrative building exercises for postgraduate students of art and design. The student teams interacted with indigenous community members ranging from agriculturalists, vernacular craftsmen, Banjara (nomadic) families and traditional folk art performers. Through this workshop, a series of conversations (histories) were recorded, cultural systems were studied and newer narratives were created to communicate and disseminate these lesser known knowledge systems.