The French Institute in India has announced the selection of 34 laureates for the third edition of Villa Swagatam, a residency programme that fosters cross-cultural dialogue and creative collaborations between French and South Asian artists and writers. Running from August 2025 to August 2026, the participants will spend one to three months at one of the partner residencies across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and France.<\/p>\n
The open call for applications ran from 16 April to 9 June 2024, inviting writers, graphic novelists, visual artists, designers, and cultural practitioners to apply. It received 520 applications\u2013353 from India and 167 from France\u2013more than double the Indian submissions from the previous edition, highlighting the programme\u2019s growing resonance.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSince its very inception, Villa Swagatam has been envisioned as a flagship initiative of our cultural cooperation with India, fostering a vibrant network of creative talents from both countries, with arts and crafts, and literature as key areas of exchange,\u201d said H.E. Mr Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India.<\/p>\n
This edition welcomes new partners to deepen cultural exchange. The literary segment now includes the Lakmahal Community Library in Colombo, marking Sri Lanka\u2019s entry, and Chalet Mauriac in France,which introduces translation as one
of Villa Swagatam\u2019s literary disciplines. For arts and crafts, new partners include the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, \u00e6qu\u014d gallery in Mumbai, and the Centre international de recherche sur le verre et les arts plastiques (Cirva) in Marseille.<\/p>\n
A special highlight of this edition is a month-long residency for renowned French playwright Pauline Bayle, who will travel across India to develop her Mahabharata adaptation, which is set to premiere in September 2026 at Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Public de Montreuil.<\/p>\n
Former Villa Swagatam residents have made a global mark, showcasing their work at India Design ID, India Art Fair, and Jodhpur Arts Week, and collaborating with renowned platforms like le19m and Rooshad Shroff\u2019s Gallery. The Literary residencies alumni have been featured at major literary festivals and signed by prominent publishing houses.<\/p>\n
J\u00e9r\u00e9my Fabre, Director at Maison Julien Gracq, shared, \u201cIn the first year, we welcomed Rahul Bishnoi, a young performance scholar whose project weaves together Julien Gracq\u2019s interest in geography with his own interest in theatrical cartography. Next year, we will host Jacinta Kerketta, an acclaimed Indian poet and journalist whose evocative writing in Hindi brings Adivasi voices to the fore. Her participation strengthens our commitment to supporting diverse, rooted and resonant narratives, while introducing her poetry to the French literary landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acclaimed Chennai-based poet and activist Meena Kandasamy, selected for Maison de la Po\u00e9sie in Nantes, views translation as \u201ca form of transformation,\u201d hoping the landscape\u2019s spirit of resistance inspires a renewed poetic voice.<\/p>\n
Other selected laureates include Bangalore-based dancer Gayatri Shetty (Centre National de la Danse), abstract painter Manish Pushkale (Cirva, Marseille), and French ceramist Johanna de Clisson (Nila House), whose project at Nila House will focus on blending cultures and know-how.<\/p>\n
The Villa Swagatam network includes 30 residencies\u201311 in France, 10 literary residencies in South Asia, and 10 focused on arts and crafts in South Asia\u2013 enriching global cultural ties between France and South Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The French Institute in India has announced the selection of 34 laureates for the third edition of Villa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-287953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114908336400924840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}