Residency and research Institute in India

[B7Z2000]

Hello,
This is a longish message on the setting up of a Residency programme and
a Research Centre in Mysore, India.  You are all invited to collaborate
and affilliate with the Centre and are encouraged to please forward this
message to any person/s or institution/network that you may think would
be interested in such an endeavour.
 A year ago, we started the CENTRE FOR CULTURES, TECHNOLOGIES AND THE
ENVIRONMENT in Mysore, in the south of India.  It was created as a
non-profit, non-government organization and legally registered as such.
The Centre's inception was fostered by a diverse group of scholars,
researchers and artists from India, Canada, and the UK to promote and
facilitate interdisciplinary research and development of alliances with
and between cultures, communities and individuals.  The Centre foresees
its role as one which encourages communication and intercultural
dialogue and facilitates research in cultural, artistic, technological
and environmental spheres.
  The Centre's activities involve establishing and maintaining
library facilities, developing a storage and retreival system for
records, organizing conferences, seminars, lectures, courses, research
projects and so on, undertaking publication of both book and non-book
material, maintaining residencies/studios, promoting the creation of
works of art as well as collaborating and affiliating with other
institutions and individuals who share similar objectives.
  The Centre hopes to bring disparate discourses face-to-face with each
other in order to start a dialogue free from the monopolizing attitudes
that persist notwithstanding the rallying cries of the politics of
separatist identity, multiculturalism and minority discourses.  We hope
to create a meeting place where it would be possible to match knowledge
in the arts and sciences with the integrative realities of the times
which we believe is the intellectual and cultural challenge of the
moment.
THE CENTRE'S RESOURCES:
  The Centre is eminently well suited and situated to carry out the task
that it has set for itself.  It is located on a three acre farm just
outside the city limits of Mysore close to the University campus. The
estate comprises a main house with 5 attached bedrooms/studios, fairly
well furnished, giving into a central courtyard.
  Beyond the courtyard is a coconut tree grove with a pond and an open
well.  There is also a fruit garden with papaya, banana, mango and
guava trees.  The grove is hedged in by a hundred slender sandalwood
trees.  At the end of the property, there are two mud and tile
independentstudios with simple toilet and kitchen facilities.
  Adjacent to the living quarters is a 5000 square foot library
containing nearly a hundred thousand volumes covering a vast spectrum
of subjects such as literature, linguistics, sociology, Anthropology,
Social science theory, art among others.  Presently, National and
International scholars have access to and have been using the library
facilities.  The two floors of the library are designed to permit ample
space for conferences, seminars, lectures and meetings.  It also has
limited office space and reading space inside the library.  Limited
audio-visual equipment are maintained by the Centre.  We are in the
process of trying to install basic computer facilities.  The Centre
has its own telephone and manual typewriters.
  Far from the madding crowd, the Centre is an ideal retreat for
scholars and artists to pursue their professional and artistic interests
working independently in a quiet and natural environment, while having
access to the academic and artistic communities at the Mysore University
The Fine Arts College, the Centre for English and Indigenous Arts,
Dhvanyaloka, a very well endowed Folklore museum, the Institute of
Oriental Studies and many historical places of interest.

  The CENTRE FOR CULTURES, TECHNOLOGIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT would like
to take this opportunity to invite any person(s) or institution(s) to
affiliate and collaborate with us in this endeavour.

For further information please feel free to contact:
Ms. Vibha Sharma (Secretary, CCTE)
4289 Hotel de Ville
Montreal, Quebec
H2W 2H3, CANADA

Phone/Fax: (514)845-8496
e-mail:B7Z2 at MUSICB.MCGILL.CA

Thanks and hope to hear from some or all
Vibha