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Dates:
7th - 11th February '2024 (5 Spots left)
28th Feb - 3 March '2024 (12 spots open)
STORYTELLERS RESIDENCY | RAJASTHAN
5 Days x 12 Storytellers
At India's first desert botanical resort
A first of its kind impact storytelling and creative exchange program
A journey through the deserts of Rajasthan, where life seems like a poetry and what lies within are nomadic folktales, a royal history and an enriching cultural legacy.
The Impact Society Storytellers Residency is India's first impact storytelling program designed to discover and document untold stories and perspectives, guided by mentorship and culture exchange, with a collective of change-makers.
Experience a program designed for authentic explorations, storytelling mentorship and perspective sharing with a collective of change-makers, artists and leaders.
At the residency, we discover untold stories, unlearn the art of impact storytelling through narrative building & perspective sharing, gain insights from professionals and travel to meet a collective of inspiring storytellers.
A storytelling experiment, where we examine ideas and narratives through nature explorations, field visits, community exchange, creative break-throughs, photography/film showcases, and discussions with fellow storytellers.
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The Flow
A one-of-a-kind storytelling experience with exposure to the leading minds in the field, our residency is heroed by inspiring storytellers who will guide you to open your minds to diverse forms of storytelling and leadership.
A day to engage in meaningful dialogue, introductions
and sharing a circle of stories with the collective.
Led by Artists & Storytellers
Siddharth Dasgupta
Poet, Novelist & Explorer
(7-11) Feb Edition
A novelist and poet, Siddharth Dasgupta (@citizen.bliss) writes fiction from lost hometowns. Currently the Editor of Visual Narratives with The Bombay Literary Magazine, Siddharth recently published his fifth book, All These Streets We’ve Known By Heart – which was shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2023.
His art burns brightest when he is experiencing, dissecting, and expressing a city, hidden gem, cultural movement, travel experience, dining adventure, city getaway, or luxury hotel stay. For him, it all boils down to the thrill of storytelling and being able to make a profound human connection with another human being i.e. the reader.
Siddharth has published 5 books so far and his articles have landed on the pages of notable publications such as Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveller, The Buzz, Harper's Bazaar, and other global publications.
Dr. Madan Meena
Visual Artist, Author & Researcher
(7-11) Feb Edition
A contemporary visual artist with a deep-rooted passion for Rajasthan’s rural, nomadic and tribal communities, Dr. Madan Meena’s work reflects a passion for his native land.
His doctoral thesis ‘The Art of the Meena Tribe’ focuses on the intricate creations of the tribe’s women. He also teaches languishing craft traditions as a guest lecturer. Dr Meena’s work on highlighting age-old - and now, disappearing - folk practices through local communities continues to fuel his exhibitions and publications.
His passion for his state’s art forms has inspired him to revive them through contemporary mediums. His research has also taken him to work on the diverse repertoire of the Tejaji Ballad sung in parts of Rajasthan and the languages of the nomadic tribes.
Sapna Bhatia
Broadcast journalist & Filmmaker
Founder - Kaner Retreat
Both (Feb) Editions
Sapna Bhatia is a broadcast journalist and filmmaker. She has worked in India as an Anchor/Correspondent for Zee News and in England with CNBC Europe, APTN and Al Jazeera English. Her company TV News International provides video content to international broadcasters.
She is a member of the foreign correspondents club of South Asia. She is an MBA and has a Masters in International Journalism from City University in London. Some of the documentaries made by her company have received critical acclaim including an Emmy nomination.
With Kaner Retreat, Sapna explores stories around desert botany and the culture of the Thar desert. Kaner Retreat is India’s first desert botanical resort.
Set amidst an Oran (Sacred Groove)
Location: Kaner Retreat - India's first desert botanical resort
Centered around an Oran – one of 25,000 sacred groves across Rajasthan that are keepers of incredible bio-diversity as well folk heritage.
At Kaner, you can explore life in the desert through plant-based cuisine and unique experiences.
As the sun rays fall on the yellow sand you become part of a golden landscape where everything glistens. At night, the stars come out, so close that you feel you can touch
them with your hands.
Kaner Retreat
Join a collective of change-makers on this unique journey
Oishimaya Sen
Conservation Writer
Johann Binny Kuruvilla
Storyteller - Kochi Heritage Project
Amit Srivastava
Author & Travel Photographer
Manish Saksena
Lead Advisor Aadyam Handwoven and Retail Consultant (TH/CK/Arrow)
Akshay Bapat
Documentary Filmmaker
Kavya Narayanan
Biologist & Science Journalist
What happens
at the Residency?
The residency offers a new perspective on the power of storytelling, and the people who tell them. From workshops with visiting artists and experts to outdoor exploration, every day of the retreat presents a new and intense challenge and is a week-long discovery of modes of storytelling, explored through the lens of language, connection, perception, and place.
At this residency, we will examine ideas and expectations through exercises, visits, research, readings, and discussions on the works of several artists, architects, designers, writers, and poets with the help of guest teachers on different days.
Why should
you attend?
Storytellers are a part of continuum. We work as links between generations, sowing seeds of renewal, steering conversation, expanding constructs. Our central hope should always be propagation.
The program is designed to guide participants toward their goals - from finding fresher perspectives to pivoting or changing direction completely, participants can hope to renew their practices and create new patterns for growth.
Who is it
curated for?
An introspective journey of examination and growth, the Storytellers Residency is designed to reconnect you with your most powerful tools as a storyteller - Your Environment, Body, and Self.
A multi-disciplinary gathering of creatives and storytellers, the residency hopes to reorient the participants in their practice by exploring the relational aspects of interiority and artistic expression and encourage a shift from fixed perception to fluidity. By studying the sensate and the undulations of land, time and memory, we will engage with our own rhythms that can inform stories.
How does it
empower me?
With the goal of orienting and reorienting ourselves in our art forms, the residency is geared towards eliminating binaries and fixed notions to piece together new pathways and possibilities of navigation for our lived experience.
We invite you to ponder the dimensions of self, its projections and extensions, and ways we can strive toward rooted practice.
TRAVEL, INVESTMENTS, FAQ's
Experience Snapshot
Handpicked & Curated Explorations
Discover nomadic folktales, heritage art, environmental co-existence and culture through our thoughtfully picked authentic trails.
Exchange Traditional Knowledge
Immersions designed to help you delve into storytelling in a way that embraces local knowledge systems, and communities.
Travel with a Collective
The Impact Society residencies connects you with a resonating and conscious tribe that yearns to unlearn and explore storytelling with impact.
Learn from
Fellow Storytellers
A carefully built agenda of walks, talks and workshops with inspiring change-makers and local leaders puts you on the path to re-learn the art of storytelling and narrative building.
Immerse in settings connected to local impact
Our residencies are hosted at chosen properties that are shaping social reform, community exchange and positive impact in their regions.
Explore Collaborations
Designed as an explorative journey where you get to exchange thoughts, ideas and collaborate with a like-minded community to co-create Impact.
AUTHENTICALLY DESIGNED FOR CREATIVE EXPLORATION & KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
Over 7 storytelling editions, a travel summit and the wilderness festival, we have hosted some of the finest storytelling mentors, worked on photo projects with local NGO's, documented local issues and have explored some of the most breath-taking & unexplored landscapes, from the vision of discovering life through the lens.
Films and photographs have the ability to engage us both emotionally as well as socially. By incorporating scientific research and relevant themes into films, there is potential for the creation of a new dimension to the spread of scientific ideas by sparkling citizen interest and simultaneously inspiring audiences to further engage in broader discussions on the issue itself.
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We work at the intersection of creative exploration and impact storytelling. Fostering the use of photography, films and art to fuel environmental, cultural and social change.
A melting pot of inspirational storytellers getting together with keen seekers for the cause of building sustainable futures. A space where each attendee, creator, travel brand, conservationist or adventurer is a key influencer towards achieving a sustainable and collaborative way forward.
Check our Instagram
Wilderness Festival
Explorers Summit
