Department of Cultural Affairs Grant: Promoting U.S.-India Relationship Through Photographic Exhibit

We propose the creation of a compelling photographic exhibit to showcase incontrovertible evidence of the depth of the U.S.-India relationship and its early roots. A documentary exhibit illustrating the length and depth of the relationship will build on what has already become a remarkably positive relationship and strategic partnership. Fewer than ten years ago the U.S. and India were on somewhat tense terms. A recent poll now shows that 62 percent of Indians think the relationship with the U.S. is warm, and 74 percent think that India and the U.S. should get even closer.

We would like the exhibit to be rooted in sound scholarship, rediscovered photographic and other documentation, and be presented in ways that are accessible to the half of India’s population that is under the age of 25. We want to expose the hundreds of thousands of India’s visa applicants to a video version of this exhibition, as well as our immense social media audience. Media coverage of the local opening of an attractively presented exhibition should reach tens of millions with the message that the U.S.-India partnership is built on a strong foundation. We wish the exhibit to emphasize history, e.g., the involvement of Mr. Yale, after whom the U.S. university is named; with the East India Company; Secretary of State Seward’s visit to India in the 1870s; and American soldiers in the northeast of India during the “hump” airlift to China. American missionaries started coming to India in the mid-19th century, and some founded schools that are still going strong today. The exhibit should also cover the early influences of Indian philosophy on Americans like the Transcendentalists, and the visit of the Indian guru Vivekananda to Chicago, demonstrating the U.S. recognition of the richness of Indian culture. We will limit the focus of the exhibition to the pre-1947 era.

We expect the winning bidder to demonstrate that they are prepared to conduct the scholarship, do the archival research, and perform all the logistical and design work to turn the research into an attractive set of photographs accompanied by compelling text. This text is as important as the images, and it is crucial that it be accessible to a non-academic audience. The exhibit would be accompanied by a catalogue, posters, as well as an audio-visual version that can be used for Consular waiting rooms or other purposes.