DEADLINE: MARCH 31ST
Meridian International Center and the Pluralism Project are now accepting submissions for a crowd-sourced exhibition on Indian faiths and religious traditions in the United States. Funded by U.S. Embassy New Delhi and implemented by Meridian International Center, this project is designed to capture the diversity of the Indian American community and represent the broad range of religious traditions celebrated by various Indian faiths. The exhibition will reach India, where it will travel to various cities, in the fall of 2016. Awards of $250 will be given to the top three submissions.
Project Goals
- Capture the diversity of the Indian American community and represent the broad range of religious traditions celebrated by various Indian faiths
- Demonstrate how Indian traditions have been adopted and are practiced by a multicultural population in the United States
- Spark a conversation among Indian leaders and community members about diversity and religious tolerance
Organizing Institution and Partners
Founded in 1960, Meridian International Center is a non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to promoting international understanding through the exchange of people, ideas, and the arts. The Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy (MCCD) designs and develops cultural exhibitions, exchanges, and related programming. Meridian works with the U.S. government, embassies, museums, and artists worldwide. For more information about MCCD, please visit meridian.org/mccd.
Dr. Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, will be a co-curator for this exhibition. Her academic work has a dual focus—India and the United States—and in both cases she is interested in religious pluralism in a multi-religious society. She also founded The Pluralism Project, which includes a network of some 60 affiliates exploring such topics as the growth of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, and Zoroastrian communities in the United States. For more information about Dr. Eck and her work, please visit scholar.harvard.edu/dianaeck. To learn more about The Pluralism Project, please visit pluralism.org.
The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi is one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions in the world. Diplomatic ties with India were established in 1947 after India gained independence. The U.S.-India bilateral relationship is based on five pillars: strategic cooperation; energy and climate change; education and development; economics, trade, and agriculture; science and technology, health, and innovation. Richard R. Verma is the 25th U.S. Ambassador to India. For more information about the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, please visit newdelhi.usembassy.gov.
Program Timeline
Submissions due: March 31, 2016
Submissions reviewed: April 2016
Final submissions selected and approved: May 2016
Exhibition development: May-August 2016
Exhibition reaches U.S. Embassy New Delhi: September 2016
For more information, including submission guidelines, please visit: http://www.meridian.org/project/indianfaithsinamerica/.