MAP Academy & Nalli Fellowship (2025–27)

If you’re an early- or mid-career creative, researcher, or cultural practitioner deeply interested in South Asian textile histories, the MAP Academy & Nalli Fellowship (2025–27) presents a compelling opportunity. Applications open in August 2025—here’s your complete guide to all you need to know.

🎓 Fellowship Summary

• Location: South Asia (projects must engage textile traditions in the region—including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet)

• Sponsor: MAP Academy (part of the Museum of Art & Photography) & Nalli Silks (heritage textile brand)

• Target Group: Researchers, designers, archivists, journalists, writers, educators, practitioners, collectives, and non-profits

• Fields of Focus: Textile histories, practices, and traditions from South Asia

• Award Value: One-time grant of INR 5,50,000 per fellow

• Duration: One year (Cycle 2: Feb 2026–Jan 2027; Cycle 3: Apr 2026–Mar 2027)

• Application Deadline: 15 October 2025

• Start Date: February 2026 (Cycle 2) and April 2026 (Cycle 3)

• Eligible To: Individuals (18+) and collectives worldwide, with projects centred on South Asian textiles

🧭 Fellowship Overview

The MAP Academy & Nalli Fellowship (2025–27) seeks to elevate and explore textile histories, traditions, and practices across South Asia. This interdisciplinary grant encourages dynamic, creative, and critical engagement with underrepresented aspects of textile art, craft, and culture.

It’s a partnership between Nalli Silks, renowned for preserving and innovating within silk traditions, and the MAP Academy, dedicated to creating accessible art historical resources for global audiences.

🔍 Areas of Focus

Fellows are encouraged to propose projects on textile-centric subjects that shed light on overlooked, endangered, or critically important traditions. Suggested focus areas include:

• Histories of clothing and costume across South Asia

• Community or personal textile archives, documenting generational knowledge

• Religious and liturgical uses of textiles, from temple traditions to ritual attire

• Environmental sustainability in textile production and consumption

• Endangered or disappearing traditions that need urgent documentation

• Critical perspectives on revivalism and its cultural implications

• Labour in textile production, with attention to caste, class, and gender dynamics

• Textiles in relation to cultural forms like storytelling, poetry, music, architecture, and material culture

• Textiles in archaeology, exploring their presence in ancient sites

• Symbolism in literature and mythology, where textiles act as metaphors

• Techniques, tools, and processes unique to specific traditions

This diversity ensures that Fellows may situate their work within cultural, environmental, social, or historical lenses.

📚 Supported Project Formats

The Fellowship is highly flexible, supporting both academic and practice-based formats. Fellows may submit outcomes in a range of innovative and accessible forms:

• Journalistic inquiry (features, investigative reports, or narrative essays)

• Documentary films capturing oral histories, processes, or communities

• Archive activation projects, making existing textile collections more accessible

• Practice-based research by designers or artists experimenting with tradition

• Archive generation, compiling new digital or physical textile records

• Digitisation and documentation initiatives for preservation and dissemination

• Audiovisual outputs, such as interviews, photo-essays, or process films

• Curatorial work, including digital or physical exhibitions

• Collaborative projects, where practitioners and researchers co-create outcomes

This range enables applicants from different backgrounds—academic, creative, or community-based—to design projects that resonate with their expertise and audiences.

🎁 Fellowship Benefits

• Research Funding: INR 5,50,000 per Fellow

• One-Year Support: Dedicated time and resources to develop a project

• Visibility: Research dossiers and reports hosted on MAP Academy’s website

• Legacy: Outputs open to the public, fostering long-term cultural value

• Collaborative Recognition: Fellows may include co-creators, with proper credit

✅ Eligibility Criteria

• Who Can Apply: Early- and mid-career professionals, individuals (18+), and collectives

• Backgrounds Welcome: Researchers, archivists, journalists, designers, educators, writers, artists, practitioners, non-profits

• Geographic Focus: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet

• Projects: Both new and ongoing work eligible; must specify fellowship contribution

• Language: English (future editions may include other South Asian languages)

📝 Application Procedure

• Applications Open: August 2025

• Deadline: 15 October 2025

• Submission: Online form serving as a comprehensive project proposal

• Required Documents: Project outline, uploads as per templates, supporting materials (CV, portfolio, prior research, etc.)

• Selection Process:

  1. Proposals reviewed after the deadline

  2. Shortlisting based on proposal strength

  3. Online interviews with selected candidates

  4. Final decisions by jury (to be announced)

• Notifications: Awardees informed via email and public announcement on MAP Academy platforms

📨 For application support, contact: fellowships@map-india.org

🚀 Why Apply?

This Fellowship is ideal if you want to:

• Contribute to safeguarding and reinterpreting South Asia’s textile legacies

• Access financial and institutional support for meaningful research

• Experiment with cross-disciplinary formats that reach diverse audiences

• Collaborate with one of India’s oldest textile brands and a leading art history initiative

• Ensure your work remains publicly accessible and impactful

🔗 Apply Now

🔗 Official Link

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