Creatives in the time of Corona

What happens when a young information designer looks beyond her world of e-learning, online platforms and easy digital accessibility? What happens when she recognizes her privilege but more importantly, identifies the glaring gap in education accessibility that is not being addressed in the current pandemic situation? Vedika Lall a design graduate from Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, had all the reasons to enjoy her gap year from the comforts of her home while preparing for a masters abroad next year. But the pandemic situation had her questioning the systems around her, and looking beyond the immediate solutions of online learning that were recommended for school children all over. How would children without access to gadgets, devices and internet connection avail education? She reached out to a few NGOs in her hometown Patna, only to discover that while the organizations were managing to provide essentials for survival, providing education was not something t

Long before the pandemic and its aftermaths started bothering us, making us aware of the binaries in our society, shocking us into realizing and acknowledging our privilege, Kruti and Sebastian had been working on ground, with people of underrepresented communities – identifying and solving the problems of their day-to-day living. Their association goes back to 2016, when both got acquainted while pursuing Masters at CEPT University. Sebastian had come down from Bogota (Colombia) and Kruti from Mumbai. They both stayed back after graduating, to explore opportunities within academia to look at bridging the gap between the urban and architectural realm. They offered immersive design studios at Faculty of Urban Design, where they grappled with various methodologies to make meaningful interventions within fringe communities in the city. They identified the glaring lack of infrastructure provisions, but also recognized that there are short term and long term, as well as larg