REIMAGINE

Changemaker: Nandini Kochar

Country of Implementation: India

In contemporary India, marginalized youth face a significant void in access to essential 21st-century tools like Digital Arts and Social Justice education. This deficit is symptomatic of a broader systemic issue where marginalized voices remain absent from mainstream media, perpetuating the disenfranchisement of their communities.

Nazaria, a grassroots organization operating in underserved neighborhoods in Mumbai, addresses this disparity by weaving together digital arts education, media democracy, and social justice. Our mission is to empower creatively-inclined marginalized youth, providing them with digital storytelling tools and social justice ideas to cultivate creative agency and emerge as catalysts for change within their communities.

Over the past 18 months, Nazaria has conducted 50+ social justice art workshops and artist residencies, connecting socially-inclined artists with 50 creatively-inclined youth and women. Together, they've crafted zines, photographs, short films, rap videos, upcycled bags, and more, exploring a myriad of social justice themes. The resulting artworks have been showcased on both local and international platforms.

As part of Nazaria's Narrative Filmmaking Programme, 15 aspiring low-income storytellers will embark on a transformative journey. Over six months, they will participate in workshops covering screenwriting, cinematography, production, and editing, all rooted in the UNESCO FUTURES LITERACY framework. Throughout this process, they will delve into the theme of 'Reimagining' as a powerful tool for social justice. By the program's conclusion, the cohort will have created four short films, each reflecting their transgressive re-imaginings of their lives and community.

For more insights into Nazaria's impactful work, visit: Nazaria Instagram.