Sanskriti Museums, New Delhi, India

Sanskriti Museums are a set of three museums namely, Museum of ‘Everyday Art’, Museum of Indian Terracotta (tribal art) and Textile Museum It is housed within Sanskriti Kendra complex, at Anandagram, an artist village complex, spread over eight acres, situated 10 km south of New Delhi, near Aya Nagar on Mehrauli–Gurgaon Road, on the outskirts of Delhi The nearest Delhi Metro station is Arjan Garh, on the Yellow Line

Sanskriti Pratishthan, a registered Public Charitable Trust, was founded in 1978 The activities are guided by a Board of Trustees Sanskriti literally means ‘process of cultivating’ The Pratishthan has been continuously working towards creating an environment for the preservation and development of artistic and cultural resources in India Since Sanskriti sees culture as an intrinsic part of everyday life, the Pratishthan views its role as that of a catalyst in revitalizing the artistic and aesthetic sensitivities of the Indian people As such Sanskriti Pratishthan is dedicated to development of key elements of India’s cultural heritage that are disappearing day by day and presenting them to diverse local and international audiences To attain these goals, the Pratishthan has established an international artist residency programme, set up workshops for training in ceramics, enamelling and block-printing Moreover, the Pratishthan has created on its campus the below mentioned three museums:
•The Museum of Everyday Art
•The Museum of Indian Terracotta Art
•The Museum of Indian Textile Traditions

All three museums have one common objective namely collecting, preserving and documenting those objects of Indian arts and crafts which have been a part of everyday life and which were marked by a unique feature of cultural rootedness and an appropriate form and design The collections of these museums constitute the raw material for reconstructing the history of Indian design in Indian life Here tradition and contemporaneity are not seen as two separate categories, but as a continuum, one mutating into the other

Sanskriti Pratishthan or Sanskriti Foundation is a non-profit culture and arts promotion organisation in Delhi set up in 1979, with O P Jain, L M Singhvi, Dr A M Singhvi and Sudarshan Agarwal as trustees In the early years, it was largely privately funded by its members, later on it was received government funding, and from organisations like Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), and the Ford Foundation, and recently from the corporate sector The construction of present Kendra premises began in 1989 Today the foundation also runs artist-in-residence programs here, and workshop for scholars, artists and craftsmen, plus it has residential studios, a library, an amphitheatre and an art gallery

As its first project, the foundation instituted the ‘Sanskriti Awards’ in 1979, given to promising young talent in the group of 20–35 years, in five major fields, Literature, the Arts, Music, Dance, Theatre, Journalism and Social/Cultural Achievement Next the Museum of Everyday Art established in 1984 contains items of everyday use The foundation also runs ‘Sanskriti Yatra’ workshops on cultural awareness for school children Its three- month resideny programs is run residency programme in collaboration with UNESCO, Asia Link and the Fulbright Fellowships Program Museumologist Jyotindra Jain is trustee and Director of the Foundation

‘Museum of Indian Terracotta’:
This Museum has over 1,500 objects of terracotta art, sculptures and figurines from the tribal areas of India, displayed in the backdrop of the respective tribal arts

Museum of ‘Everyday Art’:
It houses a collection of what is called “Everyday Arts”, where artisans turn the functional everyday household object like toys, nutcrackers, cups, saucers, spoons, and home shrines, articles of worship, into the works of art

Textile Museum:
A showcase of the best of, and the most diverse of Indian textile heritage
Museums are open from 10 AM to 5 PM on all days except Mondays and Public Holidays