Confluence Ideathon 2021 announces INR 10 crore incubation fund to develop ideas

Confluence Ideathon 2021 is an initiative by Serendipity Arts Foundation launched in January. The program aims to develop creative and impactful ideas for an accessible, inclusive and sustainable Culture Center in Delhi NCR. This year, the programme has now become financially even more rewarding.

Confluence Ideathon 2021 has a cumulative incubation fund of Rs. 10 crores ($1.3m). It will support some of the shortlisted ideas, and a few could potentially also become part of the upcoming cultural centre project. Confluence Ideathon 2021 will also offer prize money separately; the top three winners in each of the five domains will get rewarded with a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh for the 1 st position, Rs. 50,000 for 2nd position and Rs. 20,000 for the 3rd position.

How to participate in the Confluence Ideathon 2021?

To make it to the Confluence Ideathon 2021 shortlist, applicants need to submit a 500-word proposal by Feb 28. Further, the proposal should address the challenges of building a large, multi-purpose, urban cultural centre.

Explaining the logic behind the project Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Founder Patron of Serendipity Arts Foundation said “Confluence Ideathon seeks to create new ways of imagining cultural spaces. We hope ideas from across the world will help improve our understanding of what a cultural centre should be and can become. We aim to make this the most accessible, experimental, open, effective, environmentally friendly, and energy-efficient arts space in the NCR, and one that is Indian at heart and global in scope. Further, we are also setting up an incubation fund that will allow the creators of some of the best ideas to become a part of the implementation process.”

The Problem statements

There are 5 categories - ART x Technology, ART x Environment, ART x Social Behaviour, ART x Design for the Future and ART x Business Models. After the programme reviews the responses to the problem statements, it will call shortlisted groups to pitch their ideas. The important pointers for the same are:

● How would the idea support the cultural centre, while ensuring relevance and adding value?

● How would the idea help the cultural centre create jobs, or develop new funding methods or revenue streams?

● Does the team possess the skills and capacity to develop the idea, and would the cultural centre be able to adopt?

● Is the idea innovative or original?

Key dates of the Confluence Ideathon 2021:

Phase I Begins

28 February: Application submissions close on the official website.

3 March: Announcement – semi-finalist selection

Phase II Begins

5 - 10 March: Meet your mentor

11 March: Submissions for Phase II begins

13 March: Art x Environment and Sustainability panel

15 March: Art x Social Behaviour panel

16 March: Art x Design and Creativity panel

17 March: Art x Technology and Accessibility panel

18 March: Art x Business Models for the Arts panel

Phase III Begins

25 March: Finalists announced

26 March: Meet and greet with the finalists

27 March: Talks on innovation and creativity. Keynote speakers for the same are Sunil Kant Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw & Vinita Bali

30 March: Jury I – Technology

31 March: Jury II – Social Behaviour

1 April: Jury III – Business Models

3 April: Jury IV – Environmental and Sustainability

5 April: Jury V – Design and Architecture

9 April: Grand event with the winner announcement