British Council launches joint India-UK arts event

British Council India launched "Saptan Stories" in collaboration with Aardman Animations, as part of the UK-India Year of Culture 2017 on Wednesday. "Saptan Stories" is a mass collaborative arts event that entails that the Indian public generates the first ever crowd-sourced short story, interpreted and illustrated by seven artists from India and the UK.

Audiences can take part in Saptan Stories online via a brand new website and community hub where they can view related activity, find out about the artists, enter their own submissions, and vote for the winning lines each week.

Oscar award-winning Aardman Animations – widely celebrated as the creators of Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run – have been selected to develop Saptan Stories. The digital project is now launched for the public to submit their ideas for how the story continues. Over the next seven weeks, a new crowd-sourced storyline will be added to the story every week and voted on by the Indian public. The seven artists will interpret the story in their unique visual styles. The event will take place over a seven week period to create one unique story and 49 art works, at the culmination of the project.

Alan Gemmell, OBE Director India, British Council, said "We are delighted to be working with Oscar-winning British animation studio Aardman Animations as part of the UK-India Year of Culture. Saptan Stories invites people to create and share a story together – celebrating the long tradition of storytelling in India and, we hope, connecting and inspiring people in the UK and India to make something unique together."

One can visit the website to add the next line of the story, vote on the outcome and see the artist responses to this one of a kind story for India. You can also download the Saptan Stories resource pack designed for use by teachers and educators, and workshop leaders, providing ideas for educational projects, activities and resources centered on developing storytelling skills and promoting collaborative creativity.

The artists involved are Adrita Das, Mumbai-based illustrator; Gavin Strange, a Senior Designer, Gemma Correll – cartoonist, writer and illustrator, London-based Janine Shroff, Priyesh Trivedi and many more.