Social Commentary Project

Article 19 of the constitution of India, guarantees Freedom of Speech to all citizens. This applies to journalists, researchers, artists, vetted news platforms etc. However in recent times and in a volatile political environment, the right to speak freely, and to comment on social disparity and inequalities, and even satire against the absurdities of everyday news is slowly being taken away from us. From a legal rights perspective, there seems to be no respite for young designers and journalists to have a platform to speak out in India at the moment. Moreover, research on relevant social justice and urban inequality projects is being regularly thwarted. It is in this politically volatile environment there is a need for a platform and safe space for creatives to congregate, brainstorm and practice their right to free speech without threats of arrest and retribution.

It is in this political environment that we started becoming a part of student protests, and using arts, media and creativity along with other artists and students in order to speak out in topical issues within the country. The Social Commentary Project – a platform for young artists and designers to use satire and subversive art to speak out on the issue du jour was borne out of those efforts. The platform supports creatives by connecting them to funds, creates a discussion space, tracks protests across the country and creates a business model where artists can sell work and crowdfund. The main service we as curators provide is the safety and security of the site, careful vetting of content to create a safe space, and create a community of like minded people who may then congregate and speak out together (achieving a strength in numbers).

We are hoping to work with freelance artists, researchers, journalists and other coalitions of activists who want to speak out against the citizenship laws in India

Ipshita has worked as a lead curator on a similar collective based platform for water security in Mumbai, India (https://confluence.mumbaiwaternarratives.in/main.php). The virtual collective garnered  support of over 40 activists, researchers, students and gained international recognition. It also reached over 5000 people through virtual engagement. She therefore knows the means necessary to deliver on a project of this scale and ensure execution on time. Riddhesh has contributed to most of the artworks in the draft SCP platform, and has a keen eye for curation and networks with artists who are creating this critical cutting edge and powerful works in this sector. He also has worked with social media and branding in his own personal projects which proves his ability to drive up engagement.

As part of the Social commentary project, we have prototyped a website already that has been circulated within our peers for peer review. This project also has acquired funding from MIT Sandbox over a year. 

Project website can be found here: https://ipshitakarmakar221.wix...

Pitch deck for the project can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presen...

We hope to gain mentorship from Solve to develop this nascent venture which is at the initial stages of ideation, to develop it into a sustainable business model. We also wanted to harness seed funding for web development, buying domains and servers and starting an initial working prototype for the Social Commentary Project. We also understand that freedom of speech is a global right which is being subdued, and therefore would like to expand to other markets such as the USA and larger South Asia. We would therefore like to tap into Solve's global networks, learn from our peers and would need help streamlining our ideas. In addition, we would like to understand the technical and legal expertise needed to create a safe and secure site of this nature.

There are a number of smaller collectives in India, that congregate right in the beginning of protests and conflicts, mostly on social media, and help mobilise protests and bring activists together. The problem with such collectives is that they tend to dissipate after the conflict stops, or are swiftly shut down by the government due to their public nature. They are neither guided by technology nor are they permanent platforms. There are also a set of established congregations, such as news websites or artist studios, but they tend to be close door operations that do not allow ordinary citizens to participate, or they end up being profit making exercises that co opt citizen protests to sell art. SCP aims to be neither of the above two types of competitors. SCP is developing its technology to safeguard user views, preferences and opinions, and use legal safeguards to make the site permanent

Our impact goals for the next 5 years is 3 fold

1) We will reach at least 100,000 subscribers in India, which we estimate is our beach head market

2) We will set up channels for subscription and payment options, similar to an online marketplace for artists to buy and sell art

3) We will formalize our legal status as a non profit and apply for atleast $100,000 in non dilutive funding 

4) We will formalize our technology and backend operations and create a better UI/UX interface

1) We are measuring the number of subscribers to our website as an indicator of website popularity

2) We will be conducting focus group discussions of select subscriber groups to generate a feedback loop

3) We will be garnering social media mentions as an indicator to see our levels of popularity

4)We are measuring our back end analytics on our website and the number of days the website can be secure without a breach

We will create a safe, secure environment for artists, researchers and activists to voice their opinions on the recent anti citizenship bills being passed by the Constitution of India by providing a safe online web platform for them to discuss and collaborate.