In a first, British Council to generate crowd-sourced digital arts project

British Council collaborated with internationally-acclaimed Oscar-winning Aardman Animations

British Council India will collaborate with internationally-acclaimed Oscar-winning Aardman Animations to generate the first ever crowd-sourced digital arts project.

The project titled 'Saptan Stories' is a mass collaborative arts event that will engage the Indians to generate the first ever crowdsourced short story, a British Council statement said on Saturday.

It will be interpreted and illustrated by seven standout artists from India and the UK, the statement said.

The project will allow people to participate online, submit a new line and vote for the winning lines every week. The winning line will then be visually interpreted by seven artists in their individualistic styles.

The event will take place over a seven-week period to create one unique story and 49 art works.

While digital is a medium of choice, be it sharing content or crowdsourcing, graphics and graphic novels are gaining popularity across the country, fast picking up as a medium to share the viewpoint of communities in an engaging manner.

'Saptan Stories' aims to engage the public through Indian stories, crowdsourced online and rendered digitally, for the world to read and view, the statement said.

It is part of the various new format concepts undertaken by British Council, to widen its outreach to Indian people through arts and culture, during the UK-India year of culture from April 2017-Mar 2018, the statement said.

Aardman, based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded and run by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is a world leader in animation and winner of multiple Oscars.

It produces feature films, series, advertising and digital entertainment for both the domestic and international market.