Empowering the youth at the 13th ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival
Each year, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival attracts large footfalls with a large part of the attendees being young adults. The Festival, that has grown immensely over the past decade, continuously seeks to engage these young minds through various sessions across the Festival days and via two robust outreach programmes that start prior to the Festival. With the aim of bringing across knowledge to children across the economic spectrum and with the intent of giving back to the city of Jaipur, the Festival’s annual outreach programmes push forth its core philosophy of enabling the youth to bring about social change.
The Festival has prided itself in its sensitivity towards youth and takes up causes which need remedy and redressal – its annual Youth Outreach programme with Yuva Ekta Foundation and School Outreach programme with Pratham Books ensure that a wide variety of children and young people are involved in the ambit of the Festival. This year, the Yuva Ekta Foundation is embracing the enchanting world of stories – those we have grown up with – stories of courage, of change, stories that inspire and transform, and stories that are being created around us at this very moment. Kahaaniyon ki Rahasyamayi Duniya – the Mysterious World of Stories, will be the culmination of a week-long programme that compels participants to delve deeper into their psyche, uncover the multiple layers of meaning within a story and provide them with a safe pace to embody and co-author their own experiences and voices. With Jayshree Periwal International School as the workshop venue partner, the Yuva Ekta Foundation will work with a group of approximately 55 young adults from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh using theatre and art to create a platform of expression and empowerment that enables them to step forward as agents of positive social change. The final production will travel across schools in Jaipur and will also be staged at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival on the 26th of January at 12:30pm in Samvad.
Pratham Books is a non-profit organisation committed to bringing out the best quality content in multiple Indian languages. Organised jointly by Pratham Books and Teamwork Arts, the School Outreach programme takes the experience of the Festival to the participating schools, by organising interactions and sessions with selected speakers on various themes. Over the past 8 years, the programme has engaged approximately one lakh children and programmed over a thousand sessions. It has always imbibed an inclusive approach with an underlying emphasis on reaching out to children from all stratas of society. In its 9th year, the School Outreach programme is reaching out to schools around Jaipur and Delhi with over 50 sessions spread across 8 days.