This proposal by TreeonZ explains about a project for and of women musicians named Strisvara (Strisvara- Stri- Women; Svara-Tune). Stri is derived from the Sanskrit word which means 'woman', a very strong word and an important element life's functions.

Nature by itself is referred to as a woman. Like human life is always in tune and synchronizing with nature, the life functions are always in sync and tune with a woman. Hence it is extremely synonymous to use "Stri Svara" for a very momentous work involving women and music. Thousands of years of cultural development in many civilizations have played an immense role in the field of music and its development.

A distant, beautiful song reverberates in the forest of B.R Hills, Karnataka. From another direction, the city echoes with music from our very own independent musicians.

Simultaneously in different parts of the world, women are doing what they love and what they do – playing their instrument and performing at various music festivals.  So then it hits us – why don’t we develop a platform where all the 3 kinds of musicians could meet, jam, collaborate, exchange and learn?

Strisvara is a 20 day residential program where women international musicians, Indian professional and semi-professional musicians and native women from B.R Hills, Karnataka would engage in a music exchange program, thereby exchanging culture and traditions ,fostering awareness and education. Going right to where it all began, this program provides the lifetime experience of initiating a change from a bottoms-up level,
away from the sedentary city life. This program aims to instill in these women a sense of India’s tradition and culture that the natives still hold very dear to their heart.  While everyone talks about the need to bring a change in the part of the society where held is desperately required, Strisvara aims to make a difference by amassing a dynamic crowd who know only one language: love through music.

With international, urban Indian and tribal women joining hands together for Strisvara, this three dimensional model would be the voice of a growing, globalised family that has come together from different corners of the world to be a mark of something new.

Strisvara involves the arrangement for rehearsal and recording studios, investment in musical instruments, travel food and accommodation for artists, and talks by mentors, music enthusiasts, and women entrepreneurs  from various fields to provide exposure to the participants.

TreeonZ is a youth run organization officially incorporated in 2015, however the founders and members of the organization have been working in the field of music and social entrepreneurship for some years now.

TreeonZ’s vision is to bring positive social impact at grass root level by using art as a tool to educate, empower and enlighten people and society at large. The organization along with its art projects also functions as a spring board for social entrepreneurs, international musicians, artists and peacemakers to reach out to the audience with its wide global network.

The organization believes in using and engaging a collaborative approach that fosters positive relationships and sustainability. We constantly strives to bring individuals, artists and organizations from across the globe to India to facilitate unique and innovative art projects that aligns appropriately with the vision of the organization

Areas of focus: 

The project has distinct focus on two major areas - Music and Women. In order to successfully bring these two aspects to light, different methods and approaches of teaching and learning will be used throughout the exchange. Some of them include:

• Collaborative approach: The musicians will collaborate and work during two weeks in small groups of three throughout the period of the exchange. Every group will consist of one musician from urban India, one from rural India and one international musician.

• Cultural engagement: The location of the project will be in a tribal community in India.

The groups of three participants will be hosted by a local family. The environment itself will provide the group with full and first-hand knowledge of culture. Staying together in small groups will give the participants possibility to develop a relationship that in the long run will help in sustainability of the project.

• Experiential model of learning: To attract the spirit of music and bring out leadership qualities in every participant, the project will use the experiential model where learning happens through actual experiences. The experts and mentors that are brought into the project from various fields of knowledge will facilitate these sessions.

• Access to modern technology: The project will provide an opportunity for participants to access, learn and make use of modern technology to create attractive piece of music. This exposure and experience will be an additional benefit to the participants.

• Tour: The groups will be given an opportunity for a three days tour within Karnataka to showcase the music made by them. This will facilitate the musicians exposure to stage performances and an opportunity to get out of their comfort zones and exhibit their talent.

• Impact-projects: During the program a workshop will be given to inspire and give opportunity for impact-projects that addresses a social issue within their own community where music can be used as a tool to connect and have a true impact. 

The Impact 

 A fresh wave in the field of participant’s traditional music.

 Original music that will gain recognition in the international market.

 Empowerment of women musicians through a journey like never before.

 Women leaders playing key role in addressing social issues within their communities.

 Strengthened bond between urban and rural India as well as with other countries in the field of music.

 Promoting Indian Tribal Folk music

Implementation methodology

The project will follow an implementation methodology that will involve a process of identifying communities and local participants to attract the best talents and design a model that is replicable throughout the country. Details of implementation methodology are as follows:

• Identification of suitable communities: TreeonZ will identify communities and geographical location that is suitable for the implementation of the project through surveys, interaction with community, interviews with potential participants and networking with community leaders and local government.

• Selection of participants: An arrangement for selection will be formulated to help pick the best talents to be a part of the project. The selection process will take into consideration the previous work of participants in the field of music, their leadership, abilities and their motivation to be a part of this project.

• Identifying host-families: To implement an effective cultural engagement, groups of participants will be hosted by families within the community. These families will be chosen on certain criteria to ensure safety and comfort of the participants. The host families will also be compensated a beneficial amount in exchange of their service.

• Program design:The detailed day to day activities will be scheduled to support participants and ensure smooth running of the project. The design will take into account the aspect of sustainability in replication of the model.
Experts ‘intervention: Experts from relevant fields will visit the project and interact with participants and give guest lectures, trainings or workshops.

• Documentation: The entire project will be documented through filming, interviews and case studies. The documentation is intended to show effectiveness of the project and also to bring visibility to the project on platforms offline and online.

• Showcase of talent: TreeonZ will arrange for showcase of talents and music created as the final outcome of the project. This will be facilitated in the form of live performances, albums release or radio/television shows.

• On-going support: The idea of the exchange program is to create a community of like- minded women musicians who will not just help in revitalization of traditional art form but also use music as a tool to bring in social impact in the communities they live. These participants will function as one unit and help one another to ensure the success of impact- projects designed by them. TreeonZ will provide on-going support in terms of
networking, fundraising and connecting the leaders or entrepreneurs to true mentors. If participants have submitted their ideas of impact-projects, TreeonZ will supervise ideas that are suitable for implementation in Indian communities. End of the year evaluation: The project will be evaluated at the end of every year for three years. The evaluation will be conducted by consultants or third party organization to ensure unbiased evaluation and understand the actual effectiveness of the project. The evaluation will mostly be conducted by taking into account the entire documentation
and conducting surveys for actual data collection and bring out a publication at the end of every year.

Risks & Challenges 

In India, women have made a comparatively late entry into Economic activity mainly due to the orthodox and traditional socio-cultural environment. Comparatively in the field of Performing Arts their contribution and involvement is concerning. The gender contribution ratio in the Entertainment, performing art creative art fields for women
across the globe is lesser. Women’s participation in community leadership is still a weaker sector mainly because of the problems associated with their gender roles and cultural barriers. The project also has a larger aim to empower and build skills to the participants to be able to come forward as leaders within their communities and play an influential role in addressing social issues. The project also believes in having a bottom up triple layer approach in exchange program where emphasis is provided to women
musicians.

 In a country with such diverse culture, language, religion, and ethnicity it is very important to have an inclusive approach and a collective responsibility towards the social issues. Women are well known to have created music and folklore as a high form of art which reflects their culture, traditions and society. This form of music holds a special place in the field of art. . The exchange aims to bring Indian tribal, regional and International women musicians together. Participants are given an exclusive chance to interact with each other, learn about different forms of music and culture and use this knowledge to create new unique and original music at the end of the program. Creating an exchange program which will connect the three dimensional participation of women musicians through Collaborative approach, peer groups ,musical exchange, cultural engagement, experimental model of learning will make it innovative.

• Jam rooms for Rehearsal @ $20 per day for 15 days - 300$
• Digital and social media platform (website, blogs, facebook,twitter,sound cloud,Instagram,) local agency for entire project - $300
• Food serves for 30 people @ $10 per day for per person for 15 days - 4500$
• Trainers Musicians (conducting workshops and sharing the knowledge ) 7 trainers charging $75 per session, - 525$
• Core Team (staying at the partners vicinity) for core team/ volunteers for entire projects- 60$
• Local Travel for Participants / guests / facilitators within the country (busses , train , flight ) and Local Travel (participants pick up and drop from airport and travelling from Bangalore International airport to BR hills 350 Kms on road) Core committee and trainers pick up and drop from Bangalore to BR hills – 1628$
• Medical Insurance for 15 participants during the project – 1125$
• Music Equipment's and instruments hiring, Studio set up (recording,mixing,mastering ,documentation,proffesional sound engineer) – 1562$