The office of student life and Cultural engagement has been established with the explicit motive of creating a vibrant cultural environment in the university. The office commenced its work on 1st of August 2018 and has been striving to work towards offering multiplicity of spaces and opportunities to the JGU community to engage with a wide variety of art and cultural expressions from India and around the world.
The office seeks to play a leading role in connecting the campus to art practices, practitioners, and lineages of contemporary artistic expressions. In the past few months, the office has been able to play a leading role in connecting the campus to wide variety cultural expressions including music, dance, theatre, and photography. While the office aims to make these spaces accessible and fun to experience, the focus is equally on developing new ways of seeing and experiencing as well as developing a critical perspective towards our contemporary realities.
The office is also committed to facilitate productive engagements on campus on critical issues such mental health and was able to spark off such an engagements with the marking of World Mental Health Day on campus through workshops and a free flowing evening of drawing, painting and conversing. We are also aware that Sonipat, a city that has a significant historical and cultural heritage, is increasingly becoming a higher education hub with various educational institutions being set up. Students and academics from all over country and outside now live in the city lending it a unique and dynamic character. It is crucial that in this moment of change, questions of community cultural practices and the role of existing people led initiatives are integrated into the larger fabric of our academic life at JGU. The office is, therefore, working towards enriching the social and communitarian life on campus by reaching out to the larger community around us - surrounding educational institutions, cultural organizations, and people-led initiatives in the region.