EXPERIENCE GOA. CREATE STORIES. LEARN.
NOVEMBER 2026 | APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW
3 Days · 5 Days · 7 Days · 10 Days · 14 Days
The Goa Programme 2026 is a multidisciplinary field programme by DraftCraft International for lawyers, journalists, filmmakers, policy researchers, academics, cultural practitioners, students, young professionals and anyone interested in studying zones as living, evolving environments.
Through field engagement, the programme explores local issues, cultural and natural diversity, communities, heritage, development and the forces shaping places that are both dynamic and deeply rooted in their own histories, examining them through the interplay of law, media and anthropology - and how each helps understand, document and interpret people, places and change, well beyond the conventional workshop or tourist experience.
The programme is an opportunity to experience, document, create and learn through journalism, law, cinema, documentary, history, heritage, public policy, cultural mapping and archival practice.
And in November, it unfolds alongside the extraordinary cultural and cinematic environment of the 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 20 - 28 November 2026.
CHOOSE YOUR GOA EXPERIENCE
3 DAYS FIELD IMMERSION
A concentrated introduction to Goa through field observation, public spaces, heritage, culture, law, cinema and storytelling.
5 DAYS FIELD & PROJECT EXPERIENCE
Go beyond observation and work towards a small original team project.
7 DAYS RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
One week to explore a question, conduct field research and develop an original project.
10 DAYS EDITORIAL & PROJECT FELLOWSHIP
A deeper experience combining fieldwork with specialisation in journalism, law, documentary, cinema or cultural mapping.
14 DAYS DRAFTCRAFT GOA FIELD FELLOWSHIP
The flagship multidisciplinary experience combining learning, field research, project development, creation and archival work.
WORKSHOPS, FEES & STAY
The workshops and programme modules are chargeable. The applicable charges may vary according to the duration, module and nature of participation and relevant workshop.
For participants who require accommodation, shared residential accommodation, where specifically provided by DraftCraft International, is complementary, subject to availability. Participants may choose to avail themselves of the shared residence or make their own accommodation arrangements in Goa.
Details relating to workshop charges, programme modules, shared residence, arrangements, inclusions and other applicable terms will be provided to candidates on request.
Candidates interested in participating are required to fill in the Workshop/Participation Form. On receipt of the form, candidates may contact DraftCraft International for the relevant programme and workshop material, including applicable charges and information concerning the available shared residential arrangements.
WHAT WILL YOU EXPLORE?
JOURNALISM
Learn to find stories beneath the obvious, report from the field, research, interview, verify and turn observation into public-interest journalism.
LAW & SOCIETY
Examine how law operates beyond the courtroom through public spaces, heritage, environment, community rights, regulation and access to justice.
CINEMA & IFFI
Explore cinema as culture, history, memory and public expression, while experiencing Goa during IFFI.
DOCUMENTARY
Develop skills in research, interviewing, visual storytelling, field documentation and non-fiction narrative.
HISTORY & HERITAGE
Read Goa through its architecture, communities, traditions, memories, disappearing practices and changing landscapes.
CULTURAL MAPPING
Discover Goa through cultural trails, oral histories, food, neighbourhoods, historic places, traditional occupations and community stories.
PUBLIC POLICY & ENVIRONMENT
Examine the questions that emerge when development, tourism, conservation, livelihoods, heritage and public interest meet.
ARCHIVAL PRACTICE
Learn how photographs, interviews, documents, research, films and field material can become part of a lasting record of Goa.
WORK ON SOMETHING REAL
The Goa Programme provides opportunities to engage with emerging and ongoing DraftCraft initiatives:
IFFINITY 2.0
Cinema, film festivals, culture, history and memory.
DRIFFT
DraftCraft's travelling cultural platform connecting regions through cinema, exhibitions, performances and cultural trails.
LAWYERS ON WHEELS
Taking legal awareness and access to justice beyond conventional legal spaces.
THE UNIVERSAL LAWS OF NATURE PROGRAMME
Exploring the relationship between statutory law, natural justice, ecology, custom and lived reality.
THE GOA PUBLIC INTEREST DESK
Investigating issues that affect Goa and its people.
THE GOA ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Recording memories and experiences before they disappear.
THE GOA CULTURAL TRAILS PROJECT
Creating new ways of discovering Goa through history, heritage and culture.
THE NEWSEUM GOA ARCHIVE
Preserving stories, photographs, interviews, documents, films and the processes behind them.
WHAT CAN YOU CREATE?
Depending on the programme and project, participants may produce:
Articles · Investigations · Research Notes · Legal Explainers · Interviews · Documentaries · Short Films · Photo Essays · Cultural Maps · Cultural Trails · Policy Briefs · Oral Histories · Digital Exhibitions · Archival Collections
The strongest work may be considered for publication, exhibition or archival inclusion through relevant DraftCraft platforms, subject to editorial, consent and rights requirements.
MORE THAN A CLASSROOM
The programme brings participants into contact with:
journalists · lawyers · filmmakers · researchers · historians · academicians · policy practitioners · artists · cultural practitioners · media professionals
The objective is not simply to listen to experts.
It is to meet people, enter the field, ask questions, investigate, collaborate and create.
A law student can encounter a filmmaker.
A journalist can discover a story through a historian.
A researcher can work with a documentary team.
A filmmaker can find a subject through an oral-history project.
A participant can arrive with one discipline and leave having discovered another.
THE DRAFTCRAFT APPROACH
OBSERVE → INVESTIGATE → CREATE → PRESERVE
OBSERVE
Walk. Watch. Listen. Question.
INVESTIGATE
Research. Interview. Verify. Understand.
CREATE
Write. Film. Photograph. Map. Document.
PRESERVE
Publish. Present. Archive. Pass it forward.
WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY?
FIELD EXPERIENCE
Experience Goa through its people, places, institutions, communities and culture.
PROFESSIONAL EXPOSURE
Interact with practitioners across journalism, law, cinema, research and culture.
ORIGINAL WORK
Create something that can become part of your portfolio.
NETWORKS & COLLABORATION
Meet people from disciplines beyond your own.
DRAFTCRAFT CERTIFICATION
Participants who fulfil the applicable programme requirements receive a DraftCraft International certificate of participation/completion, as applicable.
A POSSIBILITY TO CONTINUE
Selected work may have opportunities to develop beyond the programme through DraftCraft's publishing, filmmaking, legal, cultural and archival initiatives.
GOA ... BEYOND THE BEACH
Goa is not merely the setting for the programme.
Goa is the field.
Its history, communities, coastline, public spaces, architecture, culture, cinema, tourism, environment, institutions and memories become the material through which participants learn.
Come not simply to see Goa.
Come to read it.
Question it.
Document it.
Create from it.
NOVEMBER 2026
COME FOR THREE DAYS.
STAY FOR TWO WEEKS.
LEAVE WITH A STORY.
3 Days Field Immersion
5 Days Field & Project Experience
7 Days Research Fellowship
10 Days Editorial & Project Fellowship
14 Days DraftCraft Goa Field Fellowship
Applications close in the first week of November 2026.
Places may be limited depending on the programme module and project.
GOA PROGRAMME 2026
Learn by experiencing.
Create by participating.
Preserve by documenting.
To participate, apply for The Goa Programme here
To volunteer, fill the form here