Our student clubs are activities and programs that take place outside of the traditional classroom setup and most of the time they help in academic learning. The clubs work on the ideology of student democracy; they are automated sub-institutes of the students, for the students and operated by the students.
We at GLSID, believe in grooming students’ skills and knowledge, and encouraging their talent, not just via academics but also outside academics. Student clubs give them a space and opportunity to experience, explore and develop this. It helps students build a strong connection with the other students, the faculties and, more importantly, the institution. It can sharpen a student’s communication skills, foster creative thinking, and teach how to work effectively with other people. Also, the students find them to be fun!
Each club is overseen by a faculty coordinator and managed and operated by a team of students. All the agendas and activities are decided collaboratively by members and validated and facilitated by club heads. The students are trained and made ready to participate and showcase their skills in various events in the institute and external competitions. Currently, our clubs are targeted to improve and acquire new skills, elevate self-confidence, and overall add on to the mental and physical growth of a student. We highly recommend fresh batch of students to find a suitable activity and join and engage in one of the clubs.
Below is the list of student clubs at GLSID –
Films are a vast vault of stories stretching back more than one hundred years, across every continent and told in every language. These stories, when viewed through the lens of filmmakers, broaden one’s understanding of the world. We believe that watching movies, like theatre, should be inherently a social act – a collective spectatorship of a story played out upon a stage or screen. Sitting together, but apart, in the darkness and the warmth is still integral to the experience. Many people experience film quite differently now and viewing is often an isolated act – on computers and phones. The film club is changing that.
The GLSID film club, like a reading group, is an intimate and informal gathering where students can encounter ideas, experiences and emotions that may not be everyday topics of discussion but which shape all our lives. The movie screenings are open to all enthusiastic students and are usually carried on with debates and critical discussions among the group. These engagements help students empathise with the human world and their relationship with the environment.
The film club thrives to enhance imagination, visualization, observation, and learn cultural contexts that are essential to become better designer, filmmaker, researcher, writer and literally any creative.
This is a highly active club. Think about it – who isn’t into photography these days. The aim of the photography club is to provide a supportive environment for interested students to share their creativity, knowledge and passion for photography. The club holds regular meetings, demonstrations and discussions and organize events such as; photo-walks, field trips, photo-exhibitions and workshops. Students are also responsible for documenting any significant event that happens on and off campus.
Students learn many of the technicalities involved in digital as well as film based photography regardless of their experience. The club decides meeting places for photographic activities and group discussions. It provides essential tools and resources for inspiration, education, motivation, and the artistry of photography. It promotes photographic competitions, the club and its members through the public display of photographs. Just like film club, it provides an outlet for the expression of creativity and the sharing of skills and experiences. Most of all, it prompts you to experiment and have fun with photography.
The literature club at GLSID aims at refining the literary skills of the students through an exchange of opinions and ideas. The club incorporates reading, writing, narratives, and poetry based on different languages, cultures, and genres. At a frequency of four times a month, people are exposed to fresh literature every month which adds to their knowledge.
The club hosts fun and interactive activities that help develop curiosity and creativity important for a designer; such as creating poetry with words cut out from articles, story-building exercises, reciting folk literature from local languages, and open mics. It also helps make productive use of the college library and resources. The interactions with peers deepen the reader’s appreciation for common text. The club helps in learning skills like public speaking and narrating, interacting with confidence, critical thinking, and a refined vocabulary.
The literature club is a space for people to express themselves, explore, and have fun.
The theatre club explores the diversity of theatre and its intersection with community, culture and society. It promotes communication skills of students and help in team work, ability to speak and emote before an audience thereby increasing the emotional quotient of the students. The role playing aspect helps them develop understanding in psychological, moral, physical and socio-economic analysis of character, thus academically helping them design better characters and stories through deep empathy. The club is closely connected with the literature club extending skills in oral language and all expressive mechanisms (voice and physicality expression). Practicing live performances make them a confident orator that helps them with their presentation skills. In the process, they learn fundamentals of acting, directing, design, and theater technology.
Sketching is meditative – its improves focus and observation. Any design process cannot be isolated from sketching. It is a tool to document what the eye is looking and forces it do so hence developing a habit of observing the world around and within us. Sketching is not just looking but also thinking. Imagination and visualization are the key skills that are initiated by sketching and put up as presentable ideas through the same.
Morning sessions of the sketching club are exhilarating and prepares the student for a productive day. They are practiced at various places, internally in the campus to external city points, giving students various objects and environment to study and explore.
The club gives an opportunity to students to spend some time away from the screens and understand the nuances of the physical world around us – because that’s where the best ideas come from!
The Technology and Experience Design Club (TechX) was initiated due to the constant technological advancement, its impact in design practice and education and the idea of keep the students updated. Although traditional approach to design education is essential and highly promoted at the institute, this club acts as a backbone to it by providing knowledge and resources to keep up with the technology trends, tools, techniques and new media. This club is helpful to the students in experimenting the future possibilities in the design realm and exploring new ways of creating outputs in their academic projects. It also aims at helping students create better narratives and build meaningful human-centric experiences for any given space by intersection of technology and physical world. Solving a practical problem through technology intervention, driving innovation, understanding behaviours and analysing human responses are some of the core areas that the club addresses.
The club holds activities such as; learning and practicing new tools and technologies; knowledge sharing on related topics and critical discussions; reviewing and analysis of case studies from the industry; creating concepts and stories for interactive media with experimentations; regular prompts for practicing with teams; and hosting open competitions to generate interest, involve more students and bring in new ideas at the institute. Currently the topics covered by the club are metaverse, AR, VR, web 3.0, artificial intelligence, interactive media, smart systems and graphic narratives.
The club provides design students with means to achieve newer ends in any academic work. The clubs approach may sound scientific at first, but it gets fun and engaging as a student indulge more.
Sports club isn’t just for trained or athletic students but also aims to make one. The institute understands the need for overall development and the role of sports activities in that. The sports club is committed to provide a healthy sporting habit among the students. It helps to learn teamwork; enhances physical fitness, skills and mental alertness; develops ethical qualities, constructive social abilities and emotional maturity; and mainly infuses discipline & instills the value system in a student. Value of time, precision & competitiveness are the major learning points apart from communication, coordination & teamwork.
Some of the sports in practice at the institute are badminton, cricket, volleyball, kabaddi, frisbee, football and basketball. Equal participation of both girls and boys are encouraged in all sports. Training for learning new tactics occurs on a regular basis and usually during the routines.
Music club gives a platform to appreciate and encourage talent in music – instrumental as well as vocal. It aims at helping students retain and enhance their own, individual love of music. Sound being one of the sensory input acts as a communication medium to create or enhance the experience design. It directly helps communication design students in their work and those students who are interested in sound design and engineering. Students are also encouraged to prepare and perform at various events held at the institute, thus improving their confidence and presentation amidst a large audience.
After all what is more relaxing than concluding the day with a musical jam with your peers, or should we say – a band.
The dance club aims at boosting up the morale of students and highlighting the talent of dance and creativity. It provides opportunities to dance lovers to practice and showcase their talent and a platform to have their artistic exploration. This club plays an important role in maintaining the positive environment and student’s connection with the institute.
Dance, along with music, has always dynamically expressed the spirit and personality of every culture. Along with the physical fitness aspect of dance, it gives a platform to students to practice and learn the global languages of expression and different themes from social life and experience.
Every culture and traditions are welcomed, enjoyed and celebrated as part of institute’s core values. Some of the dance forms that are practiced in the club are classical dance, folk dance and western dance while maintaining the integral sanctity of the institute. Similar to the music club, students are expected to practice and perform at various events held at the institute, thus improving their confidence and presentation amidst a large audience.
This club is aimed at promoting the crafting skills of the students. Be it any craft, from creating a simple handmade piece of earing to baking cookies – the purpose of this club is to learn collaboration, showcase talent, and to learn putting your work out in the world. Hobbies are hidden gems that may perish if not given enough room for consistent practice, socialization and encouragement. Craft is a necessary part of design education and this club provides ample opportunities with endless possibilities.
The club supports the digital marketing efforts of the institute by sharing stories on social media handles to inform and promote the various events and activities occurring in the institutes on a regular basis. The members learn various aspects of the social media and how to leverage it to create impactful and shareable stories.
Design Unconventionally is GLSID’s own podcast that is run and managed by a team of students of radio podcast club. The podcast aims to not only connect the audience with design but also unravel the philosophies and ideologies of the masters of this field. The students engage in planning and production of the episodes to rolling out and marketing them. Students learn about the broadcasting media and marketing techniques in the current age, along with the nitty-gritties of content creation and production.
At GLSID, we believe in design for service and change. This club gives students an opportunity to work with various non-profit organizations in the city and utilize their artistic and design skills for the betterment of the society. It helps built networking skills, understand communal efforts and become more humble, helpful and humane. Sensitizing towards the current issues in the society is an important part of design education so that impactful solutions can be thought of and created in order to take a step towards a better future. And this club precisely aims to do so.
The cultural activities club is responsible for organization, operation and management of all the cultural activities happening internally at the institute and university level as well as external events and competitions. This club also supports other clubs by enabling them with required resources, logistics and promotion. Some of the in-place cultural events and celebrations at GLSID are Saraswati puja, Foundation day, Convocation day, Independence day, Orientation programme and the highlight event – Mehfil-e-mukhtasar.
Mehfil-e-mukhtasar (MEM) found its roots in 2017, with ideas and thoughts forming a cohesive bond between students and faculties. A wave of creative expressionism, by sheer original performances and developed arts. MEM happens in two sessions, a summer session which is marked on the Foundation day of the Institute and a winter session marked in the month of Oct-Nov. Students from multiple disciplines and batches come together to form a team spirited event. With a houseful of audience, each year MEM is taking a step forward by carrying the tradition propelled by new batches and faces. The essence of MEM, draws its origins from the cultural and artistic practices of Mughal India. Where each performing art had a place in the court. Retaining the same notions, MEM aims to provide students a platform to exhibit their talents and appreciation for each other. It is one of the threads that helps knit GLS Institute Of Design closer.