Art for a Sustainable Tomorrow
About the Project
No Time To Waste (NTTW) is an environmental awareness initiative by the Museum of Goa Foundation (MOGF) and Children’s Art Studio(CAS) in collaboration with the Vivekanand Environment Awareness Brigade (VEAB). Held from December 2018 to February 2019, the program introduced students across Goa to the urgent need of waste management through a blend of art, education, and active participation.
Designed as a comprehensive experience, NTTW combined museum tours, creative workshops, and explorative learning to encourage responsible waste management and segregation, while also demonstrating how discarded materials can be creatively repurposed.
Why NTTW
NTTW was based on the principle that environmental education is most impactful when it engages students through direct experience and application. Students explored how discarded materials can become meaningful artworks, how small acts of responsibility can lead to larger change, and how creativity can drive sustainable thinking.
The program aimed to build environmental ownership in young learners through direct experience and artistic engagement.
Programme Highlights
- 2,500+ students from 16 schools participated
- 24 structured sessions over a three-month period
- Hands-on workshops focused on upcycling and waste reuse
- Museum tours with multilingual guides (English, Hindi, Konkani)
- Minimal residual waste, with high emphasis on waste segregation
- Student artworks formed the centrepiece of a public exhibition
Engagement and Exhibition
Each half-day session at MOG began with guided tours of artworks made from upcycled materials. Highlights included the “Carpet of Joy,” created from 1,00,000 plastic bottles, where students pledged in Konkani, “Aami kochoro udovchi na” (“We will not litter”) as a shared commitment to responsible waste management. Students also saw artworks created using coconut skin, coconut husk, human hair, recycled tyres, textiles, and shells, each demonstrating creative reuse.
Students then viewed short films that illustrated the environmental impacts of pollution and the importance of conscious waste practices. These included footage on textile pollution in India, along with statistics and its effects on the environment and life forms. These screenings provided a reflective pause before engaging activities.
Workshops followed each tour:
In the Godhadi Project, to further address the issue of textile waste, students created character sketches on fabric scraps collected from local tailors. Artist and educator Chaitali Morajkar guided them through basic techniques and encouraged them to draw self-portraits. These were later stitched into a large patchwork quilt, symbolising shared environmental responsibility.
In the Tetra Pack Wallets activity, students turned discarded juice cartons into wallets, reinforcing the principles of upcycling and waste segregation.
From April 4 to 7, 2019, MOG hosted a public exhibition under A World of My Own—an educational and creative initiative by MOG and CAS. Featuring the Godhadi quilt, the event drew over 600 visitors and carried the programme’s message beyond the participating schools.
Impact
Over 2,500 students from 16 schools took part in 24 sessions across three months. The programme led to a visible shift in student behaviour around waste segregation and responsibility.
With only minimal residual waste generated, NTTW maintained a low-waste footprint. The Godhadi quilt, made from 2,000+ fabric portraits, was later exhibited and viewed by 600+ visitors.
Conclusion and Collaboration
NTTW was a successful collaboration between the Museum of Goa and the Children’s Art Studio, in partnership with the Vivekanand Environment Awareness Brigade (VEAB). While MOG and CAS curated the experience and provided space for engagement, VEAB supported environmental education and implementation.
Artist and educator Chaitali Morajkar played a key role in translating student creativity into a collective artwork through the Godhadi project, stitching over 2,000 portraits into a single, impactful piece.
Together, the partners showed that the intersection of art, education, and sustainability can lead to lasting change.
Join the Effort
No Time To Waste is one of several projects by the Museum of Goa that explore the intersection of art, learning, and sustainability.
📧 To collaborate or partner: info@museumofgoa.com
📷 Follow on Instagram: @museumofgoa
Let’s build a more thoughtful, responsible future—one student, one project, one idea at a time.