Session in Brief :
Prof. Rao's workshops attempt to give children an insight into how structures that surround us in daily life operate. His sessions encourage the participants to discover properties of structures like stability and strength in static forms as well as movement in dynamic forms using specially designed bamboo kits. This dynamic and challenging process enables them to step out of the two dimensional realm enter the world of 3-D.

DIVYA BHATIA

Divya is an actor, theatre director and festival programmer. He focusses strongly on the applications of theatre in non performance settings particularly for young children and teachers. Alongside several international projects, he is also head of the International Events section of the Mumbai Festival 2007. Among his more interesting international projects in recent times, Divya was artistic consultant and creative mentor to a group of artists who designed a public garden in the middle of Glasgow city in Scotland.

Session in Brief :

Divya’s workshops help children understand the theatrical form through structured exercises and also get them to experiment with performance driven activities that allow them to grasp what constitutes ‘drama’. They are taken through the experience of actually creating and portraying characters, writing dramatic narratives and staging scenes using an assortment of props allowing every child to give free rein to his/her imagination.

Some of Mumbai’s best known metal sculptures are the creations of this artist who is a qualified architect from the Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture.

Session in Brief :
Arzan’s workshop had the children place metal objects on canvas in various compositions and then use spay paint to create various layers of abstract design. Each work made an individual statement in the way the objects were placed and colours chosen.

SAMPURNA CHATTARJI

Sampurna Chattarji is a writer, poet and translator. Her publications include a translation of Sukumar Ray’s poetry and prose titled Abol Tabol: The Nonsense World of Sukumar Ray (Penguin/Puffin, 2004), a collection of short stories titled The Greatest Stories Ever Told (Penguin/Puffin, 2004) and four Ladybird retellings (Penguin, 2003). Her short

Session in Brief :
From working with a variety of material to create Japanese screens to putting together African masks using coconut shells and empty soda cans, Manjiri’s sessions offer a unique blend of history, art and individual imagination. Each workshop is planned to encourage the children to see the potential for art in the everyday, even in what is perceived as waste. They discover inventive, organic ways to create collages, explore colour, and build 3-D castles over a bunch of freewheeling, fun interactions.

MARILYN NORONHA

Marilyn is currently pursuing her first love, teaching music and creative writing, at an International Baccalaureate school in Mumbai, after working in a nationalized bank for twenty-three years. Besides being a published poet and a long standing Committee member of the Poetry Circle of Mumbai, she also writes short stories and plays for children, several of which have been published and performed.

Session in Brief :

Marilyn’s specially designed sessions allow children to discover how enjoying and liberating writing can be as an act of self-expression. Her workshops are a clever mix of prose, poetry and music, throwing together ingredients from experiences and ideas that are familiar to kids today – from traditional literature to rap and advertising jingles, Marilyn brings in the whole gamut in a seamless fashion, compelling the kids to see narratives in every aspect of their lives.

Session in Brief :
Madhumita always aspires to integrate aspects of art and storytelling in her session – taking ideas and words and translating them to visual images, so the children sharpen their verbal and visual skills simultaneously. The participants are introduced to mixed media art, where they work with a plethora of found material in order to create pieces that are refreshingly new and vital.

NEERAJ  KABI

Neeraj is a theatre actor, director, human resource trainer and an expert with workshops for the young. He has established Pravah, a theatre company that functions as a laboratory for performance, training and research, comprising a group of students selected from Prithvi’s summertime workshops, and is strongly committed to the exploration of self ­expression. As an actor, he has trained in yoga, martial arts, chaau dance and kathakali and has participated in several workshops conducted by internationally renowned theatre actors and directors.

Session in Brief :

Neeraj’s workshops allow children to approach performance and interpretations of texts through stylised forms of communication. He brings together a rich fusion of seemingly different cultures, all the while highlighting the similarities that unite them. The sessions also help the participants understand and appreciate the finer nuances of traditional Indian expressive forms, and incorporate them in their performance.

ANITA VACHHARAJANI

Anita holds two masters, one in English literature and another in linguistics. She is a published author with Puffin and Bright Sparks, and is currently working on books with Scholastic and with IL&FS educational publishing..

Session in Brief :

Anita’s sessions are always about giving the children a platform to express themselves through the process of creative writing. Using a comprehensive and interactive format, she allows them to explore the fun aspects of creating both prose narratives and poetry by weaving in the concept of writing as a tool to understand and articulate one’s personality. The results are often a wonderful and immediate expression of each individual child’s own reality.

RENU IYER

Renu has a Masters degree in fine arts from MS University and currently works with Open Space Pune, an organization that focuses on citizen action. She has been combining art and storytelling in workshops for children over the last couple of years.

KURUSH CANTEENWALA

Kurush is involved in documentary film production and teaching. He has taught at various institutes in India and the US. Kurush has completed a Masters in Fine Arts (with Cinema as focus) from the Southern Illinois University. His film New Empire has been screened at over 30 film festivals.

Session in Brief :

Kurush’s sessions take the children through workshops in the visual media with age appropriate activities and presentations that give the children a feel of the digital medium. He gets them to see the links between the visual and the audio, and also how narrative or stories from images and sound are perceived and interpreted. Lastly, the participants will be left with the question of what is ‘real’ and what is ‘make believe’ – fiction and fact; and how to respond to these different modes of presentation.

AMIT VACHHARAJANI

Amit is an illustrator who slips in and out of the world of children almost effortlessly as seen in his work for leading publishers like Ladybird, Puffin, Scholastic, Rupa and Brightsparks. He also illustrates regularly for TimeOut Mumbai.

Session in Brief :

Amit’s aim in designing his sessions is to introduce the children to the art of illustration, and to engage with them on various illustrative styles. He encourages children to develop a visual vocabulary, to translate words into images, and be able to tell a story using pictures. To that end, the kids are given creative triggers that unfurl their imagination – and get them to communicate their ideas in their own unique stylized forms.

CHATURA RAO

Chatura was once a journalist with The Times of India, and is now the author of the children's fantasy novel Amie and the Chawl of Colour (Puffin Books, 2004). Her short stories have appeared in various Puffin and Scholastic collections. She has also written several stories for a UNICEF project. Meanwhile Upriver, her first novel for adults, is due for release in end 2007. Chatura raises her two little daughters by day, and writes fiction by night.

Session in Brief :

Chatura’s sessions allow the children to unfurl their imagination through narratives, with special emphasis on aspects of story-writing like plot, theme and character. Using particular motifs like the ‘quest’ in fiction, she gets the participants to create scenes, develop a distinctive narrative thread, and understand the element of drama that is inherent to writing good stories.

FARHANAH AKIKWALA

Farhanah is a computer engineer by training but has a very interesting side to her which has to do with studying the great masters in art in a manner which lends itself to being adapted for children. She identifies very simple painting and craft techniques which lend themselves to child art which children completely enjoy even as they are being introduced to some of the most seminal works in art history.

Session in Brief :

From Monet and Van Gogh, to O’Keefe and Picasso, Farhanah’s sessions always take children on a journey – one that allows them to discover world art, while getting them to explore new and unique ways to adapt art techniques to express their own individuality. Each session promises a treasure trove of different artists and a variety of materials to engage with.

SOUMIK KAR

Soumik is a photojournalist with a prestigious Indian media group and has earlier worked with the Asian Photography Magazine. He brings a great deal of experience in the kind of photography where pictures have to complement a story and worked with the children to help them tell their own story through images.

Session in Brief :

Soumik shares the fundamentals of form, light and colour with the participants in a stimulating discussion, introducing them to aspects of frame composition. Each child then worked individually under his guidance of to create his / her own composition applying their newly-acquired understanding of colour and form to finally shoot either a still life image, or capture life outdoors in the form of a photo-essay.

PARSURAM KUMBHAR

Parsuram Kumbhar belongs to a family of artisans who have worked with clay over generations. His art extends to clay modeling as well as wheel based pottery and he is especially good at communicating this art form to very young audiences.

Session in Brief :

Clay masks, animal stories, finger puppets and of course pots -- that’s what Parsuram’s sessions were all about and needless to say the excitement started right when the children discovered they were going to work with natural clay and not the synthetic clay that they normally get to use.

PRATIK MURARKA

Pratik Murarka works with Indiagames, a leading digital games development company, as a game designer. He designed a fascinating workshop which took the digital game out of the virtual world and brought it alive in the physical world.

Session in Brief :

Frightener, Yagamosan, Krypto - these were the characters the children came up with alongside elaborate notes on their characteristics, ‘attack and defence’ strategies, strengths and weaknesses - thereby creating an entire digital game narrative entirely offline. It brought to the fore the children’s narrative, analytical and logical prowess. It was a live wire session with the kids finally playing the entire game face to face, having deconstructed the entire digital game format in the most innovative way.

VENKATRAMAN SINGH SHYAM

Venkatramansingh Shyam is a Gond tribal artist who hails from Madhya Pradesh and specializes in traditional and folk art and represents the pradhan tribal forms of Madhya Pradesh in his works. He has displayed his works at scores of prestigious exhibitions in India and has also represented the country at Barcelona, Spain. A member of the Paramparik Karigar association which preserves and promotes traditional art, Venkat carries a treasure of tribal and folk stories in his works.

Session in Brief :

Venkat gave the children an exciting glimpse into the world of tribal art and origin myths on larger than life canvases which he had brought down for the workshop from Bhopal. Rivetted by the stories, the kids then came up with their own themes for their paintings and the result was pure imaginative thinking before they put brush to paper.

Session in Brief :
Sujata distilled the principles in use while mountaineering and developed innovative group play sessions with exciting props. The sessions got the kids to test their reflexes, communication skills, target orientation and sheer ability to interact in a group.