Day 1 – Art Education in India – The Way Forward
Dr. Pawan Sudhir, HOD Education in Art and Aesthetics, NCERT, Delhi
Dr. Pawan Sudhir has spearheaded several projects during her career of 28 years, in teacher education and educational administration. She is the originator and the project head of ’Art Integrated Learning’ programme of NCERT. She has represented India at many international forums, including UNESCO. She is an elected member of the InSEA (International Society for Education Through Arts) World Council.
Jigyasa Labroo, Co-Founder and CEO of Slam-Out-Loud, Delhi
Jigyasa taught for two years in the Teach For India Fellowship and then joined their team designing and piloting learning experiences to build a culture of student leadership. She leads Slam Out Loud that uses art forms like storytelling, theatre, spoken word, and visual arts to build skills of creative confidence in disadvantaged children, reaching out via SMS lessons to 4.7million children across 4 states in India.
Day 2 – A Toolkit for Art Educators to thrive in the Online Learning World
Dr. Nigel Meager, Artist, Author and Educator, Cambridge, UK
Dr. Meager has been supporting the practice of visual arts at Kings college Cambridge since 2015. He has since played various roles in art education from being a visiting fellow at National University Canberra in the School of Art, being a professional development trainer for Art educators in schools and being an art teacher in schools himself. Nigel has published several books on Art Education and Pedagogy with the National Society for Education in Art and Design, the BBC and Harper Collins.
Elise Gallinot Goldman, Associate Professor and Executive director of Kid Smart, US
Elise runs a non profit that engages kids in public schools with learning through the arts and has led professional learning programs in public schools for 20 years. She has been on the faculty of Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero Classroom since 2013 and is adjunct faculty at New Orleans University’s Arts administration program. She has researched and trained in best practices through the US National Education models.
Day 3 – Storytelling in Pictures – The Center of the Art Room
Dr. Nilima Sheikh, Artist and Teacher, Baroda
Nilima Sheikh’s engagement with art has spanned over five decades. Narrative is at the heart of her miniature paintings, her murals and large-scale canvases. Her work has been exhibited across the globe including Documenta, Kassel; important galleries in Valencia and Berlin, the Johannesburg Biennale and the Kochi Biennale. Sheikh’s work is part of permanent museum collections including The National Gallery of Modern art, Delhi and The Art Institute of Chicago among others. She has taught at the Art School in Baroda where she lives and works.
Dr. Manjiri Thakoor, Art Historian, Independent Art Curator
Dr. Thakoor has been deputy curator at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, former Head of Department pf Fine Art at Rachana Sansad Academy, Mumbai and is currently a committee member at the Asiatic Society. She also teaches at the J J School of Art and St Xaviers. She has worked on several international projects including the Victoria and Albert Museum. Manjiri is currently conducting a visual narrative project with children from tribal schools in the foot hills of the Himalayas.
Medhavi Gandhi, Director of Happy Hands, Mumbai
Medhavi founded Happy Hands, an organization that works on reviving traditional arts through building artisanal capacity and increasing youth/public access to folk arts, and founder of The Heritage Lab, a digital media platform for cultural heritage enthusiasts. An award-winning cultural practitioner, Medhavi Gandhi has been widely recognized for her innovative approach to public engagement with Indian art.