On 5th March 2025 at British Council Auditorium, New Delhi
Panel theme: Women in the Arts | Moderator: Ruchira Das | Panelists: 3
Event Flow
| Time | Details |
|---|---|
| 4:30 pm | High Tea |
| 5:00 – 5:15 pm | Moderator to introduce overall event Introduction to the panelists |
| 5:15 – 6:15 pm | Panel Discussion |
| 6:15 – 6:30 pm | Q&A |
| 6:30 – 7:00 pm | Felicitation of 2 winning films and filmmakers + screening of the film trailers Closing remarks |
Panelists
Aditi Jaitly Jadeja
Senior Curator – Performing Arts, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
Aditi began studying Bharatanatyam at the age of seven under Leela Samson, and performed her arangetram or stage debut in 1989. She graduated in English Literature from Delhi University in 1993. From 1990 onwards she began travelling for performances across India and abroad, performing both solo and as a part of ensemble productions.
In 1996/1997 Aditi worked with the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in London. During her stint there, she was exposed to different dance and martial art styles such as ballet, western contemporary dance, Kalaripayattu, Mayurbhanj Chau and Tai Chi. Aditi performed and toured extensively with the company, both in the UK and abroad.
Aditi has been part of her guru’s dance ensemble, the Spanda Dance Company, since its inception in 1995 and has been performing with the Company all over India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Singapore, and the Far East.
Aditi is a managing Trustee of the Spanda Trust, which was set up in 2006 for the purpose of promoting all aspects of the arts, young, talented, artists as well as research and education in the arts. In this capacity she has been involved in both the administrative and creative aspects of the Dance Company and the Trust.
Aditi has nearly 30 years of teaching experience, having started her journey as a Bharatanatyam teacher in 1995 at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi. Since then she has taught at various institutes as well as privately. She believes that exposure to the arts, crafts and culture of our country is integral to a child’s education.
Since April of 2023, Aditi has been the Senior Curator for Performing Arts at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
Aditi is married with two children and lives with her family in Delhi.
Arnika Ahldag
Head of Curation and Exhibition, Museum of Art & Photography
Arnika Ahldag is the Head of Curation and Exhibition at MAP. As an art historian her interests cover the representation of labour in Indian contemporary art, institutional critique, exhibition histories and archives. She holds a PhD from the School of Arts and Aesthetics at JNU and an MA from University College in London, UK and Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany.
Instagram @sodaputti
Shweta Bhattad
Artist & Co-founder, Gram Art Project
Shweta is a trained sculptor, having completed her BFA in Nagpur, and MVA in MS University of Baroda. She has worked across mediums in the past, with a strong focus on issues of women’s safety, education and the female body. She is the founder-member of the Gram Art Project, which is a collective of 150 farmers, artists, women, students, youth, and makers from across eight villages in the Paradsinga situated in Sausar Tehsil of Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. They practice agroecology on 16 acres of land while embedding socially engaged art in their daily rhythm and community life. This process of inquiry, inspiration, ideation, design, and implementation has enabled the Collective to create alternative knowledge, innovative practices, and cultures of farming and entrepreneurship. It has also enabled Shweta and her team to embed performance art that addresses the intersectional loss of agricultural and ecological biodiversity and the depletion of commons such as water bodies and forests, further layered with the growing burdens and labor and violence on women and their bodies.
Social media : @gramartproject
Moderator
Ruchira Das
Director Arts (India), British Council
Ruchira Das is an arts leader with 25 years of experience in working on projects in India and internationally. Before joining the British Council, she worked as Artistic Director at Arthshila where she oversaw programming of multi arts centres in locations across India. In 2013, she founded ThinkArts to facilitate high quality, transformative arts events for children and young people. She has also been a tutor of Strategic Planning & Financial Management in short courses organised by ARThink South Asia, where she served as the Deputy Director.