“Unmute: Breaking the Cultures of Silence: Ethical and legal conversations on patriarchy, misogyny and sexual harassment in art pedagogy and practice” In collaboration with Beej, Mumbai.
Discussion with Amy Wilkinson, Executive Director of the In/Motion Chicago International Dance Film Festival, on Dance films from this year’s curation, as the Indian curtain raiser for the same festival.
Discussion on Dance films from India, with Amy Wilkinson, Executive Director of In/Motion Chicago International Dance Film Festival, as part of a special screening of Indian dance films ( curated by Dr. Arshiya Sethi, founder of India’s only Dance Film Festival, DanzLenz), to serve as an outreach initiative of the same festival.
“Unmute: How to talk about Sexual Harassment in the Arts- An Open table discussion” with Natyanova and Arts Forward, both Kolkata based organizations.
Conversation with senior Advocate Akhil Sibal and Dr. Arshiya Sethi, on “Crossing the Line: Art and Obscenity in India”. Conducted in Collaboration with TAP (The Art Project) Talks
DanzLenz event “Chakshu” was done on 7th, 8th & 9th May, 2021, in collaboration with Kalpatary Arts. This three-day curation of almost 30 Indian dance films from across the globe was special since the hour of the film showcase would be accompanied by a discussion with dancers, choreographers, directors, patrons and other stake holders.
“Reboot/ Reform/ Respond: A two Day session on talking about Ethics and Nurturing Safe Environment in Art Practices. For a Kolkata based Performing Arts organization.
Distribution of Family Monthly Ration kits to 35 artistes of NCR
Distribution of Family Monthly Ration kits to 30 artistes of NCR
Start of the “Arts and the Law” series in Bengali- “Kala Ebam Ain”.
Focus of first session is on “The Arts and Abuse of Power: Harassment and Social Harassment”. Panelists: Prof. N.K Chakrabarti (V.C., NUJS), Paramita Saha (Artsforward) and Prof. Kavita Singh (NUJS, Kolkata) & Prof. Aishika Chakraborty (Jadavpur University).
Arts and the Law series in Bengali Session 2: “Copyright and Plagiarism in the Arts” Panelists: Prof. Anirban Mazumdar (NUJS), Prof. Paramita Dasgupta ( NUJS), Bickram Ghosh (Eminent Tabla artiste and music composer) & Nandita Palchoudhuri ( Curator Folk Arts, crafts and performance).
Arts and the Law series in Bengali Session 3: “Performers Rights & Contracts”. Panelists: Prof. Yashomati Ghosh ( (NLSUI), Prof. Anirban Mazumdar (NUJS), Vikram Iyengar (dancer, choreographer, theatre director, arts researcher, writer, manager and curator) & Swapnokalpa Dasgupta ( Head of Programming Dance, NCPA).
“Limits to the Freedom of Artistic Expression: Can arts become obscene and cross the Line?” Panelists: Prof. Paromita Chattoraj (KIIT University), Prof. Shameek Sen ( NUJS), Prof Subhendu Ghosh, (Educator, Scientist, Musician and Protest Singer,) Titas Dutta ( Theatre maker, Actor and Arts Manager), Swarup Dutta ( Photographer, Scenographer and Designer) & Bijleeraj Patra ( Independent Researcher & Features’ writer).
“Rights of All Artistes: The LGBTQ+ Artistes”; Panelists Advocate Indrajit De (Kolkata High Court), Prof. Shouvik Kumar Guha ( NUJS), Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee (Interdisciplinary Artist & Performer), Bappaditya Mukherjee (Founder, Director Prantakatha) & Achintya ( Musician & Prantakatha Volunteer).
“Rights of all Artistes: The differently abled and trauma survivors.” Panellists- Prof. Dipa Dube (IIT Kharagpur), Dr. Aditi Bandopadhyah (Founder & Managing Trustee- Samya Foiundation) and Dr. Sohini Chakraborty ( Kolkata Sanved) & Shalini Newbigging ( International Justice Mission).
“Rights of all Artistes: The Child artiste”. Panelists- Prof. Ruchira Goswami (NUJS), Urmi Basu (New Light), Santanil Ganguly (Artistic Director, Jhalapala, a theatre organisation for young people) and Sudeshna Roy (Film maker).
Live Facebook Gupshup with Dr. Arshiya Sethi, Presented by the Dramatic Art and Design Association, founded by Govind Singh Yadav. (https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10225300507682000&id=1301826280&sfnsn=wiwspwa)
A two day Orientation session for the Young India Fellows on “Understanding Psychoactive Substance Abuse”
Conversation with Dr. Arshiya Sethi, on “the Preforming Arts: The Uncertain Path Ahead” with Dr. Anita Ratnam and Madhu Nataraj Paramita Saha and Shreya Nagaraj Singh, as part of the Chutney Mami Club on Clubhouse (https://www.clubhouse.com/join/chutney-mami/8uOtk81r/m3YD2)
Launch of the Unmute.help website, as an independent online platform to serve as a resource centre to empower artistes and arts leaders with knowledge on their rights and responsibilities, and safe guard the rights of artistes through legal literacy. www.unmute.help
Talk and Conversation at Kathak Kendra, New Delhi as part of the Amrit Mahotsav Festival to mark the 75th year of India’s independence.
An introductory Talk at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) for the students, on “Arts and the Law: What they certainly don’t teach in Arts school,” organized by the Centre for Media and Entertainment Law.
Time to Unmute- A conversation with Aalap’s Akhila Krishnamurthy that went live on Instagram @aalap_concepts at 9 pm
A two-day Orientation session for the new entrants to Ashoka University on “Understanding Psychoactive Substance Abuse”
“Adolescence and its challenges”- An Orientation session for Teachers and Staff (Primary, Middle and Senior Sections) of Salwan School, Gurugram.
Prof Maheswar Neog Commemorative Lecture presented by Prof. Dr. Dhruba Jyoti Borah on “The Journey of Bhakti: The Religious History of the Bhakti Movement in Assam”, in collaboration with the Prof Maheswar Neog memorial Trust, Guwahati.
Moderated the conversation with dance artistes Bindu Rajendran, Vaishali Trivedi and Meera Shankaranarayan, who were part of the IAAC’s Erasing Borders Festival.
Presented a paper on “The Hidden Agendas: Indian Art and Culture, and the New National Education Policy” as the keynote address at the three day National Webinar on “Indian Art and Culture” organised by the Desh Bhakt University, Mandi Gobindgarh.
Presented a paper on “Unmuting- #MeToo: Fighting sexual harassment in the ecosphere of dance in India, during Covid times”, based on Kri Foundation’s work from 2020 onwards, as part of the Dance Studies Association Conference, 2021.
Presented at the Rangayan Arts and Literature Festival, RALF 2021, the curation of Dance films titled “DanzLenz-“Covid Creativity”- Dance Films made during Covid Times: Screenings & Conversations
Collaborated with and Moderated the session at RALF 2021, on “Biopics and Biographies-Framing artistes in film and writing”
2Collaborated with and Moderated the session at RALF 2021, on “How can you use your dance differently?” that featured artistes who were using their art to help society and its specific problems.
conducted training of Police men at the Central Detective Training School, on 28th, October, 2021, on Gender issues- i) Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Work Place & ii) Gender and the burden of Drug Use
Collaborated with and moderated the three-day series on Geet Govind, illustrated in Dance, Art and Literature, featuring Dancer Dr. Ileana Citaristi, Visual Arts scholar, Dr. Alka Pande and Literature scholar Dr. Raghunath Panda.
Conducted workshops for Adolescent Students from marginalized communities under the Teach for India Programme on 8, 9th and 10th on the subject of Body Image (8th November), Bullying (9th November) & Drug Abuse (10th November)
Illustrated talk on Sexual Harassment in the Ats- “Press *Unmute: Why you need to!” (Pictures & Video)
Tat Twam Asi awareness session for New York based dancers, organized by Shrithi Mohan of Tat Twam Asi. (Pictures)
Vidyagama Online Seminar organized by Mahagami (Deemed University) Aurangabad. Kri Foundation’s Founder Trustee, Dr. Arshiya Sethi was invited to read a paper of NEP, 2020- “The New Educational Policy and the Performing Arts ( Leela Akka’s review)