Conferences

We have participated in several conferences that have sought to share ideas and exchange information in the realm of Arts based interventions as well as innovative learning practices.

Learn Conference 2024 by Sankalp Chennai

Dr. Gitanjali Govindrajan, Founder and Executive Director of Snehadhara Foundation, was a speaker at the LEARN 2024 Conference on 21st September 2024. This conference brought together global experts to discuss neurodiversity, inclusion, and the creation of equitable spaces. Dr. Gitanjali’s talk, titled “Harmony in Diversity: Embracing Neurodiversity through Artistic Expression,” provided a deep dive into the denotations and connotations of equity, neurodiversity, and inclusion. She emphasized how learning and education for neurodiverse individuals are intuitive, lifelong, and process-oriented, rather than merely outcome-driven. She encouraged each attendee to take steps toward embracing inclusive practices daily and to reflect on their relationship with the concepts of equity, inclusion, and neurodiversity.

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Christ University Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore

Our Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Gitanjali G Govindrajan, graced the Valedictory Ceremony of Arthotsav by ECONTAGO, The Economics Association at Christ University Bannerghatta Road, as the Chief Guest! Dr. Gitanjali addressed a gathering of over 400 students from the economics department on the compelling topic of “Empowering Youth as Change Agents for Sustainable Economic Growth and Development.” She also felicitated the winners of the festival’s exciting two-day events.

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Christ University SDG Cell, Bangalore

Dr. Gitanjali G Govindrajan, Founder and Executive Director at Snehadhara Foundation, was at Christ University Central Campus, where she gave a talk on “Youth Skills for Peace and Development” in celebration of UN World Youth Skills Day 2024. She addressed over 100 students from various Christ University campuses during the inauguration of their Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Cell.

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NMIMS Bangalore

Our Associate Director Yashaswini Gupta was a panelist at Vihaan 10.0, a flagship event of Udyam, the Social Responsibility Committee of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Bangalore, which serves as a platform for collaboration between corporate entities and NGOs. This year, the focus was on “Innovation to Drive Social Change in Rural India,” aiming to address the diverse challenges faced by rural communities and uncover innovative solutions for sustainable progress.

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Jyoti Nivas College

Snehadhara Foundation was part of the ‘Promoting Inclusion through Arts and Creative Expression: A Path to Better Mental Health- International Conference 2024’, organized by EKA Educational and Charitable Trust and Jyoti Nivas College, as our Founder and Executive Director, Dr Gitanjali G Govindrajan, was a Speaker at the conference.

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India Inclusion Summit 2023

As a part of the 11th year of India Inclusion Summit, at the curtain raiser 11 artists were awarded in a poignant ceremony today. In this moving commendation, the artists’ works were presented to all gathered by the Snehadhara team.

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Never-The-Less conference by Fourth Wave Foundation at IIM B

Founder and Executive Director of Snehadhara Foundation Dr Gitanjali was on the panel at the Never-The-Less Conference organized by Fourth Wave Foundation to discuss Inclusive Education in Disability, for “Parental and Community Engagement in Enabling Inclusive Education” with Dr B K S Vardhan Director, State Institute for School Leadership, Educational Planning & Management, Prof Alphonsa Joseph HOD – Psychology, Dr S R Chandrashekar Institute of Speech and Hearing, chaired by Madaiah Madegowda Professor Indian Institute of Health Management and Research. The panel discussed community awareness, family training and more. Dr Gitanjali enraptured the crowd towards diverse thought, emphasizing inclusion as a verb and encouraging individual action and ownership in bringing about inclusive education.

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India Inclusion Summit 2022

Dr Gitanjali was invited as a panelist at the 10th Edition of the India Inclusion Summit to talk about Art for Inclusion. It was a forum to showcase human ingenuity, spark a dialogue with the public, and build an inclusive community where no one is left behind. 

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Demystifying Disability by Oracle Diverse Abilities Network

In recognition of ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’ today, our Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Gitanjali Sarangan, was the guest speaker at the Oracle Diverse Abilities Network’s (ODAN-India) webinar. She eloquently addressed the need to demystify disability and shed light on the stereotypes that come in the way of genuine connection with another person.

The talk not only touched upon the current situation regarding misconceptions about disability but also illuminated the ways through which we can begin building inclusive spaces that view individuals with varied needs as being differently-abled rather than disabled.

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Conscious Connections, Mumbai- Affiliated with Smt. P.N.Doshi Women's College

Our Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Gitanjali Sarangan talked about ‘The Practice of Arts in Therapy and Inclusion’ at the National seminar hosted by the Department of Human Development of Smt. P.N. Doshi Women’s College (Affiliated to SNDT University).

The webinar had over 300 participants across 70 colleges who offer Human Development and Psychology in their Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. 

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Mental Health and Self Care for Youth Webinar by Sambhavya Foundation, Nepal

Our Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Gitanjali Sarangan spoke about ‘Mental Health and Resilience in times of COVID’ in the talk organized by Sambhavya Foundation.

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Virtual 12th Inspiration Festival

A collection of talks on “Education Transform People” by Women leaders for a group of 400+ educators from across the world, organized by Mind Mingle. The purpose is to hear speakers talk on holistic learning and teaching. Some of the past speakers of the festival have been HH Dalai Lama, Kiran Bedi, Sonam Wangchuk, Shaheen Mistri, Varun Gandhi and Gaur Gopal Das.

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QtSteam- (Im)clusion

Our Founder speaks about her journey and the role of inclusion and the Arts in her vision for children.

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Future School Leaders- Masterclass with Fearless Educators

Titled ‘Kalasamvaad-Creative Dialogues to Re-imagine learning’, this talk focuses on integrating the Arts-music,movement,theatre, and play into teaching methodologies within institutional settings and re-imagining classrooms by infusing existing learning protocols with artistic interventions to understand how children learn.

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Qatar Foundation- Leading Educational Advancement through Progressive Schools Webinar

Leaders from progressive schools around the world come together to discuss the challenges and lessons learned during the current crisis.

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LEAPS SUMMIT, Qatar 2019

Snehadhara Foundation was honoured to be part of the LEAPS (Leading Educational Advancement through Progressive Schools) Summit hosted by Qatar Foundation, Doha today. At the Round Table today with Vice Chairperson and CEO Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Gitanjali Sarangan (Founder and Executive Director), Sumathi Ramjee (Joint Managing Trustee) and Soundararajan Sarangan (Managing Trustee) shared the story of Snehadhara Foundation’s innovation in education and in reimagining classrooms using the arts. We were honoured to be one among the 6 global progressive institutions along with Lumiar Foundation, South America and UK; Hub School 21, France; NuVu, US; Kingsland Pre-Prep, UK and Agora School, Netherlands.

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Conferencia Internacional - Por una Educacion que despliega las habilidades del Ser, Buenos Aires - September 2019

Our Executive Director, Gitanjali Sarangan speaks about Construyendo la inclusion a traves de las Artes – Building Inclusion Through the Arts and launches the Art Practices for Inclusion at the  at the Conferencia Internacional – Por una Educacion que despliega las habilidades del Ser          (translated as For an Education that displays the abilities of Being) in Buenos Aires.This Conference also had Juan Mora y Araujo-National Director of Popular Economy and Director at Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Nation, Argentina, Dr. Christian Plebst -Speech Therapist and Director of the Conscientious Teaching Academy,South America, Lorena Llobenes-Paediatric Neurologist , Natali Gumiy- a practising Psychologist and Maxie Aubi-Director , Casa Angelman.

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Right to Play, 2018

Our Founder and Executive Director Gitanjali Sarangan was at the Discussion on Right to Play on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, organised by Headstreams, Christ (Deemed to be University), Smt. VHD Central Institute of Home Science, St. Joseph’s Autonomous College and Gudgudee.

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AEE 45th International Conference, At Montreal, Canada, 2017

We presented at the 45th AEE conference that brought together a worldwide community of more than 700 practitioners, teachers, therapists, facilitators, adventure guides and trainers. Our Founder and Executive Director Gitanjali Sarangan was one among the six chosen speakers at the fourth year of ActivatEE. ActivatEE is designed to facilitate the process of creating one’s story, inspiring the use of one’s voice, and launching an idea – all on stage during a conference keynote. We presented our story ‘Inclusion, the gift of presence’.

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Imagine Play and Creative Mediums, Bangalore, 2017

It was indeed an honor to be a part of the panel with Ms. Mina Dilip, Rajesh P.I of Actor’s Collective, Professor Sudarshan Khanna, Naveen Thomas and Rathnesh Mathur at the International Conference on Perspectives and Practices in Play. With Aditi-Ratnesh Mathur

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Arts and Gallatta @ Conference on Perspectives, Bangalore, 2017

The session had children from St.Mar Thomas Opportunity, parents, care givers , educators and delegates who were participating in the conference. What we explored together was play with voice, play with rhythm, play with energies, play with new groups. Naturally buddies emerged as an adult worked with each child.

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EEC, Gurgaon, 2016

The Experiential Educator’s Conclave focused on the application of experiential learning, The art of Facilitation and teaching, Integrated Learning Environment and Classroom Practices. Our Executive Director spoke on the topic Synaesthesia of the Arts for Mainstreaming Inclusion.

NIEPMD, Chennai, 2016

Our Founder and Executive Director, Gitanjali Sarangan and Sumathi Ramjee facilitated a day long conference at the National Institute for Empowerment of People with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD) in Chennai this Saturday, the 17th June, on using ARTS BASED THERAPY AS A COMPLEMENTARY HEALTHCARE PRACTICE.

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Manoyatra, Bangalore, 2014

Co-creating Learning Spaces Using Multi-Art Forms -Facilitated a workshop with mental health professionals and students at ‘Manoyatra’- A symposium of workshops on Creative Therapeutic Methodologies.

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