The Dragon and The Tiger: Education and Cultural Ecosystems of India and China

In a forty-year long career in Indian diplomacy Nirupama Rao has worked on a number of complex, challenging issues involving India’s neighbourhood, India’s China relationship including the territorial dispute, media and communications, serving in Russia, the United States, Sri Lanka and China. Played a pioneering role as the first woman spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, and as the first Indian woman High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the first Indian woman Ambassador to China before being appointed Foreign Secretary in 2009. Was Foreign Secretary from 2009-2011. Served as Indian Ambassador to the United States 2011-2013. In retirement has been a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow, a Fellow at Brown University, The New School, New York and The Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC. Was George H. Ball Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, New York, in the Fall of 2018. She is also a Member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; Member, Advisory Council, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, Councillor, World Refugee Council, Independent Director, ITC Ltd, Independent Director, JSW Steel, Ltd, Independent Director, KEC Ltd, Trustee, Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore. She has been the recipient of many awards including the Rani Laxmibai Award (Vanitha Ratna), Government of Kerala, 2016; KPS Menon Memorial Award, 2010, Fellowship of Peace Award, Gandhi Memorial Center, Washington DC, November 2018, Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, Pondicherry University, 2012. She is also the Founder of the South Asian Symphony Foundation which is setting up a South Asian Symphony Orchestra to build peace in South Asia.

James I. Gabbe is the founder of CITIZENARTS. He is an educator, filmmaker, writer, editor, publisher and communications professional who has written for newspapers, magazines, the movie industry, corporations and the U.S. Army. He is a lecturer in local and global civics affairs and journalism at numerous universities including Beijing Foreign Studies University, Harvard University and Northeastern University, among others, and is a professional photographer. He has worked extensively in India, China, Europe and throughout the USA where he has formed relationships with many academic, business, cultural and governmental leaders. James has written, directed and co-filmed a series of CITIZENARTS educational documentaries on the US, India and China. He is currently working on projects in India, China, the US and Europe. His historical work, The Universe of Union Square, was published in collaboration with Barnes & Noble booksellers. His other written works include the novel, LaRue’s Maneuvers and MARCH, a dramatic play. His feature-length screenplay, Duke, was optioned by Twentieth Century Fox and later optioned and taken into development by TriStar. In addition to CITIZENARTS, James is the founder of Gabbegroup, a marketing, public relations, and digital publishing firm that works with for-profit and not-for-profit institutions and corporations in a wide array of industries. Among the many business organizations for which his firm has provided senior-level communications are Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson and McKinsey. Gabbegroup clients also include such educational institutions as Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, UCLA, University of Texas and Vanderbilt University. He is the recipient of numerous communications awards for video/multimedia and print communications. James serves on the Advisory Council of the Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities. James holds an M.A. in history from Brown University, an M.S. in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is completing an M.S. Ed. in educational psychology at Columbia University Teachers’ College.

Artist and curator Bose Krishnamachari lives and works between Mumbai and Kochi. His diverse artistic and curatorial practice includes drawing, painting, sculpture, design, installation and architecture. Bose Krishnamachari has exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions including '"Bombay Maximum City", Lille 3000, Lille, curated by Caroline Naphegyi-2006, "The Shape That Is," Jendela and Concourse,Esplanade, Singapore-2006, Indian Art at the Swarovski ‘Crystal World, Innsbruck, Austria-2007, ‘Gateway Bombay’ at the Peabody Essex Museum-2007, India Art Now: Spazio Oberdan, Milan-2007, ‘Indian Highway’ at the Serpentine Gallery2009, the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Norway-2009, the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark-2010, the Lyon Contemporary Art Museum, the Fondazione MAXXI,Rome-2011, and the ARTZUID Amsterdam-2011. His curatorial projects include the seminal exhibition ‘The Bombay Boys’, New Delhi-2004, ‘Double - Enders,’ A travelling show - Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Kochi-2005, "AF-FAIR," 1X1 Contemporary and 1X1 Gallery, Dubai-2008, guest curator at the Indian pavilion of ARCO - Madrid-2009, and the travelling project, LaVA (Laboratory of Audio Visual Arts)-2007-2011.In 2009, Krishnamachari created Gallery BMB in South Mumbai with a vision to bring the best national and international art to India.He was Artistic Director and Co-Curator of India’s first Biennale – The Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012,Director of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014, 2016 and 2018, and is President of the Kochi Biennale Foundation. Bose Krishnamachari curated For an Image, Faster than Light, first edition of the Yinchuan Biennale in Yinchuan, MOCA, China which showed the work of 73 artists from 33 countries in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan.In December 2018, Krishnamachari became a Board Member of the International Biennial Association.

Akshay Mathur is the Director of Research and a Fellow of Geoeconomic Studies. His research focuses on the architecture of international business, finance and trade, and its impact on geopolitics. Before joining Gateway House, he worked as a Principal Architect with Fidelity Investments in Boston in the advanced research, strategy formulation, and business architecture. He has an MBA from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business with concentration in Finance and Business Analysis and research focused on transnational business and global macroeconomics. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from the School of Computer Science at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Akshay is an alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer. He is the co-founder of an NGO called Aasra Gramin Vikas Sansthan and of a social enterprise called Khushi Farms, both based in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India.