Art Futures: Creating Future Stakeholders in Art

Equipped with a Degree in Medicine, a Passion for teaching and a keen insight into children’s psychology, Dr. Alefia Poonawala has been conducting ‘Creative Kids’ in Colaba since the last 15 years. She adopts a ‘Hands On’ teaching approach In her classes which are based on the “Reggio Emelia” principle. Her Field trips to various places of Historic, Science & Civic importance are very popular with children of all age groups. Creative Kids’ Nursery Program follows some of the latest and most popular programs from US and CANADA. Creative kids focuses on providing meaningful language and literacy experiences for children during every part of their daily routine. Their curriculum is a proven success in preparing students for kindergarten, drawing from years of innovation and research to provide developmentally appropriate, multi sensory tools and strategies for the classroom. Their program demonstrates children learn more effectively by actively doing, with materials that address all styles of learning.

Jaideep Mehrotra is a multi-disciplinary contemporary artist who has been a part of the Indian art scene for the past four decades. Though renowned for working with a multitude of mediums, he is best known for being a pioneer of the digital medium as an art form in India, using cutting-edge technology in his works, as well as his ability to push new ideas to their conceptual thresholds. With 24 solo and numerous group exhibitions all over the world to his name, his work has been featured in art fairs and auctions, and with collectors nationally and internationally. He also has two public sculptures to his credit. Jaideep has served as a panelist on award schemes, and has conducted numerous workshops and lecture demonstrations for both children and professional adults. His latest show of abstract paintings, ‘Reflections in Mercury’, which opens on the 23rd of September, pushes boundaries by introducing works of art that display a technique that Jaideep has evolved after several years of experimental research.

Ashiesh Shah is a renowned architect and interior designer and art collector. He has a degree in Interiors and Architecture from Parsons University, New York. His design firm, Ashiesh Shah Architecture + Design handles various high-end design projects in India and beyond including private homes, offices, restaurants and retails spaces. Ashiesh was invited by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog as a Champion of Change in Transforming India through G2B Partnerships this year. He will continue to be the spokesperson of Soft Power on the special committee that is an advisory board to the Prime Minister of India towards the vision of Incredible India 2.0. Ashiesh was named the Elle Décor Designer of the Year in 2016 and is named one of the top 50 architects in the country by Architectural Digest for four consecutive years. Ashiesh was also picked as one of the 20 people to watch out for by CNN GO. This year GQ India selected him again as one of the 50 most influential young Indians. Hello Magazine listed him as one of 50 Most Dynamic Indians of the year. A contributing editor at several leading titles, including Vogue and AD, he has also been published extensively in the New York Times, World of Interiors, International Herald Tribune, Wallpaper Magazine, Elle Decoration, Architectural Digest, Elle, Condenast Traveller, Forbes, GQ, Outlook Business to name a few. An ardent collector of art and design, in 2014, he was nominated as the most influential young art collector in the sub continent by Forbes India. Ashiesh considers himself an eclectic collector, whose taste spans centuries and continents. His keen interest in art often informs, inspires and nourishes his practice and perspective. He is a renowned curator for design exhibitions of art, crafts and design that brings together the best of Indian talent under one roof. He is currently collaborating with the Times of India group to curate and develop a Design Exhibition in 2018 that will showcase the best in the design from around the world. The first edition of this will be in Mumbai on March 10 &11, 2018. In addition, he is also fronting a first of its kind design-centric television show,‘Design HQ', featuring celebrities and their homes on Fox Life produced by CondeNast Video.

Minal Vazirani founded Saffronart in 2000, and has been instrumental in growing its operations from startup to its current position. She was instrumental in establishing and expanding Saffronart's presence in Mumbai, New York and London, and has driven the company's foray into new businesses, including jewellery, textiles and other collectibles. In addition, Minal has curated, planned and organised exhibitions of Indian art in India and internationally. Minal is a regular panelist and guest speaker at Indian contemporary art events as an industry expert, and has served several industry organisations. She has been on the board of advisors to the Friends of Sir JJ School of Art Trust and Time Out magazine India, and has co-chaired the FICCI committee on Arts and Business. Minal has been featured in Art + Auction magazine's global power issue, and been a fellow at the Aspen Institute's India leadership programme. She was also invited to contribute to the 2009 Art Asia Pacific Almanac to represent the trajectory of Indian art over the year. In 2005, Minal led a review of Saffronart’s business when the Harvard Business School published a case study on the company. It continues to be studied by MBA students across business schools.Prior to founding Saffronart, Minal was a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton in Mumbai where she worked across several industries in the US, South East Asia and India. Minal received her MBA from INSEAD in France, where she received the Sasakawa Fellowship, and a BS in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering with a minor in Art History and Indian History from the University of California, Los Angeles.Minal has been an active collector of Indian contemporary art over the last twenty years.

Gayatri Rangachari Shah is a journalist and Vice President - Asia at Tina Brown Live Media, a live journalism platform based in New York. She is a contributing editor at VOGUE and Architectural Digest and has a fortnightly column on luxury in The Hindu's weekend edition. Gayatri’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, CNN online, The Indian Express, The Times of India, Mint, Conde Nast Traveler, Harper's Bazaar, and ELLE. She has written extensively on the arts and is a trustee at the Mumbai Art Room. Before foraying into journalism, Gayatri had a varied career as a management consultant at The Monitor Group in New York, Boston and London, as an equity analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York and as a policy analyst at the UK Treasury in London. She lives in Mumbai with her husband, two children and a dog.