WHAT? Kahaani FestivalTeamwork Arts, a pioneering entertainment company in the performing arts space and HP Printers present the first edition of the Kahaani Festival in Pune, which aims to bring children and storytellers together to weave a world of magic through the wonder of stories.
WHEN? June 24-25, 2016. 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
WHERE? Delhi Public School, Nyati Estate Road, Nyati County, Mohammed Wadi Pune, Maharashtra
The Festival is being hosted by Arthshila at the Delhi Public School Pune in Mohammad Wadi on June 24-25, 2016 where students from the school and all across the city will be able to engage in creative storytelling sessions, workshops and activities. Several artists, educators and storytellers from across the country will join local counterparts in bringing together this exciting Festival for young kids. The Kahaani Festival Outreach, organized by Pratham Books, will also travel to nearly 15 schools in and around the city, engaging students in exciting storytelling sessions from June 17-23rd.
Highlights of the Festival include Kalpataru - puppet shows by Dadi Pudumjee, Tram Arts Trust’s object theatre performance A Bird’s Eye View, cartoon making workshops by Charuhas Pandit – the co-creator of popular Marathi comic strip Chintoo, dance workshops Moving Stories by Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts, theatre workshops Stories in Motion by Aditya Roy, music workshops Sound of Music by Chayan Adhikari, storytelling workshops by Eric Miller and Scholastic workshops for parents and educators, and a special Culinary Arts demonstration by Abhijit Berde. Through these activities the students, as well as educators and parents, will have the opportunity to create and share personal stories and explore various tools of storytelling.
The Festival is presented in partnership with HP Printers. Printers are an essential device for every home today, offering the ease and comfort of printing A+ school projects and notes, while eliminating the need for those late-night trips to the print shop.
The students can do their school projects, experiment and engage in ‘Do It Yourself (DIY)’ activities, which adds to the overall creative development of students.
The Kahaani Festival is a path breaking enterprise by Teamwork Arts which aims to revive the dying art of storytelling, bringing it alive through oral traditions, music, theatre, dance and puppetry along with various other art forms. It aims to take learning beyond the classroom and through workshops, performances and storytelling sessions - creates an atmosphere for children to freely explore the realm of their imagination and creativity.
The Festival started in 2011 as a unique initiative exploring storytelling as an alternative to formal educational tools and over the years has grown into a multi-city festival. Kahaani Festival has successfully travelled to cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar and last year, piloted in the west in Mahabaleshwar. This year the Festival kicks off its first edition in the cultural capital of Maharashtra - Pune, a city known for its young and vibrant populace albeit with strong roots in culture and emphasis on education, arts and crafts, music and theatre.
Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director Teamwork Arts adds, “Kahaani Festival will enchant and empower audiences of all ages as it explores a multitude of traditional and contemporary narratives from India and around the world. We are delighted to collaborate with Delhi Public School, HP Printers and Pratham Books who’ve joined hands with us for this colourful celebration of the world of storytelling. We hope that the young kids in Pune, as well as their parents and educators, will immensely enjoy the unique experience of this festival."
The Kahaani Festival is hosted by Arthshila, a multi arts space initiated at Patna by Takshila Educational Society to support literary and cultural events in the country. As elucidated by Sanjiv Kumar, Founder, Arthshila, “Amongst the vast range of endeavours that Takshila Educational Society undertakes and promotes, those catering to children and childhood occupy a special place and keep us on a constant quest for innovative and engaging activities that are worth spreading. We believe that programmes like the Kahaani Festival must reach every child of the country. Takshila joined hands with Teamwork Arts in 2014 to take Kahaani to Ludhiana, and now its initiative, Arthshila is ready to bring the second spell of enchanting puppetry, theatre, dancing, craftwork, magic show, cartoon-sketching, et al to the young people of Pune.”
To bring the excitement of the Festival to city kids, the Festival will feature an Outreach programme, organized by Pratham Books and Teamwork Arts, in an initiative to unleash the creativity and ignite the young minds in Pune. The outreach programme will begin from June 17 leading on to the first edition of Kahaani Festival. It will feature exciting interactive sessions in various educational institutes, in and around Pune. Catering to children from ages 4 to 14, the programme will include sessions in each school with storytellers and various artiste facilitators conducting theatre, dance, music, and art workshops.
“The Story telling sessions and illustration workshops means immense joy! It kindles the imagination, curiosity and creativity. A story opens a totally new world to children and at the same time also connects them to their culture, people and language. Especially if the stories are in their own language. This is exactly what happens in school outreach programs. Reaching out to government or low budget schools means democratizing this joy and excitement. This initiative gives completeness to the main festival. Our partnership with Teamwork Arts is quite meaningful as it gives an opportunity to reach out to the kids which are otherwise unreached.”, says Sandhya Taksale, Editor Pratham Books, Pune.
“Teachers who are storytellers keep children engaged, generating long-term memories. As a linguistic, musical and interactive medium, storytelling is a bit like delicious chocolate, in that, it kindles the senses, transporting a person into a magical, enchanting, bewitching world”, says Radhika Bapat, Parent Child Development Researcher, who will be conducting sessions as part of the Kahaani Festival Outreach.
Produced by Teamwork Arts, the Kahaani Festival travels across India with stories and storytellers from all around the world. Beyond the conventional forms of storytelling, the festival also features artists with unique styles providing them with a platform to showcase their art.
For more information, visit- www.kahaanifestival.com
Edited by- Debjani Hazarika