Transforming hearts through arts
The Hindu
‘Art to Connect’ unites children from mainstream schools with children who have special needs in a special bond that is crowned by creative pursuits. In its second edition now, the initiative is bringing more schools on board
On February 2, more than 200 children from various schools will attend the awards ceremony of ‘Art to Connect 2.0’ at Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai.
The event marks the culmination of an initiative to connect children from mainstream schools with children who have special needs. In the run-up to this event, both have showcased their skills in music, dance, painting and singing.
More than 100 schools and 300 specially-abled peers, referred to as “buddies”, across major cities participated in the second edition. Four teams (each comprising an able-bodied child and a buddy) were selected as the national winners of ‘Art to Connect 2.0’. Besides, awards will be presented in other categories such as “Harmony and Diversity”, “Transformative Connect” and “Inclusive Creativity”.
Winning is not the ultimate aim of this initiative started by Nirmala Krishnan, who has worn various hats including as principal of Mahindra World School and Country Head Education for the Jindal Group.
The event meets one of the criteria of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 10.3 of reducing inequalities and offering equal opportunities to all. The collaboration is also aimed at fostering empathy, promoting art and culture and encouraging children to develop an emotional connection with society.
Shruti Malaar, a Class XI student of Chennai Public School, took this initiative forward to get nine students to enrol for the event. With the help of two teacher coordinators their task was to figure out how to bond with the buddies and co-create a piece of art together.
Shruti was assigned the role of videographer-cum-editor where she had to shoot the work of teams to get the best out of them.
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