People

The CERTAD faculty bring together decades of experience in

  • teaching
  • art and design
  • math and science education
  • environment education
  • technology integration
  • curriculum development based on latest research
  • environment education
  • creation and growth of schools
  • change management
  • teacher professional development

This experience spans schools across the Indian urban economic spectrum. CERTAD members also have professional affiliates in institutions at the forefront of educational research and practice such as Media Lab at MIT, Teachers College at Columbia University and Oxford Brookes University, England.

Faculty:

Advisors:

  • Tara Kini
  • Suchitra

Artists–in-Residence:

Visiting Faculty:

Recent Graduates:

  • Alisha Panjwani
  • Babitha Harry
  • Sadhvi Jawa

FACULTY

Geetha Narayanan

is the Founder-Director of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, and Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore. A visiting faculty at Westminster
Institute of Education, UK, Geetha has taught on both the Masters and Undergraduate teacher education programmes. She has also been visiting faculty and researcher at the Lifelong Kindergarten Research Project of the MIT Media Lab, USA. An MA (with distinction) in Education from Oxford Brookes University, UK, Geetha is currently completing a PhD in Education from Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Arzu Mistry

Arzu Mistry, BFA California College of the Arts, Ed. M. Harvard Graduate School of Education, is an educator, muralist, mixed media visual artist and dancer.
She lives and works between the United States and India. She has 10 years of arts education experience spanning varied educational institutions from private schools to schools for urban poor,museums to non-profits, and State Offices of Education to Art and Design Colleges. At Srishti, Arzu is an Artist-in-Residence and a Research Associate at Project Vision. Her research this year has centered on connecting memory, story, play and art making through community art projects, teacher professional development and educational research and practice at Drishya Kallika Kendra,Learning centers for Urban Poor.

Anitha Santhanam

Anitha is an artist-in-residence at Srishti. She completed her training in Physical Theatre from LISPA London in 2010, on the Charles Wallace Scholarship. Her performing experience includes Indian contemporary dance and physical theatre both solo and group performances. Her teaching and research interests include movement and theatre, arts-in-education and embodied learning. In London, Anitha also trained at ARTIS, a company integrating performing arts into education, and at JABADAO on developmental movement play.


ARTISTS–in-RESIDENCE:

Jackson Poretta

After graduating from the University of Michigan with Honors in 1997, Jackson devoted his work experience to realizing authentic social change and ecological justice. For 2 years, he served as a farming apprentice for the “Community Farm of Ann Arbor”, providing 130 local families with healthy, vibrant, and ecological produce. Jackson is a certified permaculture designer, with specific experience in biodynamic farming techniques, community supported agriculture and natural building. Jackson was a “Teach for America” corps member and served as the 7th grade science teacher and department head for a middle school in Oakland, CA. He was also involved in the dreaming, launching, and co-cultivating of Oakland Leaf, an arts and activism non-profit organization. Currently, Jackson is working in collaboration with the Drishya educational project to transform their school sites into ecological centers. He is specifically engaged in rainwater catchment systems, grey-water recycling, micro-intensive gardening, organic design, and natural building. http://oaklandleaf.org/

Joanna Griffin.

Joanna Griffin is an artist who has taught at the University of Southampton, University of Wolverhampton and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Ireland. She has an MA in
Fine Art from Edinburgh University and an MA in Hypermedia Studies from the University of Westminster. Her work has been shown internationally in galleries and film festivals including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, but has more recently taken place in public contexts such as radio, participative events and education. Her research has been in the material and immaterial manifestations of satellite networks, at the University of British Columbia and the Space Science Lab, UC Berkeley. She has worked with UK-based Arts Catalyst on ‘Satellite Stories’ made in collaboration with the Mullard Space Science Lab. At Srishti she works with the Indian Space Research Organization on a series of artist projects and experimental education initiatives for children and the public, under the project title ‘Moon Vehicle’. http://www.aconnectiontoaremoteplace.net/

VISITING FACULTY

Geetanjali Sachdev

Geetanjali is Dean of the Advanced Diploma Program at Srishti. Her interests lie in art and design pedagogy with a recent focus on public pedagogies. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Education from Oxford Brookes University at the Westminster Institute of Education, UK (Click here for the Dissertation) and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Management (Graphic Communications Management track) from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

Deepak Srinivasan

Deepak Srinivasan is an artist, media practitioner, researcher and pedagogue, currently a core member of Maraa, a media & arts collective based in Bangalore and faculty at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. After a BSc. in environmental sciences (St Joseph’s College of Arts and Sciences, Bangalore) and an MS in neurobiology (Rutgers University, New Jersey), his interests shifted to exploring the role of media & arts as methods for transdisciplinary inquiry. Since 2005, he has been training in performing arts and community theatre with prominent theatre practitioners like Probir Guha of Alternative Living theatre, Kolkata and Dr. Ravi Varma (Performing Arts dept, Pondicherry University). Deepak’s experience in the audio medium comes from his days as content developer with Worldspace Satellite Radio. Community art and media have become an emerging focus and through this inquiry Deepak has been trying to juxtapose the social, cultural and psychological development to better understand emerging political negotiations and identities.