ISSUE #1 2016

HROUGH A RTC REATING C HANGE T

EDUCATION

HEALING

TAOSCOMMUNITY

BUILDING

VISION To facilitate art as a tool

towards an educated, healthy and harmonious

community.

MISSION To Promote art education

amongst less privileged children

To use art for emotional healing

To facilitate communal and social understanding through art.

TAOS and Mithram Special School, located in Arakkunnam, off Kochi city are working together on a key Special Project. TAOS facilitates the necessary skills and resources for providing art support to the students of Mithram to produce paper gift bags. The finished bags are then sold by selected students of Global Public School, who have undergone a session on social entrepreneurship led by Jibin, Jeeth and Jeethu from Bridge Social Innovations, entrepreneurs Hari Krishnan and Real Prad, and Arun Nair of

Creating young social entrepreneurs:Students of Global Public School in a workshop organised by TAOS Extending Creativity: Participants at Mithram Special

School with artists Victor Hazra and K L Santhosh, and students of Global Public School

LEARNING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SPECIAL PROJECT: MITHRAM SPECIAL SCHOOL AND GLOBAL PUBLIC SCHOOL, KOCHI

For centuries the power of the arts has been known, but it is only recently that it has become a mainstream research topic. With art changing lives and research in the world's most prestigious universities finding attention, the work that TAOS does is to bring art into the lives of people to create the change one desires. So Why Art? To name a few positive outcomes, Art builds a positive mindset and is effective in managing emotional pain. Art therapy is known to reduce stress and anxiety levels and it has also helped with depression and fatigue. Students are four times more likely to achieve academically in school. Art therapists have helped patients with Alzheimer's disease to trigger their short and long term memory.

TAOS believes in the power of art-healing, and our workshops are a testament to that. At our art expressive workshop, the process helped participants

WHY ART...?

NASSCOM.The GPS students have gained insights on how to market and sell these bags, creating marketing channels, making business and execution plans and research. The first set of bags will be sold during the 2016 Christmas season. This empowering project reaches out to society and aids in community building and ups the social entrepreneurship skills of young school children.

to find a way to release their negative emotions and understand how to unearth happiness by focusing on the positive aspects of their lives. Our ongoing workshops at government schools see students mould into the best versions of themselves. At Amravathy School in Mattancherry, for example, Mercy (name changed) was shy but she, at the end of just three workshops, began expressing her thoughts and proudly displayed her painting. One of the boys also present in the class was known to be hyperactive and restless, but by the third session, he was quieter and more focused. These instances are a few of the many that highlight the wonders of art. In addition to it, TAOS insists the awareness of art as necessary to appreciate culture and the arts, to be full-rounded individuals.

It is with great pleasure and gratitude that I write this note on behalf of The Art Outreach Society(TAOS). Since its inception in April this year, the TAOS team has worked diligently to take art to people and create lasting change, both individually and socially. We have worked continuously (and excitedly), innovating and creating ways to show how art can transform lives. From art education and art appreciation, to healing through the arts, we are witnesses to the many dialogues that have been created in an otherwise silent world. To us, it is not only about achievements, but about reaching out to others by using art as a tool for better, happier lives. From emotional healing, to better performances at school/work place, community building, and inculcating a sense of culture, TAOS is on a journey of social change. Our collaborations have helped us grow immensely, and one that needs special mention is with the TATA Institute of Social Sciences(TISS), Mumbai, to measure the effect

TEACHING SCREENWRITING FOR TAOSBy Elizabeth Chakkappan

Earlier this month I was invited to teach a screenwriting workshop for TAOS, The Arts Outreach Society, based in Kochi. The highlight of the experience for me was the chance to think about telling Indian stories with Indian writers. As an Indian American who has spent a great deal of my professional life working on film stories

for the mainstream American movie market, as a creative producer, writer and writing assistant, I don’t usually get the chance!I began the workshop by explaining the process of working on movies that are developed and produced for distribution by Hollywood studios with their vast coffers of resources, both financial and creative. I went on to contrast this experience with the process of working on scripts for independent producers and writers, with little more than their dreams and, if they’re really lucky, a particularly generous Christmas gift from their great aunt! The former offers the chance to tell big stories, with sweeping vistas, covering dynastic families over decades or centuries, but writers are strictly beholden to the studio’s formulae for recouping the budget. The latter provides the opportunity for experimentation with content and style, but writers may find inexperienced producers and directors as

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Putting imagery in writing: Film writing workshop withProf.Elizabeth Chakkappanof The New School, Parsons, New York

of our programmes on lives in our society. To prove that art is a p o w e r f u l change-maker.TAOS has just begun its journey, and we are sure it will be a fulfilling one, for both our beneficiaries and to us. Thus, to all those who trusted in our vision and supported us to start our work- a big thank you! To those we hope to see associate with us in the future, we look forward to it! Finally, to the TAOS team, nothing would have happened without you... Three cheers!

Founder and Director Tanya Abraham

Putting imagery in writing: Film writing workshop withProf.Elizabeth Chakkappanof The New School, Parsons, New York

egomaniacal as Hollywood A-Listers, without the resume to back it up. In either case it is impossible to guess which script may go into production and even harder to determine which may be a hit. All a writer can do is deliver a great story in a clearly written and cogently structured script.In order to give the attendants a first hand experience of these two different types of film stories, I asked them to develop scenes for both. Since the scripts I work on are almost always adaptations of other sources, I chose two newspaper articles for the fledgling scribes to adapt. A 2014 article from the Indian Ink blog of The New York Times about the closing of the last Ambassador car making plant would provide the inspiration for a big budget studio picture. A recent piece about “Mistress Dispelling Services” from the Sinosphere blog of The Times would be re-imagined in an Indian setting for the smaller budget movie, preferably a thriller. The stories that emerged were vivid, compelling and steeped in wonderfully evocative references to Indian material culture and archetypes as well as fears and desires so specific to

the sub continental experience they were immediately universally understood. By the time we grouped the attendants into writing teams, so they could develop the strongest premises into complete story arcs, I wished the evening would never end. Maybe Taos will invite me back to complete a longer workshop that would conclude with completed scripts, ready to shop around for production funds! (hint hint nudge nudge wink wink).Elizabeth Chakkappan received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York. She has published stories and essays in Rungh: A South Asian Quarterly and The Reading Room. She is a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and a Jerome Foundation grant. She has worked as a screenwriter and creative producer for the independent film company Tiny Dancer Films and as a writing assistant on the Hollywood films Revolutionary Road, Snitch and Lone Ranger. Since 1999, she has taught art students at Parsons School of Design how to produce critical writing about visual culture.

APRIL 2016Art Expressive Therapy

With a psychological angle from Saisha Partiman, Andrea Tabernero used visual art to guide her participants through a gradual wave of emotions - from the negative feelings that made them understand the root of their problems to the positive emotions. This left them on a high note. At the end of the 3-day workshop, the participants had a better grasp on their true self and their emotions. The participants were on a journey to heal past experiences that hinder them from leading fulfilling lives and realise the real focus of their emotions.The workshop was in association with Street Heroes of India (SoI).

WORKSHOP BRIEFS

JULY 29Papier Mâché workshop at Global Public School

Eighteen young artists worked with Ana Kohli to bring animals to life. These 10 to 14-year-olds first spent the first few minutes visualising a jungle, while the artist played the guitar, after which they drew an animal. Next came the wires, with which Ana taught them to make figures of animals. A lot of glue and torn newspapers later, the children were ready with a whole jungle of giraffes, lions and even fish and crocodiles. The children were excited to break out the colors and get creative.

CREATIVE MOVEMENTWORKSHOP- by Susheela Pai

Changing lives through Art Expressive Therapy:Volunteer Susheela Pai at Udaya Centre, Kochi

‘To move and to create’ was the theme of our first session for the participants in Udaya Colony. The class was a potpourri of highly charged teens who were not sure of what the whole session was about. They were curious and wary of what was to come. They were so charged with energy that bringing them to order was the first and biggest challenge.After the initial inhibitions, movements just flowed out of them. Creativity was at its best when they worked in teams but what was surprising was how easily they opened up after each activity. As their bodies moved, their thoughts expanded and flowed out without they them realising it. Nonverbal communication became a stepping stone to self realisation as each student started reflecting on his/her own behaviour patterns.Imagery paved way to analyse one’s own thought process, and at the same time, their attention was diverted to their bodies and emotions. The session ended with the whole group creating a piece of their own through movements - dance and story telling.Susheela Pai will continue her work with the young adults at Udaya colony, to help them develop into wholesome individuals using art.

AUGUST 2016Art Education at Amravathi Govt School, Fort Kochi. Workshop 2.

For the first workshop with Amravathi Govt School, artist Dinakarlal read out a Malayalam poem, which was about a garden. He then asked the children to draw what they felt when they listened to it. The children drew gardens with flowers, butterflies and other animals mentioned in the poem. The artist also showed the children correct the colouring techniques.

SEPTEMBER 2016Art education workshop for Udaya Colony children, Gandhi Nagar, Kochi

The workshop was led by artist Sruthi, who asked the children from the ages of four upwards to connect their memories to the convent near the slum, where they are given tuition’s daily. The children were asked to draw their relationship with the convent and their memories of the place, to help express their thoughts and feelings of relationships.

SEPTEMBER 2016Art Education at Amravathi Govt School, Fort Kochi.Workshop 1.

Artist Dinakarlal asked the children to draw out the dream they had, and the little ones had a lot of fun doing it. From cats and sharks, homes and families, mountains and lakes, the children had a vast imagination. They took great pride in showing off their finished masterpiece, making sure we got the photographs right. All in all, a beautiful morning.

THE ART OUTREACH SOCIETY(TAOS) is a not-for-profit organization that works towards using art as a tool for personal and social change.TAOS provides a platform to show how creativity can transform lives, can connect peoples from across the world and create positive change.TAOS is registered under The Indian Trusts Act,1882

Small art organisations offer concentrated and consistent effort to create change in specific areas of a community. TAOS ensures change through committed work by its team.www.taos.org/team

WHY VOLUNTEERS CHOSE TO SUPPORT TAOS ?

“I believe that art can create change, it makes one think, it make one feel get in touch with one's emotions.So if I could be a small part of a huge change, then that is an experience I would never want to miss as I know how powerful it is.”- Jorjeena C Joshi, Volunteer, Age: 17years

"TAOS is about arts and life, and how both go in hand-in-hand with each other.Art has always been a huge part of my life, so TAOS is a way I celebrate it through different mediums."- Yashi Bhatted, Volunteer Age: 17years

TAOS is a very different, fresh and innovative perspective on bringing out the best in kids. The founding inspiration is about dedication and commitment in making TAOS a great organisation that helps children.- Radhika Bachani, Age: 29years

SEPTEMBER 15Mask Making Workshop

Led by Swiss artists Augustin Rebetez and Romain Berger, the participants started off by cutting out shapes for the masks – animal shapes, and monster faces. The children used waste material for the entire process - from the elaborate frills on the masks to the strings to tie the mask with. It is in association with Kochi Muziris Biennale and supported by Kashi Art Gallery.

Special EventFundraising Cupcake Frosting Workshop

Bhavana Baby gave a demo and some hands-on experience in frosting cupcakes with various flavours. She taught the children some tips and techniques on frosting and baking, making them work on paper to get it right.

THANK YOUTo our supporters, you have made TAOS possible:

SUPPORTERS

PRIMARY SUPPORTER

INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERThomas Kurishingal (Event, TAOS Opening presentation)

COLLABORATORS

Newsletter executed by:

Shana Nainan ( Contributor and editor)Tanya Abraham ( Editor)

Sujith P R ( Design)Asiya Nayeem ( Contributor)

Shalini Dominic ( Proof reader)

Photos:

Antony PrasadMaya Joseph

Sujith P R

www.taos.org.inwww.facebook.com/theartoutreachsociety/www.instagram.com/taos.org.in/ info@taos.org.in

AUGUST 2016Puppet Theatre Workshop by Ilona Lehtorant

This workshop taught kids how puppet-theatre works - from making puppets and creating a script, to bringing puppets alive.