Anuradha HR

Anuradha is a Bangalore-based theatre artist. Her interest in working with children and enabling them to appreciate text comes from her personal experience of working with her own daughter who is dyslexic. The child was terrified of the written word, taking to books with only rich visuals and very little text. In order to acquaint her with the beauty of literature, Anuradha and her husband came up with ideas that in due course helped their daughter to start reading text with fewer inhibitions. This encouraged Anuradha to use the same approach and technique with a larger group of children.

Anuradha has been working with the Government High School in 9^th Block, Jayanagar for over a year now, on her own steam, with a small team of collaborators / resource persons supporting her work. With support from IFA, she plans to continue her work in the school, giving it a more structured form.

This project aims to take about 30 children’s literature publications in Kannada and English to high school students. Using an integrated approach that involves visual art, music, theatre and dance, the project seeks to build both appreciation and abilities for reading and writing among students. Every week, over 90-minute sessions pre-selected text for reading will be explored with the children. Children will be encouraged to explore the text through theatrical readings as well as other forms of expression such as visual arts, storytelling, movement, materials and so on. There will be 30 such sessions spread over eight months.

Along with these sessions, there will also be special sessions for parents and teachers to sensitise them to the process and enable them to be supportive of the students’ explorations. Through these multi-pronged approaches, the project is expected to increase the students’ interest in language, literature and reading.

A presentation and exhibition of text-inspired work created by the students will be the outcome of the project. The Grantee will deposit still and video documentation of the process as deliverables to IFA.   

This grant was made possible with support from Citi India.