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Submitted by PatientsEngage on 2 September 2017

The Velvi Art for Autism Festival is a unique and exciting confluence of nationally and internationally renowned artistes and the autism community to celebrate talent and culture, make friends and have fun. We bring you feedback of the participants - youngsters and their parents - and details on this year’s Festival held over three days in Bangalore recently.

Like every year, the Velvi Art for Autism Festival 2017 held in Bangalore recently was ushered in with much anticipation and fanfare. The three-day residential festival for children and adults on the autism spectrum was packed with fun, laughter and learning. Nearly 100 participants including students/ children, their families, professionals and facilitators attended the Festival.

The Art for Autism Festival is the brainchild of Dr Parasuram Ramamoorthi, Chairman of the Velvi Trust, Madurai. He started this concept in 2006 to bring together nationally and internationally renowned practitioners in the fields of drama, music, art and movement (creative dance) at one place for three days. The attempt is to help those on the autism spectrum improve their communication and social skills and discover their abilities and interests.

During the three-day day program, each participant gets to attend 2-3 sessions with a facilitator. While parents and professionals can attend one concept workshop and observe other sessions. The program, which is packed with activities, is residential to ensure schedules are met and also to facilitate informal interaction and socialization among participants during the sessions.

Venue

“The Festival was held at Ecumenical Christian Centre (EEC), Whitefield,” informs Festival Coordinator Akila Vaidyanathan, director Amaze Trust, Coimbatore. “It was the ideal venue because it was well located, had comfortable rooms, sprawling lawns and walkways, enough halls for parallel sessions and a lovely canteen.”

Feedback of Participants:

Aaditya, 12 (student)
(son of Alok Iyengar)
At the Festival, Aaditya would wake up at 5 o'clock each morning to climb the tree house and enjoy the beautiful sunrise over the lake and the serene environment of ECC. He would enjoy the morning walk too. At home, he usually finds it difficult to wake up so early in the morning. He loved the art and modelling sessions. He connected well with everybody over there. After attending the Festival, his relationship with his younger brother has also improved. Both of them connect well nowadays. They talk together, play together and study together. He helps his brother solve puzzles and finish his school’s art project.

On the final day of the Festival, Aaditya told his mother: “Amma, I don’t want to go back home. I want to stay here and enjoy the Festival forever.”

pic: Aaditya relaxing 

Pranav Bakhshi, 16 (student)
Pranav, who plays golf and aspires to be a model, is looking forward to attending Velvi 2018. At this year’s Festival, he sang songs and enjoyed modelling, comedy and drama. Listen to the video recording of his feedback

Orko Roy, 25 (student)
“This time I enjoyed a lot – seeing everything in front of me. And dancing and doing a lot of activities… and making friends… and sitting and having meals together… working together. This was a good opportunity. I hope I get to meet everyone next again somewhere else, directly – without any plan. Velvi is a very good place to meet everyone and we shall come together as a group and talk to explain to the whole world – such as schools and colleges, offices so that all children and parents – those who are not within the spectrum – get to understand everything about autism.”

pic: Orko Roy relaxing on a tree

Mala Chinnappa (mother of 14-year-old Megha)
Megha loved the sessions on music, movement, painting, modelling, drama and comedy. What was amazing was that for the first time Megha found herself in the company of peers. Earlier, she used to be comfortable only amongst little children or elders (my own friends). Here she held hands and walked with her peers, sat with them for her meals. Young Devika (who put them through the paces of ramp walk) became her role model. The learning was subtle and seamless.

pic: Megha with Devika

While Megha was at these sessions, I had the opportunity to sit in on lec-dems by these experts. Akila's session with the parents threw up existential perspectives while Devika's modelling was a lesson in body awareness. The drama and comedy sessions were riveting. The Festival was a large gathering of families, and there was such warmth and friendship. The venue too, with its sprawling green campus, offered the perfect setting. As we went through all these classes, I could imagine the impact of the same on Megha.

When asked what she liked most about Velvi, Megha replied "friends"…something that had eluded her for so many years. (see first pic - Megha with a group of kids)

Bela Joshi (mother of 19-year-old Sachin)
This was Sachin’s first time at the Festival. He felt totally at ease with masks in the comedy session. See Sachin in the video. However, I felt that a greater effort could have been made in the art session to make him feel included. 

Feedback of Organizers:

“The team focused on creating a “safe and sheltered environment” for people on the autism spectrum and also looked at the wellbeing of parents,” said Akila. “Most of the volunteers had some experience of working with autistic people.”

Jayashree Ramesh of Asha feels that programmes like these are eye openers for families and need to be replicated at local levels and not be restricted to one a year in the country

Dr. Ramamoorthi felt that the serene ambience, complete with woods and tree house, made a great impact on the attitude of participants.

Clearly, well thought out and well executed events like these are important and effective. They help teenagers and young adults make friends, engage with others and be independent as well as give parents the confidence in the abilities of their children.

Facilitators this Year:

Art: Ms. Shaloo Sharma, Head Pallavanjali, specializes in Art for Autism
Comedy: Mr. Andrew Nelson, M.Ed., ATC Autism/Theatre Consultant, USA

Creative Movement: Ms.Tripura Kashyap, Creative Movement Therapist and CoFounder at Creative Movement Therapy Association of India-CMTAI, Bangalore.
Drama: Dr Parasuram Ramamoorthi of Velvi is a world leader in Applied Drama for Autism. Ms. Sowmya Ram is a mainstream Theater Actor who is trained in Drama for Autism.
Modelling: Ms. Devika Mehta, CoFounder of Synchrony, Mumbai/Chennai where they use Dance movement psychotherapy and creative arts as a medium for healing.
Music: Hitham Trust, founded by Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri to help unlock the treasures of Carnatic music to all children, including those touched by autism.
Yoga: Ms Sowmya Ayyar, Cofounder and Executive Director of Prafull Oorja, a Bangalore-based social initiative to bring yoga and other holistic practices to all populations, including those with special needs.

Parent Wellbeing Workshop: Akila Vaidyanathan is a parent of a 21-year-old with autism. She chose to see autism as a different path she needed to walk and as an opportunity to build her resilience and change her paradigms of life and living .She now helps other parents and caregivers experience the power of their own potential and redefine the purpose of their life. She is a trained facilitator in Human process work and has a Masters in Psychology.
About Velvi: Velvi has been recognized internationally and recently the Story of Velvi has been voted by “Our Better World” a forum based in Singapore as the “Best Story”.  
About Asha: Our partners for this event in Bangalore were Asha [Academy for Severe Handicaps and Autism], headed by Mrs. Jayashree Ramesh. Mrs. Ramesh has been a pioneer in the field of autism in India since 1995. She is a respected and well renowned professional and currently is also the member of the National Trust. 

 

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