Dr. Kunle Adewale
Chair / Global Development Lead — Global South Arts and Health InitiativesA Nigerian-born, UK-based multimedia artist and global arts and health leader. He founded the Arts in Medicine Projects, the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship, and the Global Mental Health Fellowship — training over 1,000 professionals across 60 countries and impacting more than 60,000 people. As Global Development Lead for GSAH, his programmes have reached over 500,000 people in 41 cities worldwide.
A Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at UC San Francisco, a Mandela Washington Fellow, and a Global Talent Exceptional Leader by Arts Council England. His work has been endorsed by the Arts Council of England and the Smithsonian Museum, and featured on Voice of America, The Guardian UK, BBC Africa, TRT, France24, and Al Jazeera.
Rashmi Balakrishnan
Festival Co-DirectorA trauma-informed, queer-friendly Creative Arts Therapy Practitioner with 17 years of experience in learning design and curriculum development. She integrates creativity, empathy, and evidence-informed practices to support healing, self-expression, and growth.
A certified youth mentor and gender educator, and founder of Sankalpam — an arts-for-wellbeing initiative. She is a Global Arts in Medicine Fellow and Vital Voices Visionaries fellow, and has served as Chapters Director at the Creative Movement Therapy Association of India (CMTAI).
Preethi Rajagopalan
Festival Co-DirectorA Dance Movement Therapy Practitioner certified by CMTAI (2015), with a postgraduate dance therapy program from the National Centre for Dance Therapy, Montreal. She has worked with children with special needs, teachers, students, women's groups, and corporate organisations.
A trauma-informed and queer-affirmative practitioner, co-director and faculty at CMTAI's Certificate Course in Dance Movement Therapy, and a Global Arts in Medicine Fellow. She currently practices at Cadabams Hospital, Whitefield and Amaha Hospital, Thanisandra.
Lalithashree Ganesh
Festival Associate Co-DirectorA certified Arts Based Therapy (ABT) practitioner, writer, poet, and artist based in Bangalore. Through her initiative 'HArt Space Therapy,' she works with diverse individuals and communities with a deep focus on trauma-informed approaches.
A Global Arts in Medicine Fellow, currently Director of the Brushstrokes of Emotion Program (India & Nepal) at Darash Ahava Foundation, with work spanning children in palliative care and children in conflict zones.
Megha Chhallani
Festival Associate Co-DirectorA Certified Facilitator and Practitioner of Mindfulness Based Therapeutic Processes, Dance Movement Therapy, and Master NLP, with a Master's in Business Management and 19+ years of experience in people development and emotional/mental health.
She specialises in an inclusive, inter-modal approach integrating experiential learning, psychology, yoga philosophy, mindfulness, movement therapy, expressive arts, and trauma-informed practices — offering heart-based safe spaces through the 'Orange Arc Community Studio' and 'The Healing Culture.'
Mentors, founders and leaders, consultants, social workers, artists, health practitioners, policy makers, educators, philanthropists, investors, and influencers, with substantial experience in the field of arts, health, wellness, community, social work, etc. They will provide strategic guidance across communication, partnerships, fundraising, and event curation.
Srini Ramaswamy
Founder, Men's Circle India
Mamta Sagar
Poet, Transdisciplinary Artist & Academic
Priya Varadarajan
Founder, Durga – I'm Every Woman
Sachin Malhan
Co-Founder, AgamiSrini Ramaswamy
Founder, Men's Circle IndiaA seasoned global HR leader and entrepreneur dedicated to building high-performing organizations where culture, inclusion, and innovation intersect. Over a 25-year career spanning India, Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the US, Srini has transformed corporate landscapes by treating Inclusion & Belonging as a core business imperative rather than a checklist item.
Previously, he led the APAC DEI offices for Fortune 500 tech giants Cisco and Intuit, proving that a genuine culture of belonging is the ultimate catalyst for organizational growth. Driven by a mission to scale this impact, Srini transitioned from the corporate world in 2018 to launch a portfolio of purpose-driven ventures: Pride Circle (2018) — driving ecosystem-wide LGBTQ+ inclusion at workplace and beyond; Rainbow Bazaar (2018) — economic empowerment of LGBTQ+ micro enterprises; Fameworks Entertainment (2018) — redefining modern talent branding and management; and Men's Circle India (2025) — fostering holistic health, community and wellbeing for men.
A recognized global voice on advocacy and systemic change, Srini has shared his insights at the United Nations in Berlin and serves as an advisor to organizations including the Merck Group, Amani Institute, Connecting Dreams Foundation, Rainbow Lit Fest, and TEDx Bangalore. His work has earned international acclaim, including "Ally" recognition from Out & Equal Workplace Advocates (USA) and RAHM (London). He is also the co-author of equALLY: Stories by FRIENDS of the Queer World (2021), and producer of the short LGBT+ film "What's In A Name?" (2024).
Srini holds an MBA in HR & Finance, is a Certified Diversity Professional (USA), Behavioural Trainer (Singapore), FIRO-B Administrator (India), Social Innovation Fellow (India), and is currently advancing his expertise with an MA (Positive Psychology), dedicating his career to shaping a more equitable and productive world.
LinkedIn →
Mamta Sagar
Poet, Transdisciplinary Artist & AcademicProfessor Mamta Sagar is a poet, transdisciplinary artist, writer, academic and translator from Bengaluru. Her writings focus on identity politics, feminism, and issues around linguistic and cultural diversities.
She has six collections of poems, four plays, an anthology of column writing, and a collection of critical essays. Beyond Barriers: Slovenian-Kannada Literature Interactions (translation), edited by Dr Sagar, was published by the Centre for Slovenian Literature, Ljubljana, in 2011. She has a set of three poetry films and a book of collaborative poetry activities titled INTERVERSIONS (2018). Her translation of Elif Shafak's Forty Rules of Love into Kannada (2017) was conferred with the Bhasha Bharathi Translation award. She has been honoured with the World Literary Prize 2024, a prestigious international award, and Sahithya Shree 2024, conferred by the Karnataka Sahithya Academy.
She was the Charles Wallace Fellow at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK (2015), and is involved with international poetry translation projects. An art-poetry installation project she developed and co-curated was exhibited at the Piccolo Museo della Poesia, Italy (2020). On a yearlong IFA project (2022–23), she documented the city of Bengaluru through poetry. Mamta curates Kaavya Sanje, a community poetry engagement, since 2013, and has presented her poems and facilitated poetry and translation workshops across the UK, USA, Europe, and the African, Asian, and Latin American countries — representing India at several international poetry and literature festivals.
Dr Sagar has taught Comparative Literature, Translation Studies, Kannada Literature, Feminism, and Postcolonial and Cultural Studies at Hyderabad Central University and Bangalore University. She is the founder director of Kaavya Sanje, a community poetry initiative, and presently leads the Translation and Literary Studies Lab at the Srishti Manipal Institute (SMI), where she also teaches MA Contemporary Art Practice at Manipal University Bengaluru.
Priya Varadarajan
Founder, Durga – I'm Every WomanPriya Varadarajan is the founder of Durga – I'm Every Woman, a nationally recognized gender justice initiative that reimagines how women and girls occupy public spaces in India. Born from her own lived experience and a refusal to accept normalized misogyny, Durga was established as a bold, intersectional response to the question: how can women and girls truly belong in public spaces?
Under Priya's leadership, Durga has evolved into a systems-change organization that blends behavioral science, grassroots mobilization, and institutional partnerships — introducing pioneering interventions including India's first panic alarm system in public transport, training over 5,000 active bystanders, and collaborating with 75+ colleges to co-create safe, inclusive campuses.
Her influence extends well beyond Durga. She previously led the Gender Justice, Disabilities, and Mental Health portfolio at the Azim Premji Foundation, overseeing a pan-India grantmaking program supporting over 400 partners with an annual portfolio of INR 100 crore, and helped shape the foundation's anti-trafficking strategy. As Program Manager at Co-Impact, a global collaborative for systems change, she led strategy and partnerships across India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, advancing women's leadership in law and policy, care economy frameworks, and stigma-free access to sexual and reproductive health rights.
Priya is also a state representative on multiple government committees addressing child marriage, inheritance law reform, and workplace gender justice, a visiting faculty member on gender studies, a Theatre of the Oppressed facilitator, and a public speaker and writer. With two decades of experience across philanthropy, policy, and grassroots action, she is now focused on deepening and scaling Durga's mission to embed gender equity across public systems.
Sachin Malhan
Co-Founder, AgamiSachin Malhan is the co-founder of Agami, an organisation catalysing innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaborative action to advance new and improved systems of law and justice in India. Before Agami, he served as Executive Director of Changemakers, a global initiative of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, connecting high-potential changemakers with the ideas and resources to accelerate social change.
Earlier in his career, Sachin built and led three ventures across education, learning, and access — the test-prep pioneer Law School Tutorials, the learning and talent platform Rainmaker, and Inclusive Planet, a venture focused on greater literary access for the visually impaired.
Recognised for his contributions to social innovation, Sachin became an INK Fellow in 2010. He is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, and began his career at the law firm Amarchand Mangaldas in Mumbai.