Art for Akanksha’s mission is to provide a powerful art education for children within as well as beyond the Akanksha network, supporting and demonstrating the belief that art empowers. A powerful art education enables children to EXPRESS themselves by helping them LEARN a visual language to DISCOVER, CREATE and TELL their stories.
The Akanksha Foundation is a 33-year-old non-profit organization that works in the field of education, with a mission to build one of the largest networks of innovative schools that empowers children to maximize their potential and influence systemic reform. Akanksha has been educating underprivileged children from the communities of Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur through quality education at English medium schools.
Over the last 30 years, Akanksha has directly impacted over 14,000 children from urban underserved communities mostly consisting of daily wage earners, skilled labourers, sanitation workers, factory workers, auto drivers etc. Many of our 5100 alumni have gone on to study at reputed foreign universities and are pursuing careers in industry, academics, arts and sports.
Our vision is to equip all children with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to lead empowered lives and Our mission is to build a network of high-performing and innovative schools to empower children/young adults from underserved communities to maximise their potential and to influence the ecosystem.
Since its inception in 1996, the visual arts program at Akanksha has been seen as an essential part of education. Art at Akanksha is not a co-curricular, an extra curricular. It is considered as crucial a part of a student’s education as Math or Science or Language, building invaluable knowledge, skills and values that go beyond the art class.
Art is a vehicle through which children can speak their mind, paint their world and dream of a very different life for themselves. In Art class, children don’t just learn art, they are building key skills they need for life, they are immersing themselves in stories of what they see around them, they are learning to discover and create and through all of this, to hold onto a childhood so many of them don’t have.
Every year Akanksha brings out a vibrant new collection of products using art work created by the Akanksha children. We hope you like them.
The belief
True education is not just about earning grades on core subjects. It’s about seeing problems creatively and using different approaches to find better results. It’s about learning skills and values that define who we are, and using that learning to make the right choices.
Such learning opportunities are vital for children, particularly when they come from low-income communities where a happy childhood is a distant privilege. This is where Art for Akanksha makes a difference.
Art is a vehicle through which children can speak their mind, paint their world and dream of a very different life for themselves. At our art class, the children don’t just learn art. They laugh, do masti and immerse themselves in a world that takes them on a magical journey of discovery. It’s a way to hang on to a childhood that so many of them don’t have.
Third Planet from the Sun.
Jane Goodall Said
‘You would be amazed at what inspired children can do.’
And that’s exactly what we set out to try with ‘The Third Planet from the Sun’ – a set of 12 lessons, that explored the planet in its beauty and fragility and are being taught across the Akanksha network of 26 schools. The range of products that emerged say it all. Do take a look at them and go to the QR codes.
The story of Art for Akanksha
A box of colours is a potent tool for building tomorrow.
At Art for Akanksha, we live this conviction. We believe that there is a great need for quality art education in our schools and aim to create a model for art education, which can be taken into any government or low-fee private school.