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Himanshu Verma
Himanshu Verma from India wins a special commendation at the International Young Visual Arts Entrepreneur award held in UK last week. The judges decided to make this special commendation to note his entrepreneurial contribution to visual arts in India. Himanshu is the director of Red Earth, a New Delhi based organisation that engages with visual and performing arts, presenting exhibitions, visual art projects, and art festivals. The judges were wholeheartedly impressed by his confidence and curatorial flair, and his desire to bind contemporary and traditional Indian expressions into a single artistic vision
Jury Citations for Himanshu Verma
“Himanshu combines a real artist’s energy with entrepreneurial flair and drive. In a confident and witty presentation he demonstrated his ability to lead and motivate other people and his preparedness to push boundaries. The judges were highly impressed by his curatorial skills and ambition, and his enthusiasm for a wide range of projects. In particular they commend his commitment to look deep into his own roots and his desire to bind contemporary and traditional expressions into a single artistic vision.”
The judges for this year’s award were Jackie Haliday, Co-director Gimpel Fils; Sarah Macanee, Acting Head of Programmes, Iniva; Paul Moss, Director, Workplace Gallery; and Andrea Rose, Director Visual Arts at the British Council.
 Aditi Khurana
Aditi presently works as the manager at Palette art gallery based in New Delhi. Being associated with a pioneer gallery for five years she has evolved as an efficient and confident visual arts entrepreneur. Having managed some of the most challenging shows of the highest creative and technical standards she finds myself at ease with an arts initiative of 'any' magnitude, and looks forward to contributing to Indian and global art in a manner which is genuine, efficient and fun.
 Durva Gandhi
A graphic designer, publisher, aesthetic consultant & curator, with a background in art and art publication - Durva easily transcends the complex web of aesthetics, design, publishing, and art consulting and business structuring. As a result she is closely associated with galleries, artists, corporate houses and leading publishing houses in India & abroad.
Being an art collector herself with a keen eye for aesthetics and well entrenched in the art circles she shares wonderful relationships with artists, galleries, auction houses, scholars, other collectors and patrons. Her recent involvement in setting up one of the best and largest international gallery spaces in Kalaghoda, Mumbai for a Delhi & Singapore based gallery – Bodhi Art as an art consultant & gallery Director, has successfully launched Durva as something of an authority on the contemporary art scene in Mumbai.
Under the umbrella Durva Gandhi, there are four entities – I Design, I Publish, I Consult & I Curate and each of these offers a range of very exclusive services.
 Jayesh Sachdev
He graduated with a major in Advertising and Design from Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore, in 2005. Thereafter, he worked as an Art Director in Singapore, before moving back to India to set up his own art and design studio - Emblem. Design being his forte, and painting his passion, his works became a reflection of a combination of the two. Jayesh has held several exhibitions in Singapore and across India. In 2007 he setup the Emblem Art Gallery in Pune.
Jayesh's works are with private collectors in UK, Italy, Nederlands, USA, Singapore & India. His works are with the likes of Bollywood big-wigs such as Priyanka Chopra, Naseerudin Shah. He is also the artist to have created India's first of its kind "Tyre-Art"; painting India's largest ever canvas at 1600sq.ft.
 Shilpi Goswami
Shilpi is the Manager of Gallerie Nvya, a Contemporary Art Gallery and visiting faculty at NIFT and the Institute of Archaeology of India. Amongst others her recent projects include Bhasha/Language, an exhibition of 19 artists from Goa at the Gallery Stainless; Urban Biomorphic: Simultaneous solo shows of Sonia Mehra Chawla and Santhosh Lal Pallath at the Visual Art Gallery; Earth Synergy: An Indo-Korean Ceramic Show featuring works over 69 artists from India and Korea at The Academy of Fine Arts and Literature (January 2008) and Dakshinayan: An exhibition of recent works of 32 artists from Andhra Pradesh.
She has written articles on art and cuisine for magazines such as BBC Good Homes, Designer Mode, FNL and Travel Asia. The research papers that she has worked on include Raadheya: Reaching the Divine, a study on the interpretation of Radha-Krishna in the classical visual and the performing art forms of India; Museum Audience Reach, a study to develop a communication plan for an art gallery (with reference to the Jamini Roy collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi) and Terracotta Temple of Bishnupur, West Bengal. A study of the relationship of the Intangible Heritage (the performing art forms, rites and rituals, beliefs and practices, habits of the people of Bishnupur and the rest of Bengal) and the Tangible Heritage (Terracotta Temples of Bishnupur) and developing an interpretation technique and a communication plan for the visitors to the site who come from all walks of life and belonging to different cultures and backgrounds.
 Renu Modi
In 1989, Renu Modi established Gallery Espace with an exhibition of autobiographical works of M F Hussain, India’s most celebrated artist and one of the founder members of the path-breaking Progressive Artists Group. Primarily built around her vision, the endeavour has been on representing artists who concern themselves in the realization of work dealing with issues reflecting contemporary society's concerns; documenting today's reality. Married into one of the most influential families of India, she started her long entrepreneurial career from a one board-room space, combining business acumen with a flair for showmanship and leading the Gallery into its present form- a three-tier area, made particularly conducive to greater interaction, experimentation and understanding of the arts, supported by dynamic design and modern technology. Her artistic vision was based upon an inter-disciplinary approach to fine art, uninhibited by preconceived notions and theories of the art movements of the past.
Espace is dedicated to reach out to un-chartered territories, including also its most recent participation in International art fairs, with the aim of giving a much-well-deserved and widespread visibility to its artists. Spread over the next two years, Espace has an interesting roster of exhibitions and projects which include individual representations of the works of Iranian artist, Parwaneh Etemadi (August 2008); new media artist, Navjot Altaf (November 2008); New York based artist, Rina Banerjee (December 2008); a conceptualized group exhibition aimed at cultivating cross-cultural communications, showcasing the works of American artist, Maxine Henryson with Diasporic artists, Jaishri Abichandani & Sutapa Biswas (December 2008); and Art Dubai (March 2009). In addition the Gallery is committed to the endeavour of presenting a well-balanced infusion of art education and interactive art experiences through its newly conceptualized programme, Video Wednesdays @ Espace, involving new media artists with original unconventional projects. By way of these well-conceptualized projects, the gallery hopes to carry forward its practice of sustaining a dialogue with the viewers at the level of artistic perception & aesthetic debate while also simplifying the process of buying art and bridging the gap between the art world and the art market.
 Abhay Sardesai
Abhay Sardesai has been the Editor of ART India, the premier art magazine of India, since November 2002. Under his editorship, the magazine has developed a Culture Studies-oriented approach and has become more inter-disciplinary in its theme-based explorations. He has been a Visiting Faculty in Aesthetics at the Department of English, University of Mumbai and has also been the Chair of Humanities, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai. He writes in English and translates from Marathi, Konkani and Gujarati.
An associate of the research collective PUKAR, he was the Director of the Writing Across the City project which explored the inter-relationships between literatures and literary cultures in the city of Mumbai.
He has written widely on Art and Literature and read from his work at various places including the University of Princeton, University of Cambridge, Mumbai University, S.N.D.T. University, Sarai and NGMA.
 Tasneem Mehta
As the Managing Trustee and Honorary Director of the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Musuem, Tasneem Mehta has been responsible for directing the restoration and revitalisation of the oldest museum in Mumbai and won the UNESCO 2005 Asia Pacific Award of Excellence (highest) for conservation. She has also conceptualised, curated and designed the restoration and the display of the interpretative design of the museum. She designed and wrote the text for the museum display while establishing the Elephanta Site Museum and Restorated Core site in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India.
She invited 23 Indian eminent contemporary artists to respond to the Elephanta Caves in celebration of the country's unbroken art tradition. These works were exhibited at the Chemould Art Gallery, Mumbai and subsequently auctioned at the Kalchakra Elephanta Benefit Event to raise about £51500 for the project. In collaboration with the British Council, she curated an exhibition of 8 eminent sculpture/installation artists in response to the British Museum's Enduring Image exhibition, which was brought to India to celebrate 50 years of Indian Independence entitled The Presence of the Past (1998). She has also conceptualized, written and presented an introduction to India's Art and Culture for Air India's in-flight audio programme in 2000.
She has conceptualised the plan for the conversion of Jinnah House into the SAARC cultural centre for the Ministry of External Affairs and will be curating and installing the exhibitions there. Also she is on the National Advisory Board of the NGMA and a member of the Governing Board of the NID.
Thukral and Tagra
 Thukral & Tagra: Based in New Delhi, Jiten Thukral (born 1976) and Sumir Tagra (born 1979) work collaboratively in a wide variety of media including painting, sculpture, installation, video, graphic and product design, websites, music and fashion. Thukral & Tagra blur the lines between Fine Art and Popular Culture, product placement and exhibition design, artistic inspiration and media hype. Their works comment on the globalization of consumer culture and the repercussions of this as it is being experienced in India today. While both playful and humorous, their works express thoughtful questions about the nature of Indian identity as it is articulated by Indians themselves and projected on to India by the rest of the world.
 Mike Welch
After graduating from Bradford University Mike spent some time in Spain before returning to the UK to complete his RSA Dip TEFLA in 1988. He joined the British Council in 1991 and has worked in Kyoto, Hong Kong, Lisbon, London and Tokyo. He completed his MBA in 1996.
Currently Mike is the Head of Business Development and Customer Services at the British Council, New Delhi. He also leads the Young Audiences and Future Leaders programmes, an umbrella term for all the work delivered on-site, off-site and remotely to meet the needs of young audiences.
The British Council announces the inaugural Young Visual Arts Entrepreneur (YVAE) – to champion and celebrate the importance of creative entrepreneurs working in the field of the visual arts. The award will be promoted through the British Council’s international network of offices. It will be focused on emerging markets and will showcase individual achievement and potential.
In 2008 the following 10 countries are participating in the IYVAE awards: Colombia, India, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tanzania, UAE and Venezuela
For any queries, please contact:
“YVAE”
Jily Joseph
British Council
Mittal Tower, C Wing, 2nd Floor
Nariman Point
Mumbai 400 021
Tel: +91 22 2279 0114
Or email it to yce.india@in.britishcouncil.org
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