Leadership Bulletin

Vandana is an applied theatre practitioner and founder of Rang Karwan, an organisation that uses arts-based education to nurture conscious leadership in rural India. A journalist by training and artist at heart, she’s committed to community development, behavioural change, and sustainable living.

On Rang Karwan:
Rang Karwan is a women-led theatre and arts-based organisation working in rural Uttarakhand to foster local leadership and community-driven change. By creating safe, exploratory spaces rooted in applied theatre and the Theatre of the Oppressed, Rang Karwan helps adolescents and women critically examine issues of gender, education, and social justice. Their work empowers communities to move from awareness to advocacy, using art as a powerful tool for self-expression, healing, and collective action.

On shifting from a regular job to working for arts-based education at the age of 23:
Growing up in small towns across India, I experienced firsthand the limitations of conventional education—rote learning, lack of creative spaces, and gender-based restrictions. As a girl child with ADHD, I struggled within a rigid system that neither nurtured my learning style nor allowed me to follow my dreams. I was expected to finish school and get married, but I longed for something more—something that would keep my creative soul alive.
During my master’s, I joined a theatre group, and everything changed. The rehearsal spaces, reading sessions, dialogues, and bodywork introduced me to a completely different way of learning—one that was participatory, transformative, and deeply reflective of lived experiences. That realisation led me to quit my job and explore arts-based education as a tool for critical thinking, self-expression, and empowerment.

On the Art-Vocacy Project:
Art-Vocacy (Art + Advocacy) is Rang Karwan’s initiative to integrate arts-based pedagogies into community engagement and advocacy efforts. It equips local facilitators, NGOs, and community leaders with creative tools to foster trust, encourage dialogue, and drive social change.
For example, in Arunachal Pradesh, we trained students and women from self-help groups using Theatre of the Oppressed (TOTO). They later performed plays addressing drug abuse and gender discrimination, sparking critical conversations within their communities. Similarly, in Rajasthan, we used theatre-based interventions to train 30 women on financial literacy, helping them build confidence in supporting rural women with financial management.
Through collaborations with organisations like Sanjhi Sikhiya, Happy Children’s Library, NavGurukul, Greenpeace India, and Aagaaz Theatre Trust, we’ve adapted TOTO using movement, music, and visual arts to create meaningful conversations on gender, identity, and justice.

On her motivation to apply for the GP Birla Fellowship:
I was nominated by one of my mentors and initially saw it as a low-commitment opportunity that could add to my credibility. What truly drew me in, however, was the all-women cohort—a space I deeply cherish.
On the first day, as we read and discussed a poem, I found myself fully engaged. The readings and discussions that followed sparked an intellectual and emotional curiosity I hadn’t felt in a long time. By the end of the first seminar, I knew this was more than just a fellowship—it was a space for critical inquiry, deep reflection, and transformative learning.

On the challenging moments during the fellowship:
The biggest challenge was navigating my personal grief. My father had passed away just months before the fellowship, making it difficult to fully engage. As an introvert with low social energy, forming deep connections within the cohort was also challenging. Sitting through long discussions without the physical movement I was used to in theatre workshops made it even harder.
Beyond that, some readings pushed me to confront the more conflicted, darker sides of my consciousness. Sitting with that discomfort was tough, but it ultimately deepened my inner work and resilience. I left each seminar with thousands of thoughts, ideas, and questions—each pushing me toward deeper reflection and action.
As a grassroots practitioner, my instinct has always been to work directly on the ground, facilitating workshops. The fellowship challenged me to step back, analyse our impact at a systemic level, and develop frameworks that would allow Rang Kaarwaan to scale while staying true to its core principles.

On the biggest learning from the fellowship:
The dialogue. The fellowship created a space where we could bring in our contradictions, identities, ideologies, beliefs, and vulnerabilities. We held space for each other while challenging ideas of leadership, justice, democracy, and feminism. The readings framed our discussions beautifully, allowing us to push boundaries while remaining grounded in shared inquiry.
Another transformative aspect was the experiential sessions by Gayatri. They invited me to pause, reflect, and introspect—something I had been neglecting in my journey as a social entrepreneur. These exercises have now become a core part of how I lead and work with my team, allowing us to pause, process, and strategise with clarity.

On the post-programme transformation experienced at a personal or professional level:
The biggest transformation was in how I understood myself. I gained clarity on my core values, my leadership style, my blind spots, and the areas I need to work on to become a better leader, a better person, and a better citizen.
At an organisational level, I became more intentional about integrating reflection into our work. We refined our leadership model, ensuring young community leaders took ownership of our programmes. The fellowship also reinforced the importance of documenting our impact, which is now a priority for Rang Karwan’s future growth.

On if the fellowship is useful for leaders in the social sector, especially those working with rural communities:
Yes, especially for leaders working in rural areas. Many grassroots leaders lack access to structured learning opportunities, and geographic isolation makes it harder to engage in reflective spaces. The readings should be translated into vernacular languages, and regional versions of the fellowship could make it more inclusive, ensuring that those at the forefront of social change can benefit from these critical conversations.
The structured mentorship, peer learning, and exposure to diverse approaches allow rural practitioners to build sustainable models, strengthen their impact, and avoid burnout. It also bridges the gap between grassroots work and policy-level advocacy, ensuring that community voices inform systemic change.

On what the phrase ‘making a difference’ means personally:
For me, making a difference means action—seeing a problem and taking ownership of solving it. But that action starts with ourselves. I call it the PrAxis of Revolution—where inner transformation fuels external change.

This is why I am starting a blog series, PrAxis of Revolution, where I will explore the intersection of inner work and systemic change through my experiences in arts-based education, leadership, and advocacy. Because real change doesn’t just happen in policies or programmes—it happens when individuals awaken to their power, reclaim their agency, and begin to shift the world around them.

True impact is when change continues long after we step away—when a young fellow carries forward the work, when a survivor becomes a mentor, or when a community takes ownership of its own transformation. It’s about equipping individuals with the tools to challenge oppression, fostering spaces where learning is not dictated by hierarchy, and ensuring that communities have the agency to tell their own stories.
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