Dr.Brahma Prakash is a writer, cultural theorist and an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is a scholar of South Asian folk culture and performance traditions. His research intersects ritual, performance and festival studies in relation to the questions of marginality, aesthetics and cultural and ecological justice.

He is the author of critically acclaimed book, Cultural Labour: Conceptualizing the ‘Folk Performance’ in India (Oxford University Press, 2019) and Body on the Barricades: Life, Art and Resistance in Contemporary India (LeftWord 2023). He was a recipient of the Dwight Conquergood Award from the Performance Studies International in 2013. He was a fellow at the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University, Germany (2021) and the Centre for the Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at Cambridge University, UK (2018-19).

For 37 years, Vandana Mahajan has been a happy, excited learner, passionately engaged in India’s dynamic women’s movements. She has embraced roles as an activist, feminist mentor, trainer, and advocate for children’s education, gender equality, and women’s rights. She thrives on nurturing partnerships with women-led organizations, championing initiatives against gender-based violence, fostering women’s collectives, and empowering young women and girls through feminist leadership. Vandana’s core competencies as a feminist researcher and gender equality strategist is mirrored in her work in areas of GESI, children’s education and advocacy for women’s rights. Her niche is reflected in her work in feminist and participatory monitoring, evaluation, and program review, as well as policy analysis using gender equality, gender transformative, and social justice frameworks. Her journey underscores a steadfast belief in the feminist vision of a just, equal, and compassionate world, where humanity and nature coexist harmoniously. Her deep connection with mother nature inspires her, offering solace amidst life’s chaos. Vandana finds strength in the extraordinary spirit of ordinary individuals, whose stories of courage and wisdom reaffirm her belief in human resilience and kindness, shaping her journey with hope and purpose.

Dr. Rekha Raj is a Dalit feminist scholar-activist from Kerala, south India, with over two decades of experience in shaping intersectional praxis and theory around Dalit women’s political interventions and lived experience. She is currently a recipient of the Kerala Chief Minister’s Nava Kerala Postdoctoral Fellowship. She had a formative role in Kerala’s Dalit feminist and queer movements— as an early or founding member of organizations including the Panchami Dalit Women’s Collective, Utharakalam, a leading digital platform for Dalit Bahujan and other dissident writings, the Kerala Queer Pride March collective, and Sahayatrika, a community organization for queer and trans people assigned female at birth.

Arundhati Ghosh is a poet, writer and cultural practitioner. With three decades of experience, she was the Executive Director of the India Foundation for the Arts till May 2023. Her awards include Chevening Clore Leadership Award (2015-2016), Chevening Gurukul Scholarship at the London School of Economics (2005-2006), and Salzburg Global Seminar Fellowship.

Arundhati sits on the advisory panel for The Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bangalore and is a Board Member of Sangama, Bangalore. Earlier, she has been a Trustee of Toto funds the Arts, and The Seagull Foundation for the Arts and an advisor for Blind with Camera. She has been a key facilitator for the Arts and Culture Entrepreneurship programme of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) based in Beirut for five years. When the pandemic hit in March 2020 she raised resources for sex workers in Karnataka, weavers of Karnataka and performing artists across the country through online fundraisers. She is a member of the Core Team that has put together a capacity building programme for theatre practitioners in collaboration with Junoon called SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre). She was also a curator of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala 2020 (ITFOK) organised by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.

She speaks on arts and philanthropy for leading Indian and international non-profit and cultural networks including International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), Festival Academy, Europe, UNESCO Berlin, Kultura Nova Foundation, University of Leedsamong others. She also writes on arts and culture and these include Scroll, News 9, the Hindu, the Wire, Business Standard, among others. Her first collection of Bangla poetry Oshomoye phire esho nodi hoye was published in January 2023 by Lastrada Prakashan in Kolkata.

Ravi is a director and editor. In his creative practice, he seeks to engage with communities, especially those from North Karnataka, finding a way to express their trials and tribulations through film. He enjoys making fiction films and documentaries, as well as being involved in research for films

Angarika is a graduate from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, with a degree in sociology. She has been working in maraa since 2014, as a researcher and facilitator on gender, caste, labour and the politics of representation. She works as a curator of creative practices in public spaces, foregrounding narratives of exclusion and oppression in the city.

She is currently attempting a performance on the aftermath of sexual violence, based on interviews with survivors of rape. She works closely with Gauley Bhai, a Nepali Folk Rock band, on video projects, marketing and translations. Her interests include writing, walking, reading and music.

Anushi is graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia University in Media Governance from Centre for Culture, Media and Governance. Engaging with community media, she has been blending her experience of mainstream media and her understanding of working with media practitioners at grass root level towards designing research-based, creative, and participative programming for community radio. She has been working as a facilitator towards participatory communication to initiate and build dialogues around issues of gender and health.

Using storytelling approach, she has been working with adolescent boys and girls and women to facilitate reflections and conversations with in home and peer groups on issues like sexual and reproductive health, sanitation and women, hygiene, education, mobility, sexual violence and gender. She has been actively involved in understanding the culture of gender-based violence and factors that contribute to it.

Ekta is one of the co-founders of maraa. She has a background in literature, media studies and film. She has been working at maraa since 2008 as a researcher, curator and facilitator around issues of gender, labour & caste in rural and urban contexts. Her films are around labour, migration and cities (www.tinsheets.in). Her recent film birha is about grief, loss and disappearances, in the context of migration. Her interests range from poetry, painting, folk music to insects, flowers and properties of light.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Nihal has a background Social Anthropology where his research has led him to the exploration of Dalit Christian identities in Maharashtra. Working with maraa since 2017 he has been involved in initiatives looking at notions of identity, labour, cultural resistance, and gender and sexuality through performance, curation, and research. His most recent work has been exploring the use of stand-up comedy as platform for silenced voices to project their own critiques on issues of gender, development, class and labour through a retelling of their own narratives.

When not at maraa, he is usually experimenting in the kitchen

a) Ram has a Masters degree in Media and Communications for Development from the London School of Economics. From 2004-2007, he worked as Media Head in a Bangalore based media advocacy group, VOICES. He co-founded Maraa in early 2008, and has consulted with a wide range of donors and policy think tanks on media and communications research, policy, and training. He has previously served as the Vice President of the Community Radio Forum of India and is currently a board member of the Asia Pacific region, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC-AP).

Ram is interested in policy and research around media and communication. Policy interests include community radio; increasing access to telecommunication and broadband internet; spectrum and frequency management and digitalisation of media and communication. Research interests include media anthropology (systems approach and media infrastructures), media reception and effects, daily media practice, mediation and political economy of the media. Other hobbies and interests have been sacrificed in lieu of bibliophilia.

Srilatha Kamath is a chartered accountant with 20 years of experience in accounts and auditing. She works for various companies and organizations and manages their finances. She’s been working with maraa since 2009 as an accountant and financial advisor. Srilatha likes to travel and spend time with her daughter.

Sajan Venniyoor was a college lecturer before working as a radio broadcaster in AIR for 15 years. He has worked in Delhi, Goa and the Andaman Islands. He is currently with Doordarshan where he works in the Narrowcasting (Community TV) Division. Since the late 90s, Sajan has been promoting community media and is a freelance contributor to various websites, commenting on contemporary issues, especially the link between culture and politics.

Prakash Iyer has worked in the field of education for 6 years through his work in Wipro’s education reform initiative – Wipro Applying Thought In Schools. In this period, he worked closely with different organizations across the country in interventions in mainstream schools. He currently teaches Philosophy of Education at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Prior to this he worked in the software industry for over a decade.