Sandhya Mridul, Arijit Datta, Sapna Bhavnani and Sid Cutto
Sandhya Mridul, Arijit Datta, Sapna Bhavnani and Sid Cutto
Miss Malini and friend
MissMalini and Sheetal Vyas

I attended an interesting workshop the other day at Olive Bandra by the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)founded in 1995 by Sir Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty. Mark Featherstone-Witty and Nick Booker & Meetu Soni of IndoGenius were  conversation with outstanding musicians and performers of Mumbai as part of a workshop : “How to achieve your potential as a performer”.

Spotted: Sandhya Mridul, Cyrus  Sahukar, DJ Pearl, VJ Nikhil Chinapa and Hermit Sethi (co founders  Submerge), musician Ankur Tewari, actress Maya Sarao (of Patiala House fame), musician Sidd Coutto (of Tough On Tobacco), Jehan Johar, Arijit Dutta (of  Airport), DJ Vishal Shetty who were all on the panel and supported by guests like Sapna Bhavnani, VJ Siddharth, DJ Ma Faiza and DJ Assad.

Message from Sir Paul McCartney: “Namaste India. I’m  sorry I can’t be with you, but I’d like to say something. Mark and I are  proud that the challenge we set ourselves some 15 years ago has  delivered. The  educational challenge was how to devise a curriculum  that  resulted in  sustained employment. Last year, we noted that, three  years  after  leaving us, 94% of our graduating students were in  employment;  87% in  the performing arts. The  physical challenge was to  turn the school George and I attended  into a  facility that could  deliver the breadth of training that we do. Although  British national  Indian students have been a part of our  student body  for years, last  year we welcomed our first Indian  national. We hope that  this is just  the start and that some of your  country’s young talent  will join us  and become a part of our story, as  we will be a part of  theirs.”

Check out the LIPA website:  www.lipa.ac.uk

DJ Pearl Cyrus Sahukar Nick Booker Sandhya Mridul Mark Featherstone-Witty Maya Sarao Hermit Sethi
DJ Pearl Cyrus Sahukar Nick Booker Sandhya Mridul Mark Featherstone, Maya Sarao & Hermit Sethi
Meetu Soni, Nick Booker Sandhya, Mridul Cyrus Sahukar, Ankur Tewari, Arijit Datta & Mark Featherstone
Meetu Soni, Nick Booker Sandhya Mridul, Cyrus Sahukar, Ankur Tewari, Arijit Datta & Mark Featherstone
Ma Faiza Nick Booker, DJ Pearl and Nikhil Chinapa
Ma Faiza Nick Booker, DJ Pearl and Nikhil Chinapa
Nick Booker, Meetu Soni, Ambika Muttoo and VJ Siddharth
Nick Booker, Meetu Soni, Ambika Muttoo and VJ Siddharth