SHAKTHI: சக்தி (Tamil for Strength) Studio is a space dedicated to exploring the intersection of arts, research and community. Grounded in the belief that children thrive when they feel seen in spaces when they can explore ideas, identities and emotions, while building community in culturally meaningful ways. The goal is to:
about whether/how artistic expression supports child development in Majority World.
Learn
Create
art, events, programs, and knowledge products to share learnings.
Build
spaces of connection, creativity, knowledge-sharing and strength with children, families, educators, communities.
Through:
⇁ partnering with researchers, artists, and community leaders to generate art and knowledge rooted in lived experience
⇁ practices that support socio-emotional learning via arts-based exploration of feelings, identities, and relationships
⇁ collaborative approaches that strengthen community ties.
Coming up: Arts and SEL in South Asia
There’s a lot of Western literature on social and emotional learning (SEL), school-based interventions, and the wide range of benefits for students, from school functioning to peer relationships to school climate and safety (Cipriano et al., 2023; Durlak et al., 20211). Studies have explored how arts and play-based activities such as music (Creech, Hodges & Hallam, 2021), collaborative filmmaking (Zhang et al., 2025), visual arts (Peleka, Stamovlasis & Metallidou, 2025; See & Kokotsaki, 2015) are associated with social, cognitive, emotional and academic outcomes.
While South Asian communities (Bhatt, 2019) and programs have long harnessed arts and play-based activities towards bolstering child outcomes, little evidence documents the impacts of school-based programs within this context.
So…what do arts- and SEL programs in South Asia look like? How is it influencing child outcomes?
At Shakthi Studio, we’re committed to learning. Through a new series, we’ll be learning from Saturday Art Class in India and Tilli in Sri Lanka, hearing what their work with children reveals about the role of arts, play and SEL in everyday learning.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll dive in, stay tuned :)
FAQs
(nobody has asked yet, but…)
➜ Why the focus on arts?
You can read more about the journey from arts to SEL here, but in short: while the company itself is in its infancy, the mission to ✨ create ✨ with intention began over a decade ago.
SHAKTHI: சக்தி was born from a personal journey that began at a music camp in Dubai, where a group of independent artists in the region brought handfuls of 4-18 year old girls together to create, collaborate, and perform in five days. That experience sparked our Director’s music career, alongside a lasting belief in the power of art and play to build connection and purpose.
➜ Who is behind SHAKTHI: சக்தி?
While the story above roots Shakthi’s ethos, the studio is much more than one person’s journey. We’re a network of independent consultants - researchers, practitioners, and artists - who have worked in international development across the Middle East and North Africa, South America and North America; bound by personal callings to play and arts-based learning, along with extensive experiences across the fields of child development, education, economics, and applied psychology.
Some of our favorite words (and things to do):
mixed-methods, monitoring and evaluation and measure design (over masala dosa)
survey scripts and sampling (with syrupy kunafa)
SEL, stats and storytelling (over spicy shawarma)
(Apart from our shared love of food), we bring rigor and creativity to causes that call, using research, art, and community to build evidence that moves. We band together in different configurations depending on each project’s needs, driven by shared purpose, curiosity, and care. If you’d like to know more about who’s on board, we’re happy to share team bios with partners and collaborators - reach out!
➜ What does “creating with intention” look like?
Whether it’s writing a song, painting, conducting an analysis, or creating a data visualization, intentions guide all steps of our processes. At SHAKTHI: சக்தி, we’re not writing songs just to write songs, or conducting analyses simply to deliver a report. We create with purpose; from a place of curiosity and care for the people whose ears, eyes, hands, and hearts our work will touch.
Creating with intention means pausing in uncertainty. It means looking back at the literature to understand what we already know, keeping a careful eye on who we know about, and who’s been left out. It’s about including voices too often unheard, and sharing what we learn back with communities through innovative, accessible, and global public goods.
➜ What kinds of projects are in the works?
For centuries, art and play have been woven into the fabric of child-rearing practices across South Asia (Bhatt, 2019). Yet, despite their cultural significance, little empirical research has documented their impact within school-based and community contexts.
Our first project series dives into arts- and play-based learning in South Asia, in collaboration with two NGOs working in India and Sri Lanka. Together, we’re examining how these programs influence children’s learning and wellbeing and addressing the critical evidence gap surrounding such work in the region. Watch this space or follow us on Instagram and/or Tiktok to stay looped in!
We are officially open for projects so if you’re a researcher, program implementer, artist or someone interested in how we can work together - reach out!
➜ How do we get in touch?
Send us an email at info@shakthistudio.com!