Apr 27 2025 to Apr 27 2025 11 a.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Step into a world of colour, kindness, and creativity with The Birthday Party, a delightful puppet show that brings life skills to the stage through the magic of puppetry. Created especially for Autism Awareness Month, this engaging performance follows a young boy and his father as they prepare for a friend’s birthday party—learning lessons in friendship, cooperation, and emotional understanding along the way.

Featuring vibrant, expressive puppets and a visually immersive traditional puppet theatre setup, the show is designed to support the sensory and social needs of autistic children while offering an enriching experience for audiences of all ages. With clear emotional cues, playful storytelling, and gentle visual and auditory transitions, The Birthday Party opens a meaningful dialogue about family, empathy, and everyday challenges.

This inclusive performance is open to all children and families, and especially welcomes those in the neurodiverse community to enjoy theatre in a safe, supportive space. Whether you’re laughing along with the characters or learning new ways to connect, this joyful production is sure to leave a lasting impression.

The 30 minute performance will be followed by a 30 minute Q&A with the audience.

The team at Colours Centre for Learning – an NGO for Autism, has conceptualised and developed The Birthday Party entirely in-house, drawing on their deep expertise in autism education, art, and theatre production. Blending creative storytelling with an inclusive approach to learning, the production reflects the team’s commitment to using the arts as a meaningful tool for engagement, expression, and skill-building among autistic individuals. From scriptwriting and puppet design to stagecraft and performance, every aspect of the show has been thoughtfully created to support both educational and emotional development through a rich, sensory-friendly experience.

Facilitators

Bela Joshi
Managing Trustee, Colours Centre for Learning
Bela Joshi is an engineer by profession with a deep passion for art, design, and education for Autism. Her professional journey began in the fields of automation, graphics, and electronics with hands-on experience across Delhi and Mumbai. After moving to Bangalore over two decades ago, Bela’s path took a transformative turn following her son’s autism diagnosis at the age of two. Motivated by personal experience and extensive self-education, she immersed herself in understanding autism and effective intervention strategies.

Over the years, Bela has worked closely with therapists, gaining insights into various techniques that support social, behavioural, and communication development in autistic individuals. Her dedication, along with her husband Sharad Joshi’s support, led to the founding of Colours Learning Education Trust, under which Colours Centre for Learning – an NGO for Autism was established in 2015. As the Managing Trustee, she has completed 10 years in leading the centre, blending her technical background with her lived experience to create a nurturing, skill-building environment for autistic individuals.

Bela continues to champion education for autism through innovation in pedagogy, art, technology and community support. She recently received the ChangeMaker Award under the Education Category at the Let Us Dream Conference at Christ University, Bangalore, 2023. Colours Centre for Learning was also recently awarded the NGO Leadership Award at the National CSR Leadership Congress & Awards, 2023. The award is India’s highest recognition of leaders and organisations that have a significant and positive impact on the lives of people around them.

Sneha Joshi
Co-Director, Programs and Development, Colours Centre for Learning
Sneha Joshi is an artist, curator and cultural practitioner based in Bangalore. She holds a degree in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, and an M.A. in Curatorial Practices from Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology, Bangalore.

Through her artistic and curatorial practice Sneha aims to challenge perceptions around sociocultural norms and identity, promoting dialogue with various communities around relevant and pressing sociocultural themes through discussions and workshops. She engages with everyday themes in the Indian and global context to initiate cultural conversations and her work often takes the form of participatory, interactive art projects, workshops and publications.

Her work has been exhibited at Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London (2018) and The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Arts, Rijeka, Croatia (2016). She was awarded a grant for Gender Bender Festival (2019) supported by Goethe Institut Bangalore and Sandbox Collective. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Pollinator Studio’s virtual art residency, Virtual Nursery (2021-21). Her work was also been shown at the Students’ Biennale 4th Edition, at Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2020-21) and her digital works have been exhibited as part of The Wrong Biennale (2022), While Tech Do Art (2022) and at areybyte Gallery, London to name a few.