Solidarity Statement

Scroll down on this page to view the list of signatories.

Signatures will be updated on this page daily at 10.00pm IST starting March 5, 2023.

Email info.carespaces@gmail.com or message us on social media if you have any questions!

* Content Warning: sexual misconduct, verbal abuse, humiliation

THE STORY

On December 24th, 2022, social media posts brought to light patterns of sexual misconduct, abuses of power, and human rights violations at Kalakshetra’s Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts (RDCFA). In response to this outcry, and to better serve those harmed, CAREspaces formed an anonymous listening space and provided various forms of support. CAREspaces has heard from many members of Kalakshetra – students, faculty, alumni, repertory dancers, and other affiliates. Over 100 narratives reveal frustration and fear towards the institution's decision-makers and administrators, especially due to their open support of alleged abusers. To date, the people in power have failed to take sufficient action; abusers’ actions continue to be defended and unpunished. This crisis needs to be addressed.

Current students and employees actively seek reform, but Kalakshetra’s leadership is silencing their voices and severely threatening their livelihoods in retaliation. Countless narratives expose that administrators regard questions about these allegations as unwelcome and punishable.

THE ASK

We believe the volume of our collective signatures can elevate the voices of those who are silenced, and reinforce their demand for a responsive leadership, transparent enquiry processes and clear and enforceable measures of accountability.

The signatories below join CAREspaces in standing with members of Kalakshetra and asking RDCFA leadership to provide explanations for the following:

Responsive Leadership

Why has the leadership of Kalakshetra RDCFA not acknowledged the public outcry to date, neither with an apology nor a simple update?
Why has the RDCFA leadership abused its power in favor of the alleged perpetrator(s)?

Abuse of power in the form of: manipulating institution resources in favor of the abuser, verbally abusing/humiliating students and employees, and threatening the placement/job security of employees. (Derived from narratives)

Transparent Processes

What are the institutional mechanisms for complaint redressal and accountability?
What is the record on responses to these concerns?
Has the institution provided a transparent process that all stakeholders can access easily and understand clearly?
What protections does the institution offer those who file complaints and those who serve as witnesses? What are the guarantees of confidentiality in the hearings?

Accountability Measures

What are the consequences in place for abusers according to Kalakshetra RDCFA’s Workplace Sexual Harassment prevention policy?
Why does Kalakshetra leadership regard questions about these allegations (posed by internal changemakers) as unwelcome and punishable?

We, the signatories, demand transparency regarding matters related to the redressal of sexual misconduct allegations at Kalakshetra. We call on Kalakshetra RDCFA to adhere strictly to ethical and legal standards and we stand firmly behind these demands.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN

Signatories (706):

A Sathy

Aarthi Karthic

Aarthi R

Abbernaa Dhevi Kukananthan

Abhilash Venkitachalam

Adithi Ravi

Adithya PV

Aditi

Aditi Dhruv

Aditi Gopinathan

Aditi Manoharan

Aishwarya Ex student

Aishwarya Ravindran

Aisvarya Chandrasekar

Aiswarya

Aiswarya Lakshmi

Alana Rajah

Ambigga

Amirt k narayan

Amirtha

Amirthalatha

Amrita Krishnakumar

Amritha Jayakrishnan

Anand Gopalan

Anil Purohit

Anita Ghosh

Anita R Ratnam

Anitha

Anjali Lokhande

Anjana Rajan

Anju Aravind

Ankitha

Anugrah Lakshmanan

Anupama Satyajit

Anusha

Anusha Kedhar

Anusha Subramanyam

Anushree

Aparna Ramkrishnan

Aparnaa

Archa Shajukumar

Archana Karnani

Archana Vyasam

Archita Mehta

Arjun Ramachandran

Arun S

Arundhati David

Arushi

Aryamba- ex student

Asha

Ashni Shiju

Ashwathi

Ashwini viswanathan, artist

Bhairavi Nedungadi

Bhavani

Bhavi Shah

Bilva

Bindu S Shankar

C P Satyajit

Chaitanya

Chaitra Sankarabandi

Chinmayi Krishnan

CHIRANJEEVI - Art Connoisseur

Chitra Gopalakrishnan

Chitra Lakshumanan

Danya

Danya Rubinee

Darsana

Darshak

Daya

Deepa Narendra

Devika Anil

Devika s kurup

Dhanyesh

Dheeraj Nurani Venkatachalam

Diviya Enomoto

Divya Ram

Divyasena

Diya Naidu

Dr Lakshmi

Durga

Dwaritha Viswanatha

G.Narendra

G.Niveditha

Gayathri

Gayatri Krishnaveni Lakshmanan

Gayatri Narayanan

Hamsavardhini Thirunarayanan

Hannah Varghese

hari

Hari Vamsi Komaragiri

Harini Panguluri

Harinishree

Harish Chandhar

Harshan

Heena Patel

Hema Devi

Hema Ramesh

Hemani

Hemant Sharma

Hiten Mistry

Indira Kadambi

Iniyaval Shanthakumar

Ishita Mili

Iswariya Sridharan

Jahnavi bolisetty

Jahnavi Murali

Janaki Subramanian

Janani A

Janani Ramesh

Janet James

Jayashree

Jisha

Joshua G

Jovani Ratnarajah

Joy Antony

Jyothi (art lover)

Jyotsna Ravi

K Muraleedharan

K Sarveshan

Kaavya Venkataramanan

Kabilan Jeganathan

Kala N Ramankutty

Kala Ramesh

Kalaisan Kalaichelvan

Kalyani H

Kammeliesh Sachithanadan

Karthi

Karthik Hebbar

Karthika S

Karuna Suresh

Kavisha Prajapati

Kavisri Jawahar

kaynesha

Keerthana Ravi

Keerthi

Kiran Rajagopalan

Krishna

Krishna Devanandan

Krishnakanth Chiravuri

Krishnakshi

Krishnakshi Goswami

Krishnan Nair

Krishnaya Corbett- past student

Krithika Rajkumar

Kumudha Chandrasekaran

L Ramakrishnan

Laasya Narasimhachari

Lalitha Ramanarayanan

Lashman

Lata Narayan

Lavanya Jayabalan

Lavanya Rajagopalan

Lavanya Swaminathan

Leelasamson

Liji Sreejesh

Lillie Hollingsworth

Maanasa

Maanasa discontinued student

Madhu

Madhumanti

Madhumita Ravindra

Mahalakshmi

Mahalakshmi Jayanth

Maitreyee Joshi

Maitreyee Sharma

Malini

Malu T

Manasa

Manasa Hariharan

Manthra

Marie

Masoom Parmar

Maya J

Mayura

Medha Hari

Medhini Ramesh

Meena

Meenakshi

Meenakshi Krishnaraj

Meera Krishna A R

Meera Krishnamurti

Meera Seshadri, MSPH

Meera Seshadrinathan.

Megha Subramanian

Michael Hayden

Mitha Kathakar

Mithila Asha Kiryakoza

Mridula Das

Mrinalini Mishra

Mrudula

Muneswaren Palsamy

Muthalagi

N Subhaalakshmi

N.R.Ramanarayanan

Nadarajan mundiany

Naganathan

Nagarajan

Nagashree P S

Nainika

Namrata

Nandini Ravichandran

Navenah naidu

Nazreen Ali

Neela Bhaskar

Neeraja Ramani

Neetu

Neha Krishnamachary

Nidheesh Kumar

Nidhishree

Nikitha

Nimi Ravindran

Niveditha V

Niyathi

Nrithya P

Ojas Atreyam

Our support to you. SRINATH G.R.

P Sathish

Padmini

Pallavi

Panchami

Parvathy Menon

Pavithra Selvamani

Pavitra Kumar

Pooja

Prajakta

Pranav Swaroop

Prarthana

Prasanna rahini

Prathiba Batley

Praveen

Preethi Bharadwaj

Preethi Ramaprasad

Preeti Mohan

Priya Murle

Priyanka Dinakar

Purnima G

Pushkala Gopal

Rabina Beepath

Radhika Radhakrishnan

Radhika Vairavelavan

Raja Bala

Rajan Shanmugasundaram

Rajashree Raju

Rajendra Kumar

Rajendra Tadavarthy

Rajlaxmi

Rakshita Raghunathan

Ram Prasadh

Rama Kshirsagar

Ramya

Ramya M

Ramya Rajaraman

Ranjani Sivakumar

Rashmi Udupa

Rasika

Ratipriya Suresh

Raveena Singh

Rekha Vijayakumar.

Remya Kuttiparambil

Remya.K

Revathi Mani

Revathy Deepak

Revekka

Rishabh vardhanan

Rituparna Pal

Rituumaneek

Robin Raju

Rohini Banerjee

Roja Kannan

Roopa

Roopa Mahadevan

Roshni

Rudrajohn

Rupasri Shankar

Rupsa Nag

S Jayachandran

S Manivannan

S Rohit

Sachiin Poobun

Sahana Girish

Sai Sri Ram S

Sai Sruthi

Saibrindha Ramachandran

Saibruntha S

Saikripa Prasanna

Sailakshmi Ramanathan

Sajusha

Saketh Nadimpalli

Sammitha Sreevathsa

Samyuktha

Sandhya

Sandhya Sriram

Sangeetha Prasanna

Sanjana

Sanjay Cherubala

Sanker

Sasirekha Raammohan

Sathish kumar

sathy viswanathan

Sathya

Sathyamvadha

Sayi prabha

Season

Seema Athmeeya

Selin. S

Sesha Thalpa sai

Seyoon Ragavan

Shailaja Hayden

Shakuntala Devi Bindesrisingh

Shalini

Shangita Namasivayam

Sharadha Shankar

Sharanya

Sharanyaa G

SHAREEN NG

Sharmada

Shijith Nambiar

Shilpa Krishna

Shiv Nadkarni

Shivangee Vikram

Shivangi Singh

Shivani

Shobha

Shobita

Shraddha J

Shravya K

Shree

Shreya Nagarajan Singh

Shreyas

Shrihari Bhaskar

Shruthi Shankar

Shruti Abhishek

Shruti Bhatt

Shruti Gopal

Shruti Shankar

Shubhi

Shweta Vedanarayanan

Shweta, student and dancer

Shwetha Krishna Rao

Shwetha Ravishankar

Simer Sokhi

Smitha Keshav

Smrithi Raman

Smrti

Sneha - alumnus

Sneha Semaleesan

Snigdha Desiraju

Snigdha Venkataramani

Sobiya Sudeep

Somasundaram

Sonali Phatale

Sonali Skandan

Soumitri Som (Bharatakalanjali)

Sourami Mukherjee

Sowmya K R

Sreelatha Vinod

Sreelekha Sunil

Sreeshna

Srepooja

Sri

Sridevi Gopinath

Srilakshmi

Srinidhi Nitin

Srinivasaraghavan N.C.

Sriram

Sriranjani V

Sruthy Anand

Stuti S

Subashri

Subashri Sankarasubramanian

Subha

subhashini goda

Subhashini Goda

Subiksha Sundararaman

Suchitra Sairam

Sudarshan Mohan

Suhasini

Suhasini Muthukrishnan

Suhasini Srinivasaragavan

Sunandhini

Sundari Ashok

Sunethra

Sunil Sunkara

Sunitha Sivakumaran

Supna Jain

Supreetha Hegde

Sushmita Rajtilak

Sutikshna Veeravalli

SWARNA

Swarna Rajagopalan

Swaroopa Unni

Swathi Ravichandran

Swati

T M Krishna

T.K.Thiruchelwam

Tamilselvi

Tharshini

Theresa Minu Dominic

Thiagarajan Ramesh

Thiviyaashini

Tripti Bhupen

Turiya Kathyayani

Tvesa

Twisha

UKK

Uma M

Uma Sathyanarayanan

V P DHANANJAYAN & SHANTA DHANANJAYAN

Vaishali

Vanitha Bhoopal

Varalaxmi Ramani

Varsha Balakrishnan

Varsha Radhakrishnan

Varun

Vasanti

Vedi Sinha Aahvaan

Veera, bharathanatyam practitioner.

Velu Vishwanath

Venkat Sharma

Venkatesh Asokan

Venus Lim

Vicki Fennessy

Vidhi Dixit

Vidhya Ramasubban

Vidhya Subramanian

Vidula Hemant

Vidya

Vidya Naganathan

Vidya Ramachandran

Vidyutha M. V

Vignesh Eswar

Vignesh Nagarajan

Vijay

Vijay Saravanamuthu

Vikram Nitin

Vineeta

Vini

Vinod Nagarajan

Vishaal B

Vishnupriya

Vivek R

Vivisha

Yaalini

Yaamini Venkataraman

Yadhukrishnan -ex student

Yashneitha

Yes

Zan

"anonymous current staff"

"Anonymous current student"

"anonymous current student"

"anonymous old faculty

A woman supporting another woman

Alumnus of kalakshetra

Anonymous

Anonymous Alumna

Anonymous Alumnus

Anonymous art lover

Anonymous concerned artist not affiliated with kalakshetra

Anonymous Current Admin/Staff

Anonymous Current Faculty

Anonymous current faculty

anonymous current faculty

Anonymous current faculty

"Anonymous current Faculty

Anonymous current staff

Anonymous current staff /admin

Anonymous current staff/admin

Anonymous Current Student

Anonymous current student

Anonymous Current Student

Anonymous current student

Anonymous Current Student

Anonymous current student

anonymous current student

Anonymous current student

anonymous current student

Anonymous current student

Anonymous Current Student

Anonymous current student

Anonymous Current Student

Anonymous current student

Anonymous Current Student

Anonymous current student

Anonymous dancer

Anonymous discontinued student

Anonymous ex student

Anonymous ex Student

Anonymous Ex Student

Anonymous ex student

Anonymous ex-student

Anonymous friend to student

Anonymous old student

Anonymous person

Anonymous Rasika

Anonymous rasika

Anonymous Signature

anonymous signature

Anonymous Signature & Comment

Anonymous supporter and friend

Anonymous supporter of the cause

Anonymously

Anonymously Ex-staff

Art enthusiasts

Artist fighting against Sexual harassment.

Current dancer from RDCFA CONCERT SESSION

Current faculty RDCFA

Current music student RDCFA

Current staff of RDCFA

current student

Current student of visual department RDCFA

Ex staff

Ex student

Ex Student

Ex student

Ex-Kalakshetra student

Friend of Kalakshetra student

In support.

Kalakshetra alumini

Kalakshetra is hell.

Mr. Anonymous

Old student

Passed out student

Rasika

This should not happen to any woman

Well wisher