Team | Pune Arts and Health Festival

Dr Kunle Adewale

Global South Arts and Health Leadership

Dr Kunle Adewale is a Nigerian-born, UK-based multimedia artist and mental health advocate. He founded Arts in Medicine Projects and the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship, training over 1,000 professionals from 60 countries and impacting over 60,000 people. His development work has impacted diverse groups across Nigeria, the UK, Ireland, the US, and other countries in the world. He is also the founder of the Global Mental Health Fellowship.

Kunle is a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health. He is the Global Development Lead for the Global South Arts and Health Initiative, which has benefitted over 300,000 across 30 countries worldwide through local and international arts and health festivals focusing on Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions. Kunle has not only pioneered several arts and health initiatives in Nigeria, Africa, and other parts of the world but has also done so through powerful partnerships. His collaborations with professionals, arts and cultural organizations, government agencies, diplomatic missions, foreign missions, public health organizations, academic institutions, NGOs and Civil Society, among others, have amplified the impact of his work.

Kunle has been a guest presenter and speaker at University College London, Kings College London, Healing Arts Scotland, organized by Scottish Ballet, Jameel Arts and Health Lab, WHO Europe, Culturerunners and the University of Edinburgh Scotland. Kunle produced and curated the Black Leaders Summit in Oxford, supported by the Atlantic Institute. He collaborated with Universities and Museums and African leaders in the diaspora to host Arts and Health Pavilions for Black History Month in London, Wolverhampton, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Cork and Dublin, Ireland. Kunle’s humanitarian global art engagements have benefited children, adolescents, youths, adults who have cancer, sickle cell anaemia, disabilities, mental illnesses, older adults with dementia, Teen mothers with HIV/AIDS, inmates, refugees, and families displaced by war and terrorist attacks, among others. His global art initiatives have been featured in international media, including the Voice of America in Washington, DC, France 24, Weltspiegel, Aljazeera, Reuters, BBC Africa, The Guardian UK, CBC Canada, Europawok, Taiwan Plus TV, TV5 Monde France, VD News Germany, EAC News Cambodia, Global Business Outlook, TRT World, DW Deutsche Welle News Germany, ARTE.TV France, The Lancet Child, and Adolescent Health Journal, to name a few. Kunle has received multiple accolades, including the Kunle Adewale Day in the United States, a day dedicated to celebrating his contributions to arts, health, and social impact. Kunle is a UK Commonwealth Youth Worker Award winner, Young African Ambassador for Arts & Culture, Arts Council of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mandela Washington Fellow of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI Flagship Fellowship). Endorsed by the National Museum for African Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., Kunle was named and endorsed as a Global Talent Exceptional Leader by the Arts Council of England in 2022. He is a 2019 Bill and Melinda Gates Goalkeeper. Kunle is also a member of the WHO Arts Practice and Ethics of Care project cohort. He is co-curator and co-author of the Jameel Arts and Health, WHO and Lancet Global Series on the Health Benefits of the Arts.

Kunle was recently nominated for the 2025 Global Industry Award by the Global Entrepreneurship Festival, the biggest Entrepreneurship event in the world. He currently leads one of the world’s largest arts and health networks. In 2025 , He pioneered the Young Leaders for Arts and Health , an international arts and health movement with an estimated global reach of over 300,000 people during its launch in August and September.

Akshata Parekh

Creative Producer/Festival Director

Mugdha Shivapurkar

Co-producer/Associate Festival Director

Leadership Team

Akshata Parekh is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Mental Health Counselor, and Arts and Health professional. She is currently practicing at The Sahyadri Hospitals and Jehangir Hospital. With a vision to integrate the arts into the healthcare system, she works toward establishing arts as a formal component of patient care. She holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, specializing in Expressive Arts Therapy, from Lesley University (USA), and is currently pursuing her Doctorate at De Montfort University (UK). In addition to her clinical work, Akshata serves as an Arts in Medicine Fellow and a Research Assistant at the Interdisciplinary Research lab, University of Florida. She is also a Mental Health Consultant at Tenerity India Pvt. Ltd. and a Drum Circle Facilitator with Taal Inc. She holds a Postgraduate Certification in Counseling Psychology from Fergusson College, Pune, an International Diploma in Human Rights, Mental Health, and Law, and has completed various certifications, including in Queer Affirmative Counseling Practice, Dance Movement Therapy, Visual Art Therapy, Neuro- Linguistic Programming (India), and Rhythm-to-Recovery, as well as Drum Circle Facilitation (USA and India). A firm believer in the transformative and healing power of the arts, Akshata is passionate about advocating for the integration of arts into healthcare. Through her work, she aims to spread awareness and inspire change, promoting a holistic approach to health and well-being in India.

Mugdha is a registered Art Psychotherapist (HCPC, UK) with a deep-rooted affinity for the arts and their therapeutic potential. She holds an MA in Clinical Psychology from Fergusson College, Pune (2015) and an MA in Art Psychotherapy from the University of Roehampton, London. She brings a decade of diverse experience in integrating creative arts into mental health work across corporate, educational, and counselling contexts. She holds a Mental Health First Aid certification (MHFA England, 2024) and has additional foundational training in Dance Movement Therapy, the Therapeutic Value of Arts, Adlerian Therapy and Drum Circle Facilitation. Mugdha’s therapeutic approach is anchored in the arts, with a strong emphasis on cultural identity, intersectionality, and accessibility. She is particularly drawn to working with grief and personality vulnerabilities always centering the individual, not just the diagnosis. She prioritizes the person over the diagnosis, valuing the humanness and accessibility that the arts bring to therapy. Mugdha is a visiting faculty for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Psychology as well as Creative Arts Therapy at institutions like St. Xavier’s College, DES Pune University, Fergusson College, Flame University UGC-Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre, Savitribai Phule Pune University and more. In 2019, Mugdha co-founded The Secret Ingredient Mental Healthcare, a holistic initiative aimed at reducing stigma and expanding access to inclusive mental health services in India.

Core Committee

Preksha Porwal

Social Media Committee

Akkshay Gupta

Website Design and outreach

Henna Raisinghani

Research and Administrative Committee Artists, facilitators and event organisations

Purva Jain

Research and Administrative Committee Joint member- Venues and community partnerships. Artists, facilitators and events organisation

Simren Arora

Research and Administrative Committee Venues and community partnerships

Purva listens for a living, and can't quite sit still while doing it. A counselling psychologist and an expressive arts-based facilitator by training, she talks as much with her hands as with words, and trusts a story or a bit of play to say what sentences sometimes can't. She works with adults through individual and couple's therapy, and also brings arts and health together as a psychologist and facilitator in hospital settings in Pune. Across both, the belief stays the same: that the process is not only something we talk through, it's something we move, make, and sometimes play our way into. Off work, she is almost always in the middle of a book, and will talk your ear off about a good story if you let her. She is currently part of the core committee for the Pune Arts and Health Festival, bringing that same restless, story-loving energy to the work.

Akkshay is a percussionist, live musician, drum circle facilitator and community curator working at the intersection of music, arts and collective wellbeing. He facilitates participatory music experiences and community-led cultural spaces, using rhythm as a tool for connection and expression. Alongside his creative work, Akkshay brings a background in technology and cloud engineering, bridging structured thinking with his work in the arts and community.

Henna Raisinghani is a movement artist, performer, and Dance Movement Psychotherapist based in Pune, India. With a strong foundation in Contemporary dance, Kalaripayattu, Breaking, House her practice is deeply informed by both embodied performance and therapeutic inquiry. She has received professional training at Attakkalari, Centre for Movement Arts, and holds a Master’s degree in Dance Movement Psychotherapy from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Preksha is a counselling psychologist, trauma informed therapist and arts based facilitator by profession. She works with children, adolescents and adults across therapeutic settings and integrates art in her work with them. She enjoys looking at the sky to slow down, feels happy being in nature and doodles at random times. She brings this creative spark and fascination to the Pune Arts and Health festival.

Simren is a clinical psychology student, yoga therapist, teacher and wellness instructor, who finds joy in both mindful movement and messy creativity. Give her some clay, paints or beads and she’ll happily turn it into something beautiful. She loves playing with words, music, colours and all things art. She is passionate about helping individuals work towards their mental, physical and overall well-being, and integrating psychological principles with holistic and yogic wellness practices.

Anubha Doshi

Artsphere and Soulsphere,Pune

Advisory Board

Nupur Dhakephalkar

Center for Mentalhealth

Varun Venkit

Taal Arts and Health Foundation, Taal Inc.

Kohinoor Darda

Arisa Foundation

Abhishek Bhave

Secret Ingredient Health Foundation, TSI Mental health LLP

Founder-Director of Artsphere & Soulsphere, a unique arts and healing centre in Pune, Anubha Doshi is an award-winning entrepreneur, psychologist, mindfulness-based psychotherapist, expressive arts therapist, classical dancer, and accomplished author. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Expressive Arts Therapy, she holds postgraduate degrees in Clinical Psychology and Communication Management.

Recognized with prestigious honors like She The Shakti, Anubha actively contributes to academic conferences, faculty roles, and research initiatives, advancing the fields of expressive arts and therapy. Her parenting book, ‘The M – Factor’, a collection of unique personal essays written by mothers in a memoir format released in 2025, and is published by the prestigious Penguin Random House.

Nupur Dhakephalkar is the founder-director of Center for Mental Health, Pune and is a trauma-informed, person-centred, NIMHANS trained Clinical Psychologist with over a decade of clinical experience. She is EMDR-trained and a certified queer-affirmative therapist, with a special focus on psychological trauma, ADHD, CPTSD, PTSD using trauma informed, trauma focused, and mindfulness-based approaches. A passionate educator, she enjoys actively mentoring psychology interns and supervising early career psychologists. She has been a TedX speaker and her work has been featured in The Hindu, Femina, Hindustan Times, and she has spoken on Times Now and Radio One. Beyond her clinical work, Nupur is an artist at heart. She has been painting since childhood and enjoys working with acrylics and watercolours—often inspired by nature, creating serene landscapes and botanical art inspired by her travels

Abhishek Bhave is a psychologist and entrepreneur who transitioned into mental health after a career in business and marketing. Abhishek holds a Master's in Business Administration from Welingkar Institute and a Master's in Clinical Psychology from Modern College, Pune His fondness for connecting with and learning from new people led to an increased regard for this profession, eventually leading to the establishment of a mental healthcare venture. His approach is characterized by a unique blend of compassion, empathy, and professional acumen, making mental health care accessible and effective for all. A dance enthusiast for over 20 years, Abhishek finds joy and grounding in movement—something that has remained a constant passion through all of life’s changes

Kohinoor holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience (Bangor University, UK), and has previously worked as a researcher at the University of Glasgow (UK), Macquarie University (Australia), and University of Pennsylvania (USA). Her research investigates how the brain and mind are engaged in and influenced by art, and how humans navigate in their social world. She is currently the founder and director of ARISA Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation in Pune, India. Through ARISA, Kohinoor aims to bridge the arts and sciences to advance interdisciplinary and intersectional research and dialogue, promote social change, and make the sciences and arts open, equitable, and accessible to all. She enjoys social interactions with fictional characters in novels and underwater aesthetic experiences when scuba diving.

Varun Venkit is the founder and director of Taal Inc. He is a published psychologist, master neuro-linguistic programming practitioner, TedX speaker, a drumkit player, and a drum circle facilitator. He is a percussionist who specialises in traditional West African Djembe. Varun is India's only senior certified teacher with the Tam Tam Mandingue Academy which was set up by the Late grandmaster Mamady Keita. He has worked with various groups and populations using rhythm since 2006, facilitated many drum circles and trained many facilitators nationally and internationally. He has his own band called 'Taal Inc. and friends' which plays West African folk music with a jazz-funk approach and features some of the best musicians in the country.

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