People

Who you will work with.

ART Immersion is run by the team behind W.I.P Labs, with faculty cast for each programme from a network of working artists. Every programme has a W.I.P learning lead who owns the brief, the measures and the review.

Anirban Ghosh recording sound at the edge of a stream

Founder and Artistic Director

Anirban (Baan) Ghosh

  • 25 years of practice
  • Guest Faculty, IIM Ahmedabad
  • IIM Lucknow
  • CCBP, IIM Ahmedabad
  • Ex-HCL Technologies
  • FRSA
  • Managing Trustee, Aagaaz Theatre Trust
  • CEPT Excellence Award 2026

Anirban Ghosh (Baan G) is the founder and artistic director of W.I.P Labs, where he curates and produces W.I.P alt.FEST, PORTALS at the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, the Listening Otherwise conference and the programme at W.I.P aDDa. He is the founder of the art-rock collective Dastaan LIVE, whose rock opera Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein has played more than 50 stages in 15 cities; founder of the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra, India’s first free improvisers’ orchestra, formed with Raymond MacDonald of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra; and Managing Trustee of the Aagaaz Theatre Trust.

He came to the arts through technology and business. A computer science graduate who started at HCL Technologies, he studied at IIM Lucknow and on the Creative and Cultural Business Programme (CCBP) at IIM Ahmedabad, and was an Executive Producer at a national TV channel in Mumbai. Before W.I.P he ran workshops for corporate clients, from drum circles to employee-engagement sessions; ART Immersion is the in-depth practice that grew from that work. He teaches managers at IIM Ahmedabad and artists at CEPT and Ashoka, so he knows both rooms: what a team needs from a day, and what an artist needs to make that day real rather than a team-building exercise.

His sound and music have been presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Edinburgh Fringe, Kampnagel in Hamburg, Trinity Laban and the Southbank Centre in London, GIO Fest in Glasgow and the Graz International Improvisation Festival, on a European tour through Paris, Rennes, Barcelona, Berlin and Rotterdam, and across seven African countries on an ICCR tour. In 2026 he was part of Pro Helvetia’s international delegation to ETH Zurich, EPFL+ECAL Lab, ZHdK and CERN. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was named one of India’s seven Young Creative Entrepreneurs by the British Council.

The full record
Roles
Founder and Artistic Director, W.I.P Labs · Founder, Dastaan LIVE · Founder, Dilli Improvisers Orchestra, India’s first free improvisers’ orchestra · Managing Trustee, Aagaaz Theatre Trust
Education
B.IT, Computer Science, Delhi University · IIM Lucknow · Creative and Cultural Business Programme (CCBP), IIM Ahmedabad · Film and Television Industry Essentials, NYU Tisch · Bass with Gary Willis and Karl Peters; composition with Michael Harrison
Fellowships and honours
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) · British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur, one of seven in India · Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India Fellowship in Leadership and Innovation · ARThink South Asia Fellowship in Arts Management, with a residency at the Southbank Centre · Goethe-Institut Fellowship, Cultural Management in the Digital Age · Pravah ATSA Instructional Design Fellowship · Scholarships at Arts Letters and Numbers, New York · CEPT Excellence Award 2026
Industry
HCL Technologies · Executive Producer, a national TV channel, Mumbai · Founder, BEsquare Audio · Consultant, Southbank Centre, London
Teaching
Built the sound design department at UID; leads the Critical Sound Studio at CEPT University; has taught at Ashoka University, IIAD and Nirma University, and as guest faculty at IIM Ahmedabad
Work presented in
Italy (Venice Architecture Biennale) · UK (Edinburgh Fringe; Trinity Laban and Southbank Centre, London; GIO Fest, Glasgow) · Germany (Kampnagel, Hamburg; Berlin) · Austria (Graz International Improvisation Festival) · France (Paris, Rennes) · Spain (Barcelona) · Netherlands (Rotterdam) · seven African countries (ICCR tour) · Switzerland (Pro Helvetia delegation, 2026) · in India at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, the International Theatre Festival of Kerala, the Jaipur Literature Festival, NMACC and Bengaluru Airport Terminal 2. Has performed with Shubha Mudgal, Rabbi Shergill and Ricky Kej, and on Coke Studio India
Commissions
Wellcome Trust (Mindscapes) · Stanford University, Theatre and Performance Studies · PACT exhibition led by SOAS University of London · Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan · Irish Embassy, at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
Kirti Sharma standing in a field

Founding and Managing Partner, and Executive Director

Kirti Sharma

  • Law, National Law University
  • IP lawyer
  • Cleared the Indian Navy JAG examination
  • Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, IIM Lucknow
  • Teaches at CEPT University
  • 300+ shows produced and curated

Kirti studied law at a National Law University and practised at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, one of India’s tier-one law firms. She cleared the Indian Navy's Judge Advocate General (JAG) examination. She learned business before law: she worked in her father's printing business from a young age and later ran her own bakery. As an intellectual property lawyer she drafts IP policies for universities and educational institutions and advises artists, collectives and communities on their work, one of the few lawyers working where art, society and law meet. She is part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women programme at IIM Lucknow, and teaches at CEPT University.

She worked on two editions of the Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival, leading national media and press, and has produced and curated more than 300 shows. At W.I.P she runs partnerships, operations and programmes, including the W.I.P CAE university programme, Gali Gali Cinema and the W.I.P WinterSKUL on Majuli. On ART Immersion she leads partnerships, contracts and client relationships.

Portrait of Pallavi Verma

Project Manager, ART Immersion

Pallavi Verma

  • B.E., NSIT
  • MA Performance Practice, Ambedkar University
  • Kathak, 9 years · Doordarshan Grade B
  • Dr. Sunil Kothari Emerging Artist Award 2025

Pallavi is your day-to-day contact, from scoping and scheduling to delivery and follow-up. She holds a B.E. in Computer Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Delhi University, and worked in the corporate sector before moving into performance.

She trained in Kathak for nine years at Bharatiya Kala Kendra, is an empanelled Doordarshan Kathak artist, and holds a Master's in Performance Practice (Dance) from Ambedkar University Delhi. She was selected for the Kampnagel Dance Education Biennale in Hamburg and has presented work at Serendipity Arts Festival, India Art Fair and the March Dance Festival. She knows how organisations run and what it takes to practise an art form, which is ART Immersion in one role.

Faculty: practitioners, not trainers playing artists.

The people in your room include a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, a National Award-winning filmmaker and the production sound mixer on an Oscar-winning documentary. Every facilitator is a working artist, chosen at the Cast stage because their practice maps to your problem, subject to availability.

  • Navtej Singh Johar

    Dance and movement

    Navtej Singh Johar

    Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee; dancer and yoga practitioner.

  • Gurvinder Singh

    Film

    Gurvinder Singh

    National Award-winning filmmaker working on memory, landscape and community.

  • Md. Shameem

    Puppetry

    Md. Shameem

    Master puppeteer in the Kathputli tradition, with more than 20 years of practice.

  • Deepika Arvind

    Movement and theatre

    Deepika Arvind

    Berlin-based playwright and theatre practitioner; artistic director of the Lost Post Initiative.

  • Rency Philip

    Theatre and somatics

    Rency Philip

    Theatre practitioner and puppeteer; international fellow at Theatertreffen, Berlin.

  • Nimmi Ravindran

    Theatre

    Nimmi Ravindran

    Writer and theatre practitioner; co-founder of Sandbox Collective.

  • Diya Naidu

    Movement

    Diya Naidu

    Choreographer and somatic practitioner; founder of Citizens of Stage Co Lab. Has performed at Kampnagel, Hamburg.

  • Aditya Roy

    Martial arts and somatics

    Aditya Roy

    Kalaripayattu practitioner and somatic educator.

  • Nathulal Solanki

    Percussion

    Nathulal Solanki

    Nagara player from Pushkar, from a family that has played at the town's Brahma Temple for thirteen generations. Recorded on Master Drummers of Rajasthan.

  • Ikroop Sandhu

    Visual art

    Ikroop Sandhu

    Visual artist and educator working across identity, print and public art.

The wider network

Practitioners from Creative Arts Exploration, W.I.P's university programme, cast into ART Immersion when a brief calls for their discipline. They include our live-coding network: live coders and music technologists from W.I.P alt.FEST who lead the Mindful AI programmes.

  • Vidhaat Raman

    Vidhaat Raman

    Sound recording and design

    Production sound mixer on The Elephant Whisperers, winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. FTII alumnus.

  • Abhinay Khoparzi

    Abhinay Khoparzi

    Live coding

    Co-founder of Algorave India. Gets people with no programming background performing with code, quickly.

  • Hasan Shahrukh

    Hasan Shahrukh

    Immersive and interactive art

    Founder of Curiouswala Studio: AI, live coding, projection mapping and interactive objects.

  • Vaibhav Batra

    Vaibhav Batra

    Modular synthesis and listening

    Sound artist and educator; co-founder of the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra.

  • Anurupa Roy

    Anurupa Roy

    Puppetry and theatre direction

    Founder of Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust. National Award in Puppetry; uses puppetry in education and peace-building.

  • Adheep Das

    Adheep Das

    Puppetry and movement

    Theatre-maker working with puppetry, movement and material storytelling. FTII and BITS Goa.

  • Surjit Nongmeikapam

    Surjit Nongmeikapam

    Choreography

    Founder of Nachom Arts Foundation, Imphal. Has performed at Sadler's Wells, Tanz im August and Kyoto Experiment.

  • KP Lakshmana

    KP Lakshmana

    Theatre and devising

    Actor, director and poet; Jangama Collective. Shankar Nag Theatre Award, 2023.

  • Naren

    Naren

    Folk percussion

    Founder of Adavi Arts Collective, Bengaluru, reclaiming the Parai as contemporary practice.

  • Rahul Singh

    Rahul Singh

    Music technology

    Founder of the Himalayan Academy of Music Technology, Dharamsala.

  • Siddharth Dubey

    Siddharth Dubey

    Sound and creative coding

    Sound design, audio programming and generative systems.

  • Ankit Thapa

    Ankit Thapa

    Sound and creative coding

    Recording, sound design and code-driven audio.

International practitioners who have worked with us

  • Raymond MacDonald

    Raymond MacDonald

    United Kingdom

    Saxophonist and composer; Professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation, University of Edinburgh. Founder member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and mentor to the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra.

  • Chris Salter

    Chris Salter

    Switzerland

    Professor of Immersive Arts, Zurich University of the Arts; author of three books from MIT Press. Work shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Barbican.

  • Soumik Datta

    Soumik Datta

    United Kingdom and India

    Sarod player and composer; Aga Khan Music Award winner. Collaborator on W.I.P's Common Breath lab.

  • Jay Kreimer

    Jay Kreimer

    United States

    Instrument maker and performer on his own invented instruments.

  • Aldo Ahmad

    Aldo Ahmad

    Improviser

    Improvising musician who taught and performed at Listening Otherwise, Ahmedabad, 2026.

Where work from our network has been shown

  • Venice Biennale
  • Sadler's Wells
  • Edinburgh Fringe
  • Tanz im August
  • Kyoto Experiment
  • Kampnagel
  • Singapore Arts Festival
  • Kochi-Muziris Biennale
  • NMACC
  • Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
  • ITFoK
  • Jaipur Literature Festival

Artists we have made work with

  • Navtej Singh Johar
  • M.K. Raina
  • Shubha Mudgal
  • Ranjit Barot
  • Raymond MacDonald
  • Soumik Datta
  • Mandeep Raikhy
  • Chris Salter
  • Richard Emmert
  • Matthew Rahaim
  • Surjit Nongmeikapam
  • Neel Chaudhuri
  • Vedanth Bharadwaj
  • Viveick Rajagopalan
  • Shilppika Bordoloi
  • Sohail Hashmi
  • Diya Naidu
  • Fidel Dely
  • Takar Nabam
  • Adishakti
  • Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust
  • Make Believe Theatre
  • The Play Factory
  • Algorave India

A selection, from more than 700 artists presented at W.I.P alt.FEST.

An artists' organisation that understands business.

W.I.P Labs runs festivals and platforms, teaches at business, design and architecture schools, and produces original work. ART Immersion brings that practice, and the network behind it, into companies.

A theatre performance at W.I.P aDDa, Delhi Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein on stage Shadow puppetry at W.I.P alt.FEST The Dilli Improvisers Orchestra in performance

500+

performances programmed

700+

artists presented at W.I.P alt.FEST

70+

film screenings

30+

workshops, masterclasses and electives

15

cities for Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein, on 50+ stages

1st

free improvisers' orchestra in India: the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra

  • We teach atCEPT University (Critical Sound Studio, CEPT Excellence Award 2026), Ashoka University, IIM Ahmedabad, IIAD, UID, Nirma University and Jindal, and schools including Heritage, Shiv Nadar and Pathways.
  • Our work has travelled toVenice Architecture Biennale, Edinburgh Fringe, Kampnagel in Hamburg, Trinity Laban in London, GIO Fest in Glasgow, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and an installation at Bengaluru Airport Terminal 2.
  • Platforms we runW.I.P alt.FEST in Delhi and Bengaluru; PORTALS, a year-long programme at the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan; Listening Otherwise, a practice-led conference on improvised music; W.I.P aDDa, our studio in Delhi; the AutumnSKUL residency in the Kangra Valley.
  • InternationalCOMMON BREATH, an India and UK climate residency with Soumik Datta Arts; the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra with the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra; Pro Helvetia's 2026 international delegation to ETH Zurich, EPFL+ECAL Lab, ZHdK and CERN.

Where our pedagogy is taught

  • UID, Karnavati University
  • IIAD
  • CEPT University
  • Ashoka University
  • IIM Ahmedabad

Cultural institutes we work with

  • Goethe-Institut
  • British Council
  • Pro Helvetia
  • Alliance Française
  • Instituto Cervantes

The collective

The people behind ART Immersion.

W.I.P Labs is run by Kirti Sharma and Baan G from W.I.P aDDa in Lado Sarai, New Delhi, with a network of working artists cast for each programme.

Here, with artists and faculty from Listening Otherwise, our conference on improvised music, at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, including Raymond MacDonald and Jay Kreimer.

A group of artists seated and standing together on a wooden bench in a studio at CEPT University, Ahmedabad
Listening Otherwise, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, 2026.

Tell us the behaviour you want to change.

Write to us, or book a 30-minute Google Meet. No slides. If art is the wrong tool for your problem, we will say so and tell you what is.

Describe your problem Or book a Google Meet, or email us

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