The Arts

Focus on Artistic and Life Skills

At RIS, art thrives in its visual and performing forms, encompassing a diverse range of activities and modes of expression. We believe in providing students with an art education that gives them an opportunity to understand their legacy and combine it with a vision of the future. In addition to helping students nurture a passion for specific arts and crafts, we inculcate aesthetic appreciation and creativity within them resulting in a refinement of the senses and a desire to conserve one’s heritage and environment. More importantly, the Arts curriculum is designed so as to integrate with other subjects in addition to the development of artistic skills and life skills (such as empathy, problem solving, decision making, etc.)

The RIS Visual Arts programme is unique for its depth and richness in terms of the disciplines that are included such as painting, sculpture, pottery, paper recycling and re-using, fashion designing, crafts and commercial art. Students are not merely exposed to different forms of art ranging from folk to contemporary along with their cultural and historical significance but also able to demonstrate their skills in or aptitude for a variety of tools, techniques and materials. While in the Junior Programme they experience the sheer joy of handling colour and paper or other materials, from the Middle Programme on they become active participants in activities related to the visual arts such as the organisation of events such as Kala Parv, our annual art festival.

Our Performing Arts programme is equally vibrant – it encompasses a wide variety of disciplines ranging from the bravado and elegance of theatre and dance to the subtle intricacies of our own Hindustani music, as well as Western musical instruments and teaching methodology. Each of the Performing Arts classes provides students with the opportunity to engage with their mind, body and emotions. As such, they are powerful educational tools that help children develop skills such as creativity, problem solving, communication, social skills and critical thinking. In practice, this has led to students in the programme taking up leading responsibilities such as event and team management in the many events throughout the year, such as Yujan, our annual school carnival and Wired, our inter-school music competition which has over the years become a much-anticipated annual event. Such skills are essential for success at every level: in the classroom, at the workplace, in life.