VR Surat hosts Balakalakaar - The City's largest painting workshop for 1200 plus underprivileged children

MLA RAJENDRABHAI PATEL FELICITATES BALAKALAKAARS AT FESTIVAL PARK

December 26, 2013 – As the entire City celebrates its very own festival - KhoobSurat 2013-14 - VR Surat, Gujarat’s only world-class community centric lifestyle destination, hosted Balakalakaar – City’s largest painting workshops for 1,200 underprivileged children. Held on Christmas Day at the Festival Park at VR Surat, Balakalakaar, an initiative of AIESEC in association with Virtuous Retail, provides underprivileged children from the city’s municipal schools, orphanages and slums, with a wonderful opportunity to express themselves through art with an innovative painting workshop. From various locations across Surat, 600 of these children are from Pratham NGO affiliated to Municipal Schools in slum areas such as Unn, Mithikhadi, Navagam, Pandesara, Amroli, Kasod; 400 children are from Vatsalya Dham Orphanage, Kamrej; and 200 are from Umra Surat Municipal Corporation School No. 3.

Rajendrabhai Patel, Honorable Member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly graced this momentous occasion and congratulated all underprivileged children for their participation, passion for art and creativity.

By involving some of the top corporate houses in the city, prominent personalities and NGO partners, AIESEC, created a first-of-its-kind platform at VR Surat wherein people from all these different walks of life come together to empower children through art.

Dhruv Jain, Vice President, Finance & Business Development, AIESEC in Surat, said, “We at AIESEC Surat are happy to partner with VR Surat which provides perfect platform for creativity, culture and community. Both Virtuous Retail and AIESEC believe that there is an artiste in every child. Balakalakaar is an initiative that aims at bringing smiles to the faces of underprivileged children. With Virtuous Retail’s support, we have endeavored to build an environment that helps improve the quality of life of underprivileged children in our city. It is through the creation of an opportunity to help them discover and develop their potential in art forms of various types. At VR Surat, thousands of children demonstrated that art is the expression of creative skill in a visual form such as painting or sculpture. AIESEC seeks the help and support of the corporate world and prominent personalities in Surat to help us provide a platform wherein these children get to showcase their talents.”

Paresh Mishra, Director-Operations – Western Region, Virtuous Retail, said, “VR Surat is pleased to partner with AIESEC in supporting the cause of providing a sustainable solution of helping underprivileged children express themselves creatively. VR Surat has always laid great emphasis on bringing people closer as a Community Center. While we celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Gujarat and the merriment of the holiday season with KhoobSurat Festival, we also draw people’s attention to the cause of underprivileged children in the city through Balakalakaar. We are grateful to Shri Rajendrabhai Patel for gracing this occasion and spreading the message.”

Anupam Yog, Director-Marketing, Virtuous Retail, India's largest institutionally-owned developer-operator of lifestyle shopping centres, said “Virtuous Retail’s Connecting Communities initiatives are designed in partnership with local stakeholders such as urban bodies, citizen groups, schools and economic bodies. The third edition of Balakalakaar by AIESEC is a unique Connecting Communities initiative to drive civic pride and induce positive change because children are the future of the country. Balakalakaar during KhoobSurat is yet another stellar example of the Center’s commitment and connection to the community. Over 2.5 million citizens have visited VR Surat since its opening and we are delighted that the local community identifies strongly with our vision of creating new social hubs. ”

Since its opening in April this year, VR Surat launched several community centric initiatives such as India’s biggest “Flash Mob” on the occasion of the 67th Independence Day Celebrations, to support Art of Living’s Gyan Setu Initiative - ‘Volunteer for a Better India’ where in participants used VR Surat platform to highlight the cause of underprivileged children in and around Surat. On the occasion of the 144th Gandhi Jayanti, VR Surat in association with 'Life Cycling Green Group' united the city’s youth for a common cause emphasizing the message given by India’s Father of The Nation - "Be the change you want see in the World". VR Surat launched unique 'Dilwaali Diwali" campaign which encouraged Surtis to 'shop from their heart for a cause that support underprivileged children through non-profit NGO “Save The Children India” and education-related causes. VR Surat opened its doors to the general public with a special art initiative - Paresh Maity's 'Jal Tapi' - a life-sized boat installation created using the actual sailing vessel or 'Hodhi' that won the city's annual Magdalla Boat Race in 2013.

For more information, please visit www.vrsurat.com or www.facebook.com/vrsurat.