Mrs Vanitha Suresh

http://Read the November cover story here: https://bit.ly/2ZauuaG

Founding Director at SciArt Services

Studied Electronics and Instrumentation Engg at SASTRA

Studied Computer science at Drexel University

Studied Computer science at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tenth generation –B.S. in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering. Double Masters in Computer Science from Drexel University & UW Madison. Works as a Software Engineer in the U.S., Carnatic Vocalist, Founded the non-profit SciArt Services with her husband.

Vanitha Suresh¹⁰ is a Software Professional, Carnatic (South Indian Classical Music) Vocalist, Executive Director of the Melharmony Foundation (non-profit) and Founding Director of the non-profit SciArt Services. Vanitha was the first engineer in several generations of her family, and one of three women in her undergrad engineering class of 72. She broke the glass ceiling when she secured a job in the Siemens Projects division as the first woman engineer in 10 years, straight after her Undergrad. She migrated to the US in 1998 and has two Masters degrees, and has worked in a wide variety of industries for the past 23 years. She played an active role in the “WICS”(Women in Computer Science) group while at UW, Madison and initiated and organized monthly discussion forums for female employees to meet and exchange personal growth topics and best practices when she was a Senior Software Engineer at Philips. In 2013, Vanitha became the first Indian Immigrant to become Master Trainer (for Carnatic Music) through the Wisconsin Arts Board’s Folk/Traditional Apprenticeship Program. In 2015, Vanitha was one among 5 women invited by the “Wisconsin Women of Color Network” to represent Asian American leaders, during the 31st networking conference of “The Power of Unity” in 2015.

Through SciArt Services, Vanitha actively helps disseminate computer programming through CADJs amongst youth, with a special emphasis on girls and other minorities and underprivileged students in the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. She has initiated annual scholarships for underprivileged girls in India to pay for school/arts education, and to help underprivileged single women with children. Vanitha recently initiated and curated an online panel discussion on “Women Composers in Carnatic Music” along with celebrity Carnatic musicians. The event brought several lesser known women composers to the fore, and received rave reviews in the media as a welcome step in a field that is mostly dominated by male composers. Vanitha has also helped organize fundraisers for organizations such as “She’s the first ” (that funds education for girls all over the world) and regularly contributes to women’s wellness organizations that help sexually trafficked women & children. She was recently invited to be the International Ambassador of “India turns pink” – India’s largest women’s wellness organization.

Through the Melharmony Foundation, Vanitha has spearheaded the twin composer festivals (Dikshitar-Beethoven Melharmony festival, OVK-Bach Melharmony festival and Tyagaraja-Mozart Melharmony festival) that bring diverse cultures on the same platform through professional orchestras and topflight artistes from all over the world. She has played a key role in the growth of the Melharmony festival since 2013 which has grown from a half day festival to a whole 10 day festival in 2020. She has been responsible for outreach with schools all over the country and especially in Dane County where Orchestra/Band Directors and several hundreds of students have been given the opportunity to play alongside globally acclaimed musicians in the annual Melharmony festival. Whether she is organizing a panel discussion that brings mentors and mentees together or curating a music festival through Melharmony Foundation/SciArt Services, she strives to give equal opportunity and visibility to all genders.

She also runs Arohana Arts Academy – a music school (founded in 2007 and affiliated to the International Foundation for Carnatic Music) through which she mentors several second generation Indians all over the country, and inspires them to pursue Classical music. She is a performing musician and has performed vocal concerts in various cities in the US such as New York, Dallas, Chicago, San Jose, Madras, Bangalore for premier organizations. She regularly sings and sets music for Indian Classical dance, does creative storytelling for young children, and presents musical discourses. She has mentored a number of artists across the USA and also directed a number of large ensemble shows in major festivals. She has partnered with the Center for South Asia (UW, Madison) to do lecture demonstrations for Fulbright Scholars (2009, 2010) and outreach workshops in several schools and libraries in Beloit, Janesville and Sun Prairie to name a few. She was invited to perform for the reception of Chazen Museum’s “Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj” in 2009. Vanitha has been under the tutelage of several illustrious Gurus such as Shri Veena G Rengarajan & Shri Srinivasan, Shri Srirangam Kannan, Smt Akila Siva, Shri T.N.Bala, Lalgudi Siblings, Smt Sankari Krishnan, Shri Chitravina Narasimhan and has been training under Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N Ravikiran since 2011.

Vanitha has been living in Madison, WI since 2003. She is married to Prof Krishnan Suresh and is the devoted mother of two boys, aged 17 and 11.

i. Sanjay¹¹ born in Madison,WI, plays the Violin

ii. Arjun¹¹ born in Bangalore, India , plays the Chitravina

Media Articles

1. Cover Story in the Middleton Times:
http://middletontimes.com/articles/2016/07/22/sound-music-local-womans-lifelong-love-classical-indian-music

2. Article on the Traditional/Folk Arts Apprenticehip in the Wisconsin State Journal
https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/music/concert-brings-wisconsin-cultural-traditions-to-the-stage/article_4acd734f-d914-5bb5-8dc3-a60ab79dd1ee.html

3. Article in the Sun Prairie Star
https://www.hngnews.com/sun_prairie_star/article_4e9ba8c6-76b1-11e6-a2e6-ffa23361b92b.html

4. Performance for Fulbright scholars on invitation by the Center for South Asia
https://ls.wisc.edu/news/center-for-south-asia-organizes-fulbright-seminar-pre-departure-program
https://ls.wisc.edu/news/2565

5. Performance for Chazen Museum
https://news.wisc.edu/chazen-features-mezzotints-silver-pieces-in-exhibits/

4. Melharmony festival
https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/music/mozart-meets-raga-in-melharmony-festival-saturday-in-oregon/article_2ff56ae2-ec79-5c8b-b713-0a344484180e.html

5. Link to non-profit page on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sciartservices/

Notes for DR. K. SURESH