Our reality
The capacities children need most are built when they create, perform, question, and discover.
Global research shows that the visual and performing arts are among the most natural ways to nurture these skills. Yet, in our schools, the arts remain deeply deprioritized.
Children get
less than 20 hours
of arts learning a year.
An average
art teacher–student
ratio is 1:1400.
The capacities children need most are built when they create, perform, question, and discover.
Global research shows that the visual and performing arts are among the most natural ways to nurture these skills. Yet, in our schools, the arts remain deeply deprioritized.
Children get
less than 20 hours
of arts learning a year.
An average
art teacher–student
ratio is 1:1400.
The capacities children need most are built when they create, perform, question, and discover.
Global research shows that the visual and performing arts are among the most natural ways to nurture these skills. Yet, in our schools, the arts remain deeply deprioritized.
Children get
less than 20 hours
of arts learning a year.
An average
art teacher–student
ratio is 1:1400.
Slam Out LoudS.O.L
changes that.
We reimagine learning through the arts, so children in government schools across India can flourish today and be ready for tomorrow.
What we do
We ensure children in government schools get access to the arts and transform the art class into a space for growth and learning. Through poetry, theatre, storytelling, movement, and visual art, children develop future facing skills.
How we do it
We build and test arts-based learning in classrooms with trained art educators, learning directly from children, teachers and schools. We then partner with state governments to embed what works into curriculum, training, pedagogy and measurement, and enable government school teachers to deliver it at scale.
What we do
We ensure children in government schools get access to the arts and transform the art class into a space for growth and learning. Through poetry, theatre, storytelling, movement, and visual art, children develop future facing skills.
How we do it
We build and test arts-based learning in classrooms with trained art educators, learning directly from children, teachers and schools. We then partner with state governments to embed what works into curriculum, training, pedagogy and measurement, and enable government school teachers to deliver it at scale.
Our Impact
Directly enabling students with SEL skills in government and low-income private schools across India
699,950+
Students directly enabled with SEL skills across government and low-income private schools in India
5
States across India
1M
Children reached through digital resources
38%
Average growth in Future Readiness Skills
Measured via competency-based assessments, not self-report (*24-25 TJF program)
90.5
Average Student NPS: children rating their SOL experience
(*24-25 TJF program)
80%
of teachers report a reduction in classroom disruption due to behaviour issues
(*24-25 Arts for All Abhivyakti program)
81%
of teachers report an increase in instructional time within classrooms
(*24-25 Arts for All Abhivyakti program)
Growth in SEL competencies
Growth in climate competencies
What we build
Children, especially those from adversity, need the readiness to navigate uncertainty, recover from setbacks, build relationships, make decisions, and imagine larger futures for themselves.
At Slam Out Loud, we focus on strengthening five interconnected foundations:
Identity: “I believe in my own ability.”
Aspiration: “I belong in bigger rooms. My circumstances don’t define my ceiling.”
Self-efficacy: “I can influence what happens to me.”
Resilience: “When life gets hard, I know how to come back.”
How the arts make it possible
In SOL classrooms, children write, perform, draw, move, reflect and create together. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) allows them to find spaces within the education system where they:
Make sense of complexity
Imagine new realities
Understand their emotions
Think critically, and
Take initiative
Our model: Learn Deeply, Scale Systemically
We learn deeply before we scale widely. Working directly with children helps us build practices that are joyful, contextual, and effective. Partnering with governments ensures these practices become part of the system, not just a one-time intervention.
Here’s what these two programs look like:
Our Programs
Arts For All
(AFA)
Through state partnerships in Punjab, Maharashtra and Bihar, Arts for All works with public education systems to make the art class a regular part of a child’s school week. We partner with departments to strengthen policy, curriculum, teacher training and system resources, so arts learning is not optional or occasional, but delivered by government school teachers at scale.
Our curriculum is deeply contextual, bringing the state’s culture, stories and identities into the classroom through the arts. In Punjab, we are co-creating the state’s new art textbook, the first major update in over 40 years.
The Jijivisha
Fellowship
Across Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune, the Jijivisha Fellowship places trained art educators inside schools and communities. Fellows work closely with children, teachers, parents, and local contexts to design powerful art experiences that build identity, aspiration, resilience, and agency.
These classrooms and community spaces serve as deep learning labs, helping us understand what children need and what high-quality arts-based learning looks like in practice.
The deepest impact of our work is often heard before it is measured.
Across our programs, we identify children with exceptional voice and artistic interest, bring mentors into their journeys, and open platforms where their stories can be heard.
Supriya
Worn down by comparison, Supriya describes her creativity and joy fading under the weight of expectations. Supriya was part of Slam Out Loud's programs from Grade 6. She went on to graduate from Ashoka University on a full scholarship, studying liberal arts and creative writing. She is now working as a creative writer at an education company.
Abbas
Questions the cost of hiding one's dreams and fatigue within the relentless pace of a judgmental society. Abbas joined Slam Out Loud when he was in Grade 8. He went on to study liberal arts at Azim Premji University on a full scholarship, and has now returned to Slam Out Loud as a teaching fellow.
Muskan
Questions identity and dignity through the lens of language, privilege, and a mother's interrupted education. Muskan was part of Slam Out Loud's programs from Grade 6, completed liberal arts from Ashoka University on a full scholarship and is now working in marketing.
Chanda and Jyoti
Challenge the commodification of feelings, where even love and tears are weighed and priced. Chanda and Jyoti have both finished college and are now building careers in education.
Our Partners
Featured In
Media
How Slam Out Loud is transforming arts-in-education in India and beyond
Slam Out Loud (SOL) is a non-profit organisation based in India that uses the transformative power of performance and visual arts to help build Creative Confidence (life) skills in children from disadvantaged communities. So far they have reached 4.7 million children through their low-tech arts programme...
Read MoreIndia: Arts for All — Slam Out Loud
A comprehensive case study by the World Bank detailing Slam Out Loud's 'Arts for All' initiative, exploring its impact and the possibilities of scaling art-based socio-emotional learning across the country.
Read MoreWhat Happens when Children Engage with Art?
5 years ago, while facilitating a poetry workshop, I met Supriya Kumari, a 16-year-old student poet who is now an active member of Slam Out Loud's 'Bol Poetry Crew.' Not only was she frugal with her words and cautious of everyone around her, she lacked confidence...
Read MoreThe Possibilities of Art in Socio-Emotional Learning
An exploration of how art-based socio-emotional learning can curate and support the well-being of young learners, offering them a space for creative expression and emotional growth.
Read MoreCase study: Slam Out Loud - Arts for All | UNGEI
Slam Out Loud (SOL) uses the transformative power of performance and visual arts to help build creative confidence and skills like communication, critical thinking and empathy in children from disadvantaged communities. This case study looks at the Arts for All programme response to the gender-related impacts of COVID-19 on education.
Read More
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