AVI USA New Partners in 2024
The AVI USA Project Partner collective is growing, giving us stronger connection to Auroville and the multiple facets of Integral Yoga.
In 2024 AVI USA welcomed 25 new Auroville Projects Partners from all areas of activity in Auroville.
16 Schools and Education projects
3 Farm and Ecology projects,
3 Soul and Spirit projects
2 Arts and Culture projects
1 Health and Healing project
Read about our new projects below:
16 New School and Education Projects
Above all else we are thrilled to partner up with Auroville’s schools and learning centers.. Today’s schoolkids, immersed in learning new skills, expressing themselves through art and music, unleashing their imagination and creativity, are the leaders of Auroville’s next generation.
We welcome all schools and education centers within our AVI USA family and want to tell you a little bit about each.
Auroville Schools
Last School was the first Auroville School to reach out to us, in early 2024. The Auroville Marathon was coming up and the kids wanted to creatively fundraise to sustain the school. Last School was raising money for their science lab and art supplies. Future School joined us soon after, and also started several fundraisers for the biology lab, library books and science equipment.
Later in the year, Centre Field Kindergarten, Transition School, Nandanam, and Deepanam School joined our group.
The Auroville Schools are guided in their efforts by Next Steps under the guidance of Ayesha and Shabbar, who offer college counseling and multiple resources to help the schools be at their best.
General Education
Within General Education we have Malarchi, a boarding school for underserved children supported over the years by our longtime board member Bryan Walton whose celebration of life fundraiser gave support and longevity to the project. Kids Care with Anandi, providing free care for the girls of single mothers of nearby villages. Kalvi is a laboratory for education research, running workshops for parents, educators and Kalvi facilitators. The Education Support Fund headed by Lucas, offering support to bioregion students pursuing education at all levels. Spirit and Nature is wonderful project led by Aikya, exploring nature as a teacher, offering pathways to connect with the deeper heart—an eternal space of love, beauty, and potential for children. STEMLand returns after 2 years, continuing their experiential learning of science, math and tech. Yuvabe Bridge is the last of our new projects. It offers 3-6 month introductory courses in fields such as Digital Marketing, Design, Artificial Intelligence, and Corporate Sustainability, and is designed for young adults.
Lifelong Learning
Within Lifelong Learning, our new projects are PATH. and the ‘City is a Living Curriculum’ project. ‘City is a Living Curriculum’ is institutional scale level learning exchange platform and information service. Awareness Through the Body in South America, is a project led by Rosa Lopez. ATB in South America aims to make available the complete ATB training to facilitators throughout South America.
Farms and Ecology Projects
In Farms and Ecology we have three new projects from existing partners. Aurogreen Farm has joined AVI USA as partner. Aurogreen Farm was started 30 years ago by Charlie, Long Island, NY, and it has continued as one of Auroville’s Community based organic farms to this day. Pitchandikulam Forest has an environmental education outreach program in the Kaliveli bioregion. The environmental education sets up school gardens for students to grow their food and herbs, learn their uses, seed sources, soilpreparation, planting and maintenance. Auroville’s Botanical Gardens are working on a very special project we will present in April, but in the meantime we thrilled to support their overall infrastructure and development.
Soul and Spirit
Soul and Spirit projects speak to our longing for spiritual life. They can be contemplative or focused on spiritual learning. Seeking Our Inner Being is a project that explores our inner world, by publishing dialogues with those who feel ready to share their inner explorations. The Mother’s Flower Garden growing flowers and offering educational and cultural events to create a space where all can come directly in touch with the flowers and learn about the spiritual significance of flowers as taught by Mother. Vidyamandir offers learning programs that support people in harmonizing spiritual and material life. One of their current offerings is the Bhagavad Gita in Daily Life.
Arts and Culture
In the Arts and Culture categories we have two projects from filmmaker Serena Aurora. First, Serena initiated the Karsha Nuns in Auroville project, a unique initiative based on her travels and stay at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Zanskar, Ladakh. Serena brought 10 Tibetan buddhist nuns from Zanskar to Auroville. She is documenting the incredible cultural exchange that is taking place.
The second project is the beautiful film series of Matrimandir and I, an ever evolving series of individual filmed portraits about Aurovilians’ relationship to the Matrimandir.
Health and Healing
Last but not least, we are thrilled to host our one new Health and Healing Project, the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team.
The Auroville Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team has always been open to all interested individuals, both from Auroville, the bio-region, or anywhere else in the world. The Women’s Frisbee team is training to go and compete for the National Championships this year!